每日英語跟讀 Ep.K111: Saudi Society Is Changing Just Take a Look at These Coffeehouses
For insight into these head-spinning times in Saudi Arabia, where the ultraconservative social and religious codes that micromanage daily life seem to spring a new leak every month — women driving! movie theaters! Usher and Akon rapping to sold-out crowds! — it sometimes pays to read the Google Maps reviews of specialty coffee shops.
沙烏地阿拉伯極度保守的社會和宗教規範控制了日常生活每個細節，最近這些規範似乎每個月都出現新的破口：允許女性開車！准許電影院營運！美國節奏藍調歌手亞瑟小子和阿肯到沙國表演說唱樂的門票賣光！為了深刻了解沙國這些令人頭暈目眩的時刻，有時值得讀讀谷歌地圖中針對沙國精品咖啡店的網友評價。
“I visited this place and was in a total shock!” Tarak Alhamood, a customer at Nabt Fenjan, a Riyadh coffee shop, raged online recently. “YOU r VIOLATING the rules of this country. I hope this place get closed permanently.”
首都利雅德「納特芬詹」咖啡店的顧客艾哈穆德，最近在網路上開罵：「我去過這個地方，非常震驚！你們這家店違反我國規定。希望這裡永遠關門。」
The issue was the decision that made Nabt Fenjan a daring outpost of the new Riyadh: Originally opened only for women, the coffee shop began allowing male and female customers to mix in late 2018.
問題出在一個決定，這決定使納特芬詹成了新風貌利雅德大無畏的前哨站：這家咖啡店原本只限女性入內，2018年底開始允許男女顧客共聚一堂。
The move propelled the cafe ahead of the law in the kingdom, where most restaurants and coffee shops are divided, by law and custom, into all-male “singles” sections and “family” sections for women and mixed family groups. Men enter through separate doors and pay in separate lines; women sometimes eat behind partitions to ensure privacy from male strangers.
這個舉動使納特芬詹比沙國法律還先進。沙國多數餐廳和咖啡館都依照法律和習俗實行男女隔離制度，分成全是男性的「單身」區和女性及男女混合家庭團體的「家庭」區。男性從另外的門口進入，付帳時也在另外的動線上排隊。女性有時在隔板後方進餐，確保不被陌生男性看到。
In early December, however, the government announced that businesses would no longer be required to segregate customers — the latest expansion of the social reforms initiated by the de facto Saudi ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
但去年12月初，沙國政府宣布，商家無須再把男女顧客隔開。這是沙國實質領袖、王儲穆罕默德所發動社會改革的最新進展。
Yet Nabt Fenjan was far from the only Saudi establishment to discreetly drop separate sections over the last few years, after the crown prince defanged the religious police, which once enforced conservative social norms. Nor was it the only place to thrive partly as a result.
不過，在王儲限制宗教警察的權力之後，納特芬詹絕非沙國近年小心翼翼捨棄男女隔離體制的唯一機構，也不是或多或少因而生意興隆的唯一地方。沙國宗教警察曾嚴格執行保守的社會規範。
“I think the reason coffee shops became a trend is because people are more open to change,” said Shaden Alkhalifah, 30, who was studying at Draft Café in Riyadh on a recent evening.
30歲的雪登．阿爾哈利法最近一個晚上在利雅德「草圖咖啡廳」研讀資料，她說：「咖啡館流行起來，是因為人們更歡迎改變。」
Notwithstanding Alhamood’s Google pan of Nabt Fenjan, even traditionalists have begun to unbend amid the general loosening-up, in larger cities if not yet in smaller ones or rural areas.
儘管艾哈穆德在谷歌上痛批納特芬詹，但就連恪守傳統的人也在這波社會風氣鬆綁的大潮中開始放鬆，或許尚未及於小城市和鄉間，卻已出現在大城市。
Some women whose families might previously have allowed them to work only in the privacy of offices, if at all, now hold barista jobs. Saudis can now mingle with the opposite sex