Back in fashion
再度风行

Big love dares to speak its name

“大爱”不惧名声在外。

（1）IN 2001, Warren Jeffs officiated[1] while a 14-year-old girl married her 19-year-old cousin. It was the first marriage for the bride and meant to be the first of many for the groom. Mr Jeffs is the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). With perhaps 10,000 members, it is the largest of the polygamous[2] sects that spun off[3] from Mormonism[4] more than 100 years ago. On November 21st prosecutors in Utah argued that Mr Jeffs should be charged with two counts of rape as an accomplice.

2001年，沃伦•杰夫主持了一名14岁女孩和她19岁表哥的婚礼。这是新娘的初婚，而对新郎而言，这也是她娶的第一个但又注定不是唯一的新娘。杰夫是耶稣基督末世圣徒原教旨教会的教主。该教会是一百多年前从摩门教独立出来的最大的一个分支，奉行一夫多妻制，大约有1万名教徒。11月21日，犹他州检控官指认杰夫充当了两起强奸案的帮凶。

The case has brought renewed attention to polygamists in America. The practice is illegal, and widely reviled. A Gallup poll[5] in May 2006 found that 93% of Americans consider it immoral. The threats of prosecution and persecution have usually been enough to keep polygamists subdued. But lately they are becoming emboldened. （2）For one thing, the scorn is often mutual. “It would be easier to lie, cheat, and steal like you guys do,” one polygamous husband told a television reporter. “I have a certain amount of disgust for monogamy.” Besides, the debate over gay marriage has led to a wide national dialogue over traditional morality. Earlier this year, the television network HBO aired a series about a polygamous family. “Big Love”, which got respectable ratings, portrays plural marriage as more demanding than deviant.

该案再次引起了人们对美国实行一夫多妻者的关注。（在美国）实行一夫多妻属于非法行为，并且为世人所不齿。今年5月的一项盖洛普民意测验显示，93％的美国人认为此乃不道德的行为。一般情况下，奉行一夫多妻者慑于法律控诉和宗教迫害双重威胁而不敢造次，但最近胆量开始大起来。一方面，人们要是瞧不起他们，他们往往能够反唇相讥。一位奉行一夫多妻制的男子对一家电视台记者说：“我可以像你们一样说谎，行骗甚至偷窃，这都很容易。我就是对一夫一妻比较反感。”（注：潜台词应该是，只许州官放火，难道就不许百姓点灯么？）另一方面，关于同性婚姻的争议引发了一场针对传统道德的举国论辩。今年早些时候，HBO电视广播公司播出了一部讲述一个一夫多妻家庭故事的电视剧，名为《大爱》（或译《博爱》、《妻妾成群》），收视率相当高。它关注的并不是一夫多妻婚姻的不合伦常，而是那些人生活的艰辛。

Mormon fundamentalists argue that anti-polygamy laws infringe[6] religious liberty. （3）The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah agrees, saying there is no reason to criminalise “private, consensual[7], adult relationships that are motivated by sincerely-held religious beliefs”.

摩门教原教旨主义者认为，反对一夫多妻制的法律是对宗教信仰自由的践踏。犹他州美国公民自由联盟对此表示赞成，并称将“源自虔诚宗教信仰的成人之间两厢情愿的私人关系”视为犯罪毫无道理。

The idea that the government has no business meddling in relationships between consenting adults is, of course, a pillar of the gay-marriage movement. （4）Opponents of gay marriage have always argued that opening the institution to homosexuals would put America on a slippery slope[8] to polygamy, incest and worse. But Mormon fundamentalists do not want to get into bed with[9] sinners like homosexuals. And gay-rights advocates have distanced themselves from polygamists. They argue that sexuality is intrinsic, while polygamy is a choice with grievous social consequences.

