英语翻译The Comfort of StrangersIn 2003,I moved from Colorado to

英语翻译
The Comfort of Strangers
In 2003,I moved from Colorado to Cairo to work as a teacher and journalist.I had recently converted to Islam,and wanted to spend time close to the source of the language and culture that had given rise to my religion.The transition between life in red-state America and life in the Arab capital was at times overwhelming because of the traditional segregation of men and women in many public and private settings.Especially difficult to navigate at first was the Cairene metro,where choosing to ride in the wrong car could result in serious awkwardness.
Commuting women ,however,to look on the first car—jokingly referred to as the hareem,or women’s quarters—as a safe haven from the persistent scrutiny of men,who still dominate public life in Egypt.The first car,off-limits to males above the age of 12 or so,is self-policing; should a man wander on,a quiet word is usually enough to send him out the door again.Few men risk so blatant a violation of a woman’s first right in Egyptian society:privacy.
In my case,all it took was a single ride in the mixed cars,where unescorted women are frequently targets of harassment and religious censure,to make me grateful for the decidedly un-Western amenity of the women’s compartment.
One night in January,I took the metro downtown to meet a friend.I rode in the women’s car,as usual.The evening was balmy,and two little boys—sons of a young mother sitting next to me—were opening and closing the shutters over the windows of the car,to their great delight.Their mother called to them,but they were too engrossed in their project to pay attention.At the next stop,a woman in a niqab—the face veil—came and sat down across from us.Noticing the commotion,she reached into her purse for a handful of hard candies and offered them to the boys in return for their good behavior.
“Take the candies from Auntie and say thank you,” said their mother.
The boys turned away shyly.
“Take the candies and say ‘Thank you,Aunt’,or don’t take them and say ‘No thank you,Aunt’,and then come sit here next to me and Auntie,” their mother repeated.The second ‘Auntie’ was me; in the women’s car children become the communal responsibility of all present.Even so,I was a little surprised to be referred to in such a familiar way.Being a khawagayya,or white westerner,I was often kept at arm’s length by other women in public.But I held out my hand to the little boy who was inching across the aisle toward us.

陌生人的安慰
2003年我以教师和记者的身份从科罗拉多搬到开罗去工作.我新近刚皈依了伊斯兰教,并打算花些时间去接触那引发了我宗教信仰的源头的语言和文化.从由共和党掌权的美国搬迁到阿拉伯人的首府生活,时常会感受到两者之间的巨大差异,因为男女之间在很多公共及私下场合中都有着必须分隔开来的传统.尤其困难的是乘坐交通工具,首先就是在Cairene乘地铁,在那里要是选错了乘坐的车会让人异常尴尬.
尽管如此在通勤的女性看来头班车——它被戏谑的归类于女子闺房或女性领域就犹如一个安全港湾,可以避开在埃及的公众生活中仍然占据着主导地位的男人们的无止境地详细审查.
头班车禁止12岁及12岁以上的男性乘坐,这是一种自我约束；即使一个男人乘上了车,通常那种无声的语言也已经足够将他重新送出门去.很少有男性敢于公然侵犯一位女性在埃及社会中的第一权利：隐私权.
就我的情况来说,始终都是独自一人乘坐男女混载的班车,在那里无人陪同的女性经常成为宗教审判和折磨的目标,因而那些非西方习俗式的女性的隔间使我感激万分.
在一月的一个晚上,我乘坐地铁到市区见一个朋友.向通常一样,我乘上了女性专属班车.那是一个温和的傍晚,2个小男孩——坐在我身边的年轻母亲的儿子们正在不停地开合着车上窗子的百页窗,感到非常有趣.他们的妈妈呼唤过他们,但他们太专注于他们的事业而没有注意.到了下一站,一个戴着niqab面纱的女人上了车,并坐在我们对面.注意到这场骚乱,她伸手到她的钱包里抓了一把硬糖并将它们送给男孩们以唤回他们的良好举止.
“从阿姨那里接过糖果并且说谢谢.”年轻的妈妈说道.
男孩们害羞地避开了.
“接过糖果并且说‘谢谢你,阿姨’.或者不要拿糖果并且说'不用了,阿姨.然后到这来坐在我和这位阿姨的边上.”他们的妈妈再次说道.这第二个“阿姨”指的是我；在女性专列里孩子们会成为所有在场的人的共同责任.尽管如此,我仍有些惊讶于如此轻易就被归属为同伴中的一员.作为一个khawagayya,或是一个白种的西方人,在公众场合其他女性经常都会与我保持一个手臂的距离.但是我朝着那个正穿过走道向着我们慢慢挪动的小男孩伸出了手.