英语六级必读美文023：国际妇女节

　　In 1869 British MP John Stuart Mill was the first person in Parliament to call for womens right to vote. On 19 September 1893 New Zealand became the first country in the world to give women the right to vote.Women in other countries did not enjoy this equality and campaigned for justice for many years.

　　1869年，约翰 密尔是第一个在国会上提出妇女应该有选举的权利的议员0 1893年9月19日，新西兰成为世界上第一个妇女拥有表决权的国家。很长一段时间里，其他很多国家的妇女们并不能够享受到这种公平和参加选举的权利。

　　In 1910 a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named Clara Zetkin tabled the idea of an hiternational Womens Day, She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day-a Womens Day-to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties working womens clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish

　　parliament, greeted Zetkins suggestion with unanimous approval and thus Intemational Womens Day was the result.

　　1910年，第2次关于劳动妇女的国际会议在哥本哈根举行。一位名叫克拉拉 蔡特金(德国的社会民族党妇女办公室主席)的妇女提交丁关于国际妇女节的议案。她提议，每个国家每年都应该在某一天来庆祝妇女的节日，以便表达她们的要求，参加会议的100多名妇女分别来自17个国家，她们有来自工会的、社会政党的、妇女俱乐部的，其中包括3名被选进芬兰议会的女性，并以一致通过的方式产生了国际妇女节。

　　The very first International Womens Day was launched the following year on 19 March . The date was chosen because on 19 March in the year of the 1848 revolution, the Prussian king recognized for the first time the strength of the armed people and gave way before the tbreat of a proletarian uprising. Among the many promises he made, which he later failed to keep, was the introduction of votes for women， Plans for the first International Womens Day demonstration were spread by word of mouth and in the press. During the week before International Womens Day two journals appeared: The Vote for Women in Germany and Womens Day in Austria. Various articles were devoted to Intemational Womens Day: Women and Parliament, The WorkingWomen and Municipal AffairsWhat Has the Housewife got to do with Politics?, etc. The articles thoroughly analyzed the question of the equality of women in the government and in society .All articles emphasized the same point that it was absolutely necessary to make parliament more democratic by extending the franchise to women.

　　紧接着第2年的第一个妇女节是3月19日，不是明8日。之所以选3月19日，是因为1848年的革命，那一年，普鲁士国王被认为是第一次承认武装人员的力量并在无产阶级起义的威胁下让位. 在他众多的承诺中，其中就有让妇女拥有选举权的启蒙，但是后来他并没有履行诺言。第1届国际妇女节的示范计划是通过口耳相传和印刷在各种报刊上传开的。在国际妇女节的前一个星期出现了两篇资讯：德国妇女的表决权和奥地利的妇女节。同时出现了各种用来专门描写国际妇女节的文章，如 妇女和国会 ， 劳动妇女和市政 ， 关于政治，家庭主妇可以做些什么? 等等。这些文章深入地分析了在政府和社会方面妇女的平等问题。 所有的文章都强调了同样的问题，那就是议会应该通过给予妇女公民权来体现民主，这是绝对需要的。

　　Success of the first International Womens Day in 1911 exceeded all expectation. Meetings were organized everywhere in small towns and even the villages halls were packed so full that male workers were asked to give up their places for women. Men stayed at home with their children for a change, and their wives, the captive housewives, went to meetings.

　　191 1年第一届妇女节的成功举行超出了所有人的预期。人们在全世界的各个角落甚至是小村庄里组织召开了会议，以至于男人们被要求放弃他们的位置，将其让给妇女们。男人们待在家里照顾其孩子，他们的妻子，曾经在家的家庭主妇去参加会议。

　　During the largest street demonstration of 30,000 women, the policed.ecided to remove the demonstrators banners so the women workers made a stand. In the scuffle that followed, bloodshed was averted only with the help of the socialist deputies in Parliament.

　　在最宽的街道上有3万多名妇女在游行，警察决定把游行的横幅标语拿走才使得妇女们能有个站立的地方。在接下来的对峙中，在国会社会代表的帮助下才避免了流血事件。

　　In 1913 International Womens Day was transferred to 8 March and this day has rema:ined the global date for International Wommens Day ever since. During Intemational Womens Year in 1975, IWD was given official recognition by the United Nations and was taken up by many governments. Intemational Womens Day is marked by a national holiday in China, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Ukraine and Vietnam.

　　1913年的国际妇女节改为3月8日，这.天被保留了下来，并且作为至今的国际妇女节。在1975年的国际妇女节上，联合国正式给予国际妇女节官方确认，井且被许多国家的政府采纳接受。现在，国际妇女节在中国、亚美尼亚、俄罗斯、阿塞拜疆、白俄罗斯、保加利亚、哈萨克斯坦、吉

　　尔吉斯斯坦、马其顿、摩尔多瓦、乌克兰和越南等国家作为一个节假日。