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以前的人们谈“性”色变，但性教育尤其是青少年性教育尤为重要，因为它关系到青少年的健康和未来。而性教育水平和质量的好坏与很多因素息息相关，比如国家的经济发展水平、国家的教育体系、宗教体系、父母的重视程度、网络媒体的影响等等。在拉丁美洲，学校缺乏合适的性教育课程，造成了很多青少年怀孕事件。今天我们来读一读2022.6.26这一期《经济学人》中美洲板块的文章。 
文章涉及到很多可能会引起违规的内容，所以不进行逐字逐句的翻译，只给出每段的大意。但大家可以看看这种文章要怎么写，或者在阅读的过程中，有没有不懂的地方，可以标记出来，留言或者加我，来讨论一下。Latin America lacks decent
sex education in its schoolsTeenage pregnancy rates are still
too high across the region本文较长，约1000字。这个数量相当于catti考试笔译实务的两篇英译汉的量。但正因为比较长，所以本文介绍的比较全面。1. Two 14-year-old students at Jesus and Mary College, a
Roman Catholic girls school in Buenos Aires, squirm as they describe
their classes on sex. Last year they learned about fertility and sexual organs
(“It was really embarrassing!” says one). This term they have talked about the
process of giving birth, but they are not sure what else they will learn. The
teachers refused to answer some of the questions that their classmates were
allowed to write in anonymously. “They said it wasn’t appropriate to talk about
it in school and we could ask our family members these things,” recalls the
other.在天主教学校，虽然有性教育课程，但老师却难以启齿，拒绝解答学生提出的有关问题。2. Sex education is patchy across Latin America, a
mostly Catholic continent. Although on paper every government in the region
tells schools they must teach their pupils about the birds and the bees, many fail to do so. A
survey in 2020 in Brazil showed that only a quarter of teachers had undergone
training in how to talk to their pupils about sex. “We train ourselves from our
own interest,” says Vicky Fernández Blanco, a nursery-school teacher in
Argentina who teaches her charges how to ask for consent before hugging a
friend, and so on.尽管政府要求学校教授性教育课程，但对于如何将性教育教给学生的培训却跟不上，导致老师根本不知道如何开口谈“性”。3. A few countries are better at sex education than
others. In Mexico, where the constitution enshrines secular education, public-school
textbooks show, with simple illustrations, how boys can just take down their
trousers to learn about their sexual organs, while girls can use a mirror.
(However, these textbooks are not used everywhere.) In Argentina in 2011 the
ministry of education produced a textbook to help parents talk to their
children about puberty, masturbation, contraception and how sexually abusing
children is a crime.拉美地区有些国家的性教育课程实施的还可以，比如墨西哥和阿根廷，都有教科书帮助父母和学生学习性教育。4. But in much of the region sex education is
indistinguishable from a biology lesson. Although abstinence is seldom
actively promoted, information on contraceptives can be out-of-date or limited
to condoms. “They mentioned interrupting coitus, which I don’t think is a very
good suggestion,” says Ariadna, a 15-year-old at a public school in Argentina.
Teachers are often silent about abortion, not least because it is illegal in
parts of the region. Any talk of sex is nearly always about the heterosexual
variety. “It would have been nice to have heard something about the LGBT
community [at school],” says Igor Farah, an 18-year-old in Brazil.然而，拉美大部分国家的性教育都与生物课混为一谈，这样性教育课程举步维艰。5. Many parents, having been through the same system, are
unable to fill in the gaps. Sometimes they lack knowledge, says Guadalupe, a
24-year-old who works with charities to teach young people in the Mexican state
of Oaxaca about sex. Adults in her hometown have long taught their children
they can get pregnant from sitting on a toilet. Other parents are just
squeamish. Euphemisms are common, such as “palomita” (little dove) for
vulva.很多父母缺乏性教育的知识，也导致对青少年的性教育无法更好地进行。缺乏认知的父母甚至会告诉孩子坐在马桶上也能怀孕。在性教育上，禁忌太多！6. Many children turn to the internet. But that complicates
things, reckons Yuri Pitti, who works at Aplafa, a sexual-health organisation
in Panama. “Before the fight was about access to information, now it’s about
access to good information,” she says. Boys tend to have unrealistic
expectations of sex from watching porn, in particular.很多儿童转向互联网，寻求性教育的知识。然后信息过载的互联网上充斥着很多不好甚至错误的信息，这可能会引起反作用。7. Perhaps as a result of shoddy sex ed, teen pregnancies
are common in Latin America and the Caribbean, though the rate has fallen (see
chart). Some 18% of births in the region are to mothers under 20. Only
sub-Saharan Africa does worse. Covid-19 may have interrupted progress. In
Panama the number of pregnant girls aged 10 to 19 increased by 8% in 2020
compared with 2019, possibly because of lockdowns and school closures. Sexually
transmitted diseases are rising in some countries, too.或许由于性教育的缺乏和不足，青少年怀孕在拉美很常见。18%出生婴儿的母亲年龄低于20岁。8. Some politicians are trying to change matters.
Gabriel Boric, Chile’s new 36-year-old president, wants to introduce
“non-sexist education”. He wants to make it mandatory to teach children at all
levels not only about sex, but sexual diversity and gender stereotypes. He
wants schools to hand out condoms and for sex education to include topics such
as abortion (which may soon be legal in Chile).9. In April the government of Panama introduced a sex-ed
law that means that children now have to be taught how to avoid pregnancy and
sexually transmitted diseases, and how to find help if they are being abused. Mexico’s ruling Morena
party is planning to include sex ed in its laws on children’s rights. This
would mean, on paper, that teachers have to talk about contraceptives and the
like. Last year Cuba’s dictatorship announced it would update its “family code”
from the 1970s. If that passes a referendum, it will mean that sex ed includes
classes about sexuality.四月份巴拿马推出了一个性教育法，要求教授学生避孕以及了解性传播引起的疾病等，同时还告诉孩子在被性虐待时如何寻求帮助。10. But in some places sex education has become caught
up in the culture wars. In Peru legislation which would allow parents to
stop sex-ed classes from happening if they do not like them was expected to
become law this week. If teachers do not take parents’ concerns into account,
they can be fired. Esdras Medina, the lawmaker who promulgated it, once blamed
floods caused by El Niño on sex education in schools. “Con Mis Hijos, No Te
Metas” (Don’t Mess with My Kids), a parents’ pressure group which started in
Peru in 2016, has spread across the region. The group successfully agitated for
two education ministers in Peru to be fired.但是，在某些地方性教育已经成为一场文化战争。如果父母不喜欢对孩子进行性教育，那么父母就可以停止。如果教师不考虑父母的态度，那么教师就会被解雇。11. Similarly, in 2016 the
municipal government of Santiago, the capital of Chile, tried to introduce a
textbook for teenagers entitled “100 Questions about Adolescent Sexuality”, which
included segments on what a clitoris is, how long penises are on average,
menstruation, LGBT people and healthy relationships (it advises that they
involve “mutual respect, communication and trust”). Conservatives objected,
calling the book a sex manual. A centre-right politician won the municipal
election soon after and took it out of circulation. The new mayor falsely
claimed it promoted anal sex as a way to avoid pregnancy. Mr Boric’s plans may
face a similar backlash. ■在2016年，智利政府也推出了一套关于“性教育”的教科书，里面教授孩子各种有关知识。
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