特别广播英语第 137 课：Slavery on Our Doorstep 我们身边的奴役-2

Because she found it difficult to feed her four children, she accepted a job working as a domestic in London. 因为她发现很难养活她的四个孩子，就接受了在伦敦做佣人的一份工作。

She says she felt like a prisoner at the London house where she worked: 她说在伦敦那所她工作的房子里感觉像个囚犯。

"No days off - ever, no breaks at all, no proper food. I didn't have my own room; I slept on a shelf with a space of only three feet above me. "不放假，也不让休息，连一口像样的饭也吃不上。而且我没有自己的房间，让我睡在壁橱的隔板上，躺上去，身子离上面的隔板只有三尺来高，

I wasn't allowed to talk to anybody. I wasn't even allowed to open the window. My employers always threatened to report me to the Home Office or the police." 还不容许我跟别人说话，连窗户也不让开。雇主动不动就吓唬说要向内政部或警察告我的状。"

At the end of 1994 the British Government introduced new measures to help protect domestic workers from abuse by their employers. 1993年末英国政府采取了新措施，保护家佣不再受雇主的欺负。

This included increasing the minimum age of employees to 18, getting employees to read and understand an advice leaflet, getting employers to agree to provide adequate maintenance and conditions, and to put in writing the main terms and conditions of the job (of which the employees should see a copy). 其中包括把雇佣的年龄提高到18岁，让雇佣新闻记者并理解一份有建议的宣传材料，使雇主同意提供适当的生活费用和条件，把工作的主要条款和条件形成文字。

However, many people doubt whether this will successfully reduce the incidence of abuse. 但是，这些措施能否有效地减少虐待的发生，很多人感到怀疑。

For the main problem facing overseas maids and domestics who try to complain about cruel living and working conditions is that they do not have independent immigrant status and so cannot change employer. (They are allowed in the United Kingdom under a special concession in the immigration rules which allows foreigners to bring domestic staff with them.) 外籍女佣和家仆虽有意对恶劣的生活和工作条件提出控诉，但主要的问题是他们没有独立的移民身份，因此不能改换雇主，

So if they do complain, they risk being deported. 故而他们敢发泄不满的话，就有被遣送回国的可能。

Allowing domestic workers the freedom to seek the same type of work but with a different employer, if the so choose, is what groups like Anti-Slavery International are campaigning the Government for. 做家仆的人有选择雇主的自由，这也就是"反奴役国际"这类组织努力促使政府去实现的事。

It is, they say, the right to change employers which distinguishes employment from slavery. 这类组织说，正是改换雇主的权利划清了雇佣和奴役的界限。