外籍配偶 Foreign Spouse Numbers on the Rise
亞洲的跨文化婚姻日益普遍，許多男女尋找另一半時，不執意找本國人。有些人尋得追求的愛情、幸福與安全感，有些則發現語言、文化障礙讓夫妻難以琴瑟和鳴。最慘的情況是外籍妻子遭丈夫拳腳相向。台灣公益團體伊甸社會福利基金會(Taiwan's non-profit Eden Social Welfare Foundation)社工人員呂惠萱(Lu Hui-chuan)指出，許多外籍新娘僅被視為傳宗接代的工具。
Cross-cultural marriages are becoming increasingly common across Asia as many youth men and women no longer insist on finding a partner from their own country. Some of these have found the love, happiness and security they were seeking, while others have discovered that linguistic and cultural barriers make for unhappy bedfellows. In the most upsetting situations, women are the victims of violent spousal abuse (at the hand of their husbands). According to social worker Lü Huixuan of the Eden Social Welfare Foundation, in fact, many foreign brides are looked upon as nothing more than instruments for procreation and ensuring family succession.
台灣已成為有大批外籍配偶生活的亞洲主要國家。內政部資料顯示，台灣過去20年來入境的外籍配偶已有38萬餘人，其中超過6成5來自香港、澳門與中國。台灣外籍配偶有19.8%來自越南，6.8%來自印尼，2.46%來自泰國，1.59%來自菲律賓，1.18%來自柬埔寨。
Taiwan has become a major country of immigration of foreign spouses in Asia. Figures made available by the Ministry of Interior show that over the past 20 years, some 380,000 foreign spouses have enter the country, more than 65% of whom come from Hong Kong, Macau or China. A further 19.8% are Vietnamese, 6.8% are Indonesian and 2.46% are Thai, while 1.59% come from the Philippines and 1.18% from Cambodia.
Agence France-Press (AFP) 法新社
另一半 better half
You’ll never know how the other half lives.
-> people from other socio-economic classes
琴瑟和鳴 wedded bliss
the tabloid press -> silly 如：太陽報,鏡報,爽報,蘋果報
the broadsheets -> serious
MOI figures/data/statistics show
a literal translation字面的 (≠literary translation)
it suffers from “source-language lexical patterning”
sound a cross-cultural tone
hear the sounds of 2 cultures
School bells are ringing a happy tone this week as students prepare for a long vacation.
Temple bells across Taiwan are sounding a sour tone as the government prepares to tax religious foundations.
