本文音频及原文摘自杂志The Economist 2016年第28期，Middle East and Africa版块。

Divorce in Nigeria

Official statistics vastly understate Nigeria’s divorce rate

Jul 9th 2016

JOSEPH ADUWO reckons he is well shot of[1] his spouse. “My wife…fought with nine persons in a day on our street, wearing only bra and underpants. She is a shameless streetfighter,” he told a Lagos court. It duly[恰当地;适时地;应当地] dissolved their union.

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Official statistics suggest that divorce is exceedingly[非常;特别;极其] uncommon in Nigeria. Just 0.2% of men and 0.3% of women have legally untied the knot[=get a divorce], according to the National Bureau of Statistics. And well under 1% of couples admit to being separated. Yet such counts exclude the vast majority of Nigerians, whose traditional marriage ceremonies are not governed by modern law, says Chief Robert Clarke, a barrister[2].

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In the mostly Muslim north of the country, men may take up to four wives (so long as they obey the Koranic injunction[3] to treat all equally). Often the younger wives are not yet 18. When a husband wants to trade one of his spouses for a younger model, he need only repeat the words “I divorce you” three times to be freed. In 2008 one pensioner split from 82 of his 86 partners to put himself back on the right side of Islamic law.

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[1]be well shot of something or somebody meaning that your life will be better because something or somebody is no longer part of your life

[2]barrister：a type of lawyer in Britain, Australia and some other countries who is qualified to give specialist legal advice and can argue a case in both higher and lower law courts （英国、澳大利亚等国有资格在任何法庭出庭的）专门律师，大律师

[3]Koranic is used to describe something which belongs or relates to the Koran. 古兰经的

...Koranic schools.

...穆斯林学校。

injunction：an official order given by a court of law, usually to stop someone from doing something 禁令

[ + to infinitive ] The court has issued an injunction to prevent the airline from increasing its prices.

法院颁布禁令不准航空公司提价。

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Regardless of what the Koran[古兰经] says, politicians in Kano[卡诺(尼日利亚城市)], the north’s biggest city, think divorce is breeding[1] “vices[恶习;缺德行为] in society”. One former governor came up with an innovative solution. In 2013 he married off[把…嫁出去;嫁出] 1,111 widows[寡妇] and divorcees[离了婚的人] in a public ceremony costing just under $1m. Another 2,000 brides were lined up by the state government for marriage late last year.

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Couples also marry young farther south, but women there tend to be a little more empowered. Olayinka Akanle, a professor of sociology[社会学] at the University of Ibadan[伊巴丹大学], reckons that when things fall apart they demand separations more readily than in the north. For instance, one Lagos[拉各斯(尼日利亚的首都)] wife had her marriage dissolved on the basis that her drunken husband confused their cooking pots[烹饪锅；烹饪器] with the toilet. Another woman complained that her banker spouse spent too long stuck in traffic (hardly his fault, he might reasonably claim; Lagos jams[(车辆)堵塞] are awful).

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Other deal-breakers include a wife’s failure to bring cooking utensils[厨具;烹饪用具;炊具] from her father’s house. “How will a woman get married without a grinding stone[磨石;研磨石;砂轮]?” her husband lamented[2]. One woman filed for divorce having found her husband to be rather too well endowed[3]. And a trader complained that his wife was not as buxom[4] as he had thought. “I detest[5] those small-size boobs,” he said after a disappointing three months. “It is better to end the marriage.”

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[1]breed

to cause something to happen, usually something bad 招致，导致

Favouritism breeds resentment.

偏袒招致怨恨。

to keep animals for the purpose of producing young animals in a controlled way （为繁殖目的）饲养

Terriers are bred for their fighting instincts.

交配繁殖梗狗是为了保持它们好斗的本性。

[2]lament

to express sadness and feeling sorry about something 对…感到悲痛，对…表示失望，痛惜

The poem opens by lamenting (over) the death of a young man.

这首诗的开篇表达了对一位青年之死的惋惜之情。

[3]endow

to give a large amount of money to pay for creating a college or hospital, etc. or to provide an income for it 向（院校、医院等）捐款，捐赠，资助

The state of Michigan has endowed three institutes to do research for industry.

密歇根州已经向3家研究所提供资助进行产业研究。

[4]buxom ['bʌks(ə)m]

(of a woman) healthy-looking and slightly fat, with large breasts （女子）健美丰满的

[5]detest

to hate someone or something very much 憎恨，厌恶，讨厌

I detest any kind of cruelty.

我厌恶任何形式的残暴

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以上言论不代表本人立场。

原文摘自The economist，仅外语学习之用。

其中生词解释来源于Cambridge Dictionaries

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