TE精读| letters

今天比较省懒法，阅读了这期的letters部分其中的两小篇。我还挺喜欢letters板块的，都是些读者对于文章的感想，大部分都是一些持相反意见的读者，比较喜欢这种能够容纳的下别人对自己批评的媒体，能够容纳得了两种完全相反观点的媒体，更重要的是，来信内容精简，观点清晰，立场鲜明，读起来很舒服。

今天选择了其中的两篇来阅读，分别是gender preference和free speech in Qatar.

gender preference

The Free exchange on social norms was muddled (February 8th). Apparently gender earnings disparities persist but (and this seems to disturb you) they may partly reflect different preferences by men and women. But look, the column says, preferences too can be changed; they are “socially determined".

Why should policymakers, never mind economists, want to change these preferences? What, exactly, is wrong with women tending to prefer children and home and men preferring work and career? Economists laud division of labour in other businesses, why not in the family also? Just what principle lies behind the idea that men and women should have identical preferences?

PROFESSOR JOHN STAD DON

Department of Psychology and Neuroscience

Duke University

Durham, North Carolina

Gender preference性别偏向

social norms：社会规范

muddled   adjective  /ˈmʌd.əld/

badly organized or confusing

混乱的；杂乱无章的

a muddled legal situation

混乱的法律形势

Disparity   noun /dɪˈspær.ə.ti/ 不平等；（不公平的）差异

a lack of equality or similarity, especially in a way that is not fair

the growing disparity between rich and poor

正在加剧的贫富悬殊

persist  verb /pəˈsɪst/

If an unpleasant feeling or situation persists, it continues to exist.   持续；存留

If the pain persists, consult a doctor.

如果疼痛持续就去看医生。

The cold weather is set to persist throughout the week.

寒冷天气很可能将持续整个星期。

column noun  /ˈkɒl.əm/

a piece of writing in a newspaper or magazine, usually on a particular subject, that is always written by the same person and appears regularly（报纸、杂志上的）栏目，专栏

Laud ：verb /lɔːd/

to praise

赞美，赞扬，赞颂

The German leadership lauded the Russian initiative.

德国领导人赞扬了俄罗斯的倡议。

division of labour: 社会分工

Identical: adjective  /aɪˈden.tɪ.kəl/

exactly the same, or very similar

完全相同的；极为相似的

我挺喜欢这篇读者来信的，现如今很多时候女权运动真的有些过头，很多都是打着女权运动的幌子为女人争特权，你不给你就是不尊重女人，便站在道德制高点上俯视。但其实女权运动的本质是平权运动而已。文中提到专栏中写道男女的偏好是由社会决定的，所以是可以改变的。其实我挺赞同这个观点的，而读者却说为什么要改变这些偏好呢？男人更喜欢事业，女人更看重家庭有什么错呢？这句话的时候我还没有什么特别的感觉，我自己认为这都是一种选择而已，不应当分群体而论，而是个人的选择。最后作者的发问让我深思，男女偏好一样的背后又是依赖什么原则呢？对呀，我们笃信的一些看似正确的信念背后又是什么样的原则呢？

free speech in Qatar.

Your article on Qatar did not reflect the reality of freedom of expression in the country and a law that has been amended to prevent the spread of false and malicious information (“Tamim the gloriously tolerant”, February 15th). Similar legislation exists in many democratic countries. In France a law was introduced in 2018 to tackle the manipulation of information and its deliberate dissemination. As the target of sustained state-sponsored disinformation campaigns, “deep fakes” and cyberattacks, Qatar understands the Dangers of information manipulation better than anyone. In line with the UN’s covenant on civil and political rights, to which Qatar is fully committed, this amendment was passed as a protection against major, co-ordinated hacking and disinformation operations trying to fracture the region. It is not open to abuse and will not limit expression, speech or reporting in or about Qatar.

No country has done more than Qatar to improve media freedom in the region. The debate on this amendment from within Qatar itself, including from local media and social-media users, demonstrates that individuals and platforms can criticize a law without consequence.

THAMER AL THANI

Deputy director

Government Communications Office

Doha, Qatar

Qatar  [kæˈtɑː]    n.    卡塔尔国

Amend：verb /əˈmend/

to change the words of a text, especially a law or a legal document

修订，修正，修改（法律文件等）

Amendment：修正案

Malicious： adjective  /məˈlɪʃ.əs/

intended to harm or upset other people

恶意的，恶毒的，意在伤人的

malicious gossip

用意歹毒的流言蜚语

Legislation： noun /ˌledʒ.ɪˈsleɪ.ʃən/

a law or set of laws suggested by a government and made official by a parliament 法律；立法

Tackle： verb/ˈtæk.əl/

to try to deal with something or someone

对付，处理；与…交涉

There are many ways of tackling this problem.

处理这个问题有许多办法。

Manipulation： noun /məˌnɪp.jəˈleɪ.ʃən/

controlling someone or something to your own advantage, often unfairly or dishonestly

操纵（出于个人利益操纵某人某事，常指使用不公平或不诚信的方式）

There's been so much media manipulation of the facts that nobody knows the truth of the matter.

媒体操控得太厉害，没人知道事情的真相。

Dissemination： noun /dɪˌsem.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/

the act of spreading news, information, ideas, etc. to a lot of people:散播

the dissemination of information

sustained：adjective /səˈsteɪnd/

continuing for a long time

持续的，持久的

Disinformation： noun /ˌdɪs.ɪn.fəˈmeɪ.ʃən/

false information spread in order to deceive people

造谣

cyberattack noun   /ˈsaɪ.bə.rəˌtæk/

an illegal attempt to harm someone's computer system or the information on it, using the internet

（由黑客发起的）网络攻击

Fracture: verb  /ˈfræk.tʃər/

to divide an organization or society, or (of an organization or society) to be divided

（使）（组织或社团）分裂，（使）解体

这篇读者来信的结构非常好，短短100多词清晰表达了作者的观点。开头一句直接点出文章的不足之处，然后用接下来的文字叙述作者的观点，值得我去学习借鉴。