研究生英语核心教程—综合教材(下)Unit6 课文英汉对照

研究生英语核心教程—综合教材（下）

Unit6

课文英汉对照

Same Sex Marriage in the United States

美国同性婚姻的合法性

Matthew Brigham

The

proposed

legalization

of

same-sex

marriage

is

one

of

the

most

significant

issues

in

contemporary

American

family

law.

Presently,

it

is

one

of

the

most

vigorously

advocated

reforms

discussed

in

law

reviews,

one

of

the

most

explosive

political

questions

facing

lawmakers,

and

one

of

the

most

provocative

issues

emerging

before

American

courts.

If

same- sex marriage is legalized, it could be one of the most revolutionary policy decisions in

the

history

of

American

family

law.

The

potential

consequences,

positive

or

negative,

for

children, parents, same-sex couples, families, social structure, public health, and the status of

women are enormous. Given the importance of the issue, the value of comprehensive debate

of the reasons for and against legalizing same-sex marriage should be obvious. Marriage is

much more than merely a commitment to love one another. Aside from

societal

and religious

conventions, marriage

entails

legally

imposed financial responsibility and

legally

authorized

financial

benefits.

Marriage

provides

automatic

legal

protections

for

the

spouse,

including

medical

visitation

,

succession

of

a

deceased

spouse’s

property,

as

well

as

pension

and

other rig

hts. When two adults desire to “

contract

” in the eyes of the law, as well as perhaps

promise

in

the

eyes

of

the

Lord

and

their

friends

and

family,

to

be

responsible

for

the

obligations

of marriage as well as to enjoy its benefits, should the law prohibit their request

merely because they are of the same

gender

? I intend to prove that because of Article IV of

the United States Constitution, there is no reason why the federal government nor any state

government should restrict marriage to a

predefined heterosexual

relationship.

“同 性婚姻合法化”是当前美国家庭法律中最重大的议题之一，是美国在法律审查过程中最被人们极力倡

导的改革之一，对立法者来说是最具爆炸性的政治问题之一，也是美国法院所面临的最具有争议性的焦 点

（问题）之一。如果同性婚姻得以合法化，那么它将成为美国家庭法律历史上最具有革 命性的一项政策决

定。无论是积极的抑或是消极的，同性婚姻对孩子、父母、同性恋伴侣 、家庭、社会结构、公共健康以及

女性地位的潜在影响都是巨大的。考虑到这个问题的重 要性，那么，就人们对同性婚姻的合法化赞成和反

对的原因进行广泛的讨论显而易见是很 有价值的。

婚姻不只是双方爱的承诺。

除了社会和宗教上的约束 外，

婚姻还包含法律强加的经济责任和法律赋予的经济利益。婚姻自动为配偶提供法律保 护，包括医疗探视、

对已经死亡的配偶的财产的继承权以及退休金等权利。当两个成年人 希望在法律的见证下订立婚约，在上

帝、朋友、亲戚的目光下作出承诺，从而承担婚姻的 责任并享受婚姻的幸福，难道法律却仅仅因为他们是

同性而拒绝他们的请求吗？为此，依 据美国宪法的第四条，我试图证明，联邦政府和州政府将婚姻关系限

定在原有确定的男女 之间是没有理由的。

Marriage has changed throughout the years. In Western law, wives are now equal rather than

subordinate

partners;

interracial

marriage

is

now

widely

accepted,

both

in

statute

and

in

society; and

marital

failure itself, rather than the fault of one partner, may be

grounds for

a

divorce. Societal changes have been felt in marriages over the past 25 years as divorce rates

have

increased

and

have

been

integrated

into

even

upper

class

families.

Proposals

to

legalize same-sex marriage or to enact broad domestic partnership

laws are currently being

promoted by gay and

lesbian

activists, especially in Europe and North America. The trend in

western

European

nations

during

the

past

decade

has

been

to

increase

legal

aid

to

homosexual

relations

and

has

included

marriage

benefits

to

some

same-sex

couples.

For

example,

within

the

past

six

years,

three

Scandinavian

countries

have

enacted

domestic

partnership laws allowing same-sex couples in which at least one partner is a citizen of the

specified country therefore allowing many benefits that heterosexual marriages are given. In

the

Netherlands,

the

Parliament

is

considering

domestic

partnership

status

for

same-sex

couples,

all

major

political

parties

favor

recognizing

same-sex

relations,

and

more

than

a

dozen

towns

have

already

done

so.

Finland

provides

governmental

social

benefits

to

same- sex

partners.

Belgium

allows

gay

prisoners

the

right

to

have

conjugal

visits

from

same-sex partners. An overwhelming majority of European nations have granted partial legal

status to homosexual relationships. The European Parliament also has passed a

resolution

calling for equal rights for gays and lesbians.

随着年代的 推移，婚姻关系已经发生了改变。在西方法律中，妻子现在已经与丈夫在家庭中处于同等地

位，而不再是以前的从属角色；异族通婚在法律上和社会中均已被广泛接受；离婚的理由往往是婚姻自身

的失败，而不仅是婚姻中单方面的过错。在过去的

25

年里，离婚率不断上升，这种现象也已经出现在上流

社会的家庭中，我们从这种 婚姻的变化中感受到社会的变化。目前，男女同性恋的积极倡导者，特别是在

北美和欧洲 ，已经在积极推进同性婚姻合法化或提议制定广义的家庭伴侣关系方面的法律。过去十年间，

西欧国家越来越趋向于对同性恋关系提供法律援助，并对一些同性夫妻提供婚姻帮助。例如，在过去的六

年里，有

3

个北欧国家已经制定家庭伴侣关 系法，同意同性夫妻中，只要有一方是规定国家的公民，即被

允许享受在同等条件下异性 结婚者所享有的权益。在荷兰，议会正在考虑同性伴侣的家庭地位问题，所有

主要政党都 支持和认可同性恋关系，超过

12

个城镇已经这么做了。芬兰为 同性伴侣提供政府的社会福利。

比利时给予男同性恋囚犯在服刑期间接受同性伴侣探视的 权利。绝大多数欧洲国家都确立了保障同性恋关

系的部分合法地位。欧洲议会还通过了一 项为男女同性恋者争取平等权利的决议。

In the United States, efforts to legalize same-sex domestic partnership have had some limited

success. The

Lambda

Legal

Defense

and

Education

Fund,

Inc.

reported

that

by

mid-1995,

thirty-six

municipalities

,

eight

counties,

three

states,

five

state

agencies,

and

two

federal

agencies

extended

some

benefits

to

,

or

registered

for

some

official

purposes,

same-sex

domestic partnerships. In 1994, the California legislature passed a domestic partnership bill

that provided official state registration of same-sex couples and provided limited marital rights

and privileges relating to hospital visitation, wills and estates, and powers of

attorney.

While

California’s

Gover

nor

Wilson

eventually

vetoed

the

bill,

its

passage

by

the

legislature

represented a notable political achievement for advocates of same-sex marriage.

在美国，