《宋氏快譯》英漢對照（35）：猴肉也能惹官司

《宋氏快譯》英漢對照（35）：猴肉也能惹官司


Monkey Meat at Center of NYC Court Case
By TOM HAYS, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 24, 3:17 PM ET

猴肉, 紐約市法院案例的焦點

美聯社作家 湯姆。海斯 文 宋德利 譯



NEW YORK — From her baptism in Liberia to Christmas years later in her adopted New York City, Mamie Manneh never lost the longing to celebrate religious rituals by eating monkey meat.

紐約 -從她在利比亞接受的洗禮，到數年後來到異國他鄉紐約度過的那些聖誕節，瑪米。曼妮赫從來也沒有丟棄自己以吃猴肉來慶祝宗教禮儀的渴望。


Now, the tribal customs of Manneh and other West African immigrants have become the focus of an unusual criminal case charging her with meat smuggling, and touching on issues of religious freedom, infectious diseases and wildlife preservation.

現在，曼妮赫以及其他西非移民的部落習俗已成為一宗不同尋常的刑事案件的焦點，她被指控肉類走私，同時還涉及到宗教自由、傳染病和野生物的保護問題。


The case "appears to be the first of its kind relating to that uniquely African product," defense attorney Jan Rostal wrote in a pending motion to dismiss. "Unfortunately, it represents the sort of clash of cultural and religious values inherent in the melting pot that is America.

此案“似乎是與那種獨特非洲產品相關案件的首例，”辯護律師簡。羅斯塔爾在一份旨在進行辯駁而急迫提出的訴訟請求中這樣寫道。“不幸的是，它代表了美國這個大熔爐裏固有的文化和宗教價值衝突。”


At the center of the case in federal court is a modest woman with nine children and a history of domestic discord.

處於聯邦法院此案中心的主角是一名溫和的女子，她有9個孩子，還有一段不和美的家庭史。


The case dates to early 2006, when federal inspectors at JFK Airport examined a shipment of 12 cardboard boxes from Guinea.

案發日期要回溯到2006年初，當時聯邦檢查人員正在肯尼迪機場檢查一批貨物，其中包括來自幾內亞的12個紙箱。

注視：
Shipment，此處不是裝運，而是貨物。a shipment， 一批貨。


They were addressed to Manneh and, according to a flight manifest, contained African dresses and smoked fish with a value of $780.

它們（紙箱）都是寄給曼妮赫的，根據一份飛行艙單，紙箱裏裝有非洲服裝和熏魚，價值為780 美元。


Instead, stashed underneath the smoked fish, the inspectors found what West Africans refer to as bushmeat: "skulls, limbs and torsos of non-human primate species" plus the hoof and leg of a small antelope, according to court papers.

但是，根據法院的文件說的，檢查員在熏魚低下發現，那裏隱藏著一些西非國家稱為叢林之肉的東西：“非人類靈長類物種的骷髏，肢體和軀幹”，再加上一個小羚羊的蹄和腿部。


Three days later, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents were at Manneh's door, where she told them she ran a smoked fish importing business.

三天後，美國魚類和野生動物服務代理商在找上了曼妮赫的家門，她告訴他們，她經營一項熏魚進口業務。


According to the agents, she initially denied ordering any bushmeat from Africa or ever eating it while in the United States.

據該代理商說，她最初否認在美國期間從非洲定購過，或者吃過任何叢林野生動物肉。


But after she consented to a search, the agents came across a tiny, hairy arm hidden in her garage.

但經過她同意進行搜查之後，代理商就發現有一隻毛茸茸的小手臂藏在她的車庫裏。


"Monkey," she explained, claiming the arm was sent to her out of the blue "as a gift from God in heaven."

“猴，”，她這樣解釋，並聲稱這隻手臂是天上的上帝作為禮物突然送給她的。


Federal prosecutors hit Manneh with smuggling charges that accused her of violating import procedures and suggested she was a menace to man and beast alike.

聯邦檢察官擊中以走私罪名起訴曼妮赫，指控她違反進口程序，並暗示他對人和獸類同樣是一種威脅。


A criminal complaint cited evidence that the illegal importation of bushmeat encourages the slaughter of protected wild animals.