有人觉得政府干涉两厢情愿的成人关系纯属多管闲事。这种观念当然也给同性婚姻运动提供了有力声援。反对同性婚姻的人士一直都认为，从制度上接受同性恋将使美国迅速堕落成一个充斥一夫多妻、乱伦甚至更为恶劣问题的国家。不过摩门原教旨主义者是不想与同性恋者之类得罪神灵的人“同流合污”的，而鼓吹同性恋权利的人对一夫多妻者也是避而远之。他们认为，性取向是与生俱来的，而选择一夫多妻则会带来严重的社会后果。

（5）So far, the public response to polygamy has been practical, not philosophical. In Utah and Arizona, which are home to sizeable Mormon fundamentalist enclaves, the official policy is to ignore plural marriages unless they are associated with incest[10], fraud or abuse. The Canadian Department of Justice took a similar line earlier this year, when it recommended decriminalising the practice.

迄今为止，公众对一夫多妻制的反应一直都是就事论事而缺乏理性认识。在有相当数量的摩门教原教旨主义者聚居的犹他州和亚利桑那州，官方所采取的政策是只要一夫多妻婚姻不涉及乱伦、欺诈或者滥交就听之任之。加拿大司法部今年早些时候也采取了类似的政策，同时建议一夫多妻制应当合法化。

As the Jeffs case shows, polygamy-rights activists have an uphill public-relations battle. Abuse and coercion are only the most obvious dangers of polygamy. Last year the Phoenix New Times reported that inbreeding[11] among the FLDS “is producing a caste of severely retarded and deformed children.” （6）The FLDS has also cast out [12] more than 400 young men. These “lost boys” were supposedly excommunicated[13] because of moral lapses like wanting to go to public schools. They also presented unwelcome competition for wives.

杰夫一案表明，积极鼓吹一夫多妻权利的人士正面临一场艰苦卓绝的公共关系斗争。滥交和强迫性行为只是一夫多妻制最显见的危害所在。据《凤凰新时代》去年报道，后期圣徒耶稣基督原教旨教会中的近亲交配“生出了一大批严重发育不良和畸形的儿童”。该教会还强迫400多名少男离开教会所属社区。据推测，这些“遭遗弃的孩子”之所以被逐，是因为堕入了“精神迷途”，比如妄想到公立学校上学（注：因公立学校教进化论，而私立教会学校则不），而且他们可能要与（与社区内的长者）争夺妻室，也让教会觉得“逐之而后快”。（以便剩下的男子个个都能娶多个妻子）

Another stumbling-block for polygamists is that numbers are not on their side. Millions of Americans are gay, and many millions more have gay friends or relatives.（7）Polygamists are hard to come by, despite the order to be fruitful and multiply. Principle Voices, a pro-polygamy group, reckons that there are only about 37,000 Mormon fundamentalists in America.

奉行一夫多妻制者的另一个“绊脚石”是他们的队伍还不够壮大。美国有数以百万的同性恋者，亲朋好友是同性恋的美国人则更多。尽管一夫多妻可以大量繁衍后代，但目前在美国一夫多妻者还是比较少见（注：因为后继乏人？）。据支持一夫多妻制的组织“真理之声”估算，美国目前仅有大约3.7万名摩门教原教旨主义者。

[NOTES]

1. officiate vi. 主持（宗教仪式）

2. polygamous adj. 一夫多妻的;一妻多夫的

3. spin off 分割出来，分支出来

4. Mormonism n. 摩门教（即耶稣基督后期圣徒教会）

5. Gallup poll 盖洛普民意测验美国民意调查机构——美国舆论研究所进行的调查项目之一。因1935年由G.盖洛普创办该所而得名。总部设在普林斯顿。民意测验每年举行20～25次，总统大选年略多。调查内容包括政治、经济、社会等。采用抽样调查方法，在全国各州按比例选择测验对象，派调查员面访，然后统计调查结果，分析并作出说明，提供给用户。

6. infringe v. 侵犯，侵害

7. consensual adj. [律]在双方同意下成立的

8. slippery slope急剧下滑

9. get into bed with与……发生性关系

10. incest n.近亲相奸,乱伦

11. inbreed v. 使同系繁殖;使在内部生成

12. cast out 逐出

13. excommunicate v. 把...逐出教会;开除

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