特别广播英语第 136 课：Slavery on Our Doorstep 我们身边的奴役-1

There are estimated to be more than 20,000 overseas domestic servants working in Britain (the exact figure is not known because the Home Office, the government department that deals with this, does not keep statistics). 据估计，在英国工作的外籍家庭佣人有两万多人。

Usually, they have been brought over by foreign businessmen, diplomats or Britons returning from abroad. 通常，他们是被外国商人、外交官和从国外归来的英国人带来的。

Of these 20,000, just under 2,000 are being exploited and abused by their employers, according to a London-based campaigning group which helps overseas servants working in Britain. 根据某个设在伦敦的帮助在英国做工的外籍佣人的政治组织说，两万名佣人中有近两千人被他们的雇主剥削、虐待。

The abuse can take several forms. Often the domestics are not allowed to go out, and they do not receive any payment. 虐待有多种形式：家仆常不许外出或得不到工钱；

They can be physically, sexually and psychologically abused. 有的家仆还受到肉体、性或精神方面的虐待；

And they can have their passports removed, making leaving or "escaping" virtually impossible. 还有的护照遭到没收，这样他们走也走不了，逃也逃不掉。

The sad condition of women working as domestics around the world received much media attention earlier this year in several highly publicized cases. 今年早些时候引起大众高度注意的事件中，全世界女佣的悲惨状况得到了媒体的注意。

In one of them, a Filipino maid was executed is Singapore after being convicted of murder, despite protests from various quarters that her guilt had not been adequately established. 其中一件是，一个菲律宾女佣在被判杀谋杀罪后，在新加坡被处决，尽管各方面都抗议她的罪行尚未充分证实。

Groups like Anti-Slavery International say other, less dramatic, cases are equally deserving of attention, such as that of Lydia Garcia, a Filipino maid working in London: 一些组织如"反奴役国际"称还有一些案件虽然没有菲律宾女佣案那么具有戏剧性，也同样值得关注。如在伦敦做事的菲籍女佣迪亚加西亚一案：

"I was hired by a Saudi diplomat directly form the Philippines to work in London in 1989. I was supposed to be paid ￡120 but I never received that amount. They always threatened that they would send me back to my country." "1989年一个沙特外交官直接把我从菲律宾雇来到伦敦工作。说是一个月120镑，但多从没有拿过那么多。她还经常吓唬我，说要把我送回国去。"

Then there is the case of Kumari from Sri Lanka. The main breadwinner in her family, she used to work for a very low wage at a tea factory in Sri Lanka. 此外，还有来自斯里兰卡的库马里事件。她家主要靠她赚钱维持生计，她曾在斯里兰卡一家茶场挣一份微薄的工资。