一項刑事申訴舉出證據證明非法進口叢林野生動物肉會鼓勵屠宰受保護的野生動物。


More ominously, the complaint warned of "the potential health risks to humans linking bushmeat to diseases like Lassa fever, Ebola, HIV, SARS and monkeypox.

更有甚至，這項申訴還把叢林野生動物肉與拉沙熱，埃博拉病毒，艾滋病毒，薩斯和猴痘之類的疾病相聯係，從而警告說這對人類存在著潛在的健康風險。


Defense attorney Rostal has countered by accusing the government of picking on a poorly educated immigrant.

辯護律師羅斯特爾予以反駁，指責政府對低學曆移民雞蛋裏挑骨頭。


Her client's only offense, she said, was her inability to grasp Western attitudes and highly technical regulations regarding bushmeat.

她說，她的當事人唯一的還擊就是對西方國家對待叢林野生動物肉的態度和高技術性法規還吃不透。


Defense papers also argue that the U.S. demand for the meat involved in the Manneh case — from Africa's green monkey population — is "too small to have any significance for conservation."

辯方文件還辯稱，美國對曼妮赫案涉及到的肉類 – 來自非洲綠猴種群- 需求量太少，和動物保護問題根本就不沾邊兒。


Manneh, 39, testified last year that before arriving in the United States more than 25 years ago, monkey meat was critical to her religious upbringing.

39 歲的曼妮赫，去年作證說，25年前來到美國之前，猴肉對於她宗教信仰的形成至關重要。


At age 7, "I was baptized and they used that for the baptizing ceremony," she told a judge.

“我7歲那年洗禮，他們就用那個（猴肉）舉行洗禮儀式，” 她告訴法官。


Manneh is already serving a two-year sentence in state prison for trying to run over a woman she suspected of sleeping with her husband, Zanger Jefferson. If convicted of the federal charges she faces up to five more years in prison and deportation.

曼妮赫已經在州立監獄服刑兩年，罪名是她懷疑一個女人和她丈夫桑格。傑佛遜一起睡覺，於是就開車試圖把她碾死。如果承認聯邦指控，她還將麵臨另外5年的牢獄之災，並被遞解出境。


"The government's taking a woman away from her children," complained Jefferson, who's struggling to raise the children alone. "It's very depressing, especially with the holidays right around the corner."

"政府這是在把一個女人從她孩子身邊拉開， “傑弗遜抱怨說。目前他正在為單獨撫養孩子而抗爭。“這太鬱悶了，尤其是假日快到的時候。”


The prosecution also has dampened spirits at the church in Staten Island where Manneh and other African immigrants once packed the pews to practice a religion blending Christianity and tribal customs.

檢方也挫傷了斯塔頓島教堂裏的神祉，曼妮赫與其他非洲移民，曾經坐滿了教堂裏的靠背長椅，去實踐一種融匯基督教和部落習俗的宗教。


One of the few worshippers left, Leona Artis, says the congregation's appetite for monkey meat is deeply misunderstood.

所剩無幾的崇拜者之一，裏昂納。阿提斯說，會眾對猴肉的味口被深深地誤解了。


Take Thanksgiving.

以感恩節為例。


"Where some people have turkey, we'll have monkey meat," Artis said."I've been eating it all my life. It's delicious."

"有些人吃火雞，而我們則吃猴肉，”阿提斯說。 "我已經吃了一輩子。味道美極了。”


Baptisms, Easter, Christmas, weddings — all are occasions for eating monkey, Manneh's supporters said in a sworn statement filed with the court.

曼妮赫的支持者在向法庭提請的一份宣誓聲明中說，洗禮，複活節，聖誕節，婚禮 – 這些都是吃猴肉的時機。


The statement was vague about how the meat is obtained, but explains that it always arrives dried and smoked. Once blessed by a pastor, "we usually prepare it by cooking it for several hours into a stew," they said.

這份聲明對肉的來源含糊其詞，但解釋說，猴肉得來時不是幹燥的就是煙熏的。
他們說，一旦得到神父的鼓勵，“我們通常就會準備一點猴肉，然後燉上幾個小時，直到燉成為大雜燴。


For them, the exotic import is more than just food.

對於他們來說，外國引進品決不單單是食物。


"We eat bushmeat," they said, "for our souls."

“我們為自己的靈魂吃叢林野生動物的肉”，他們說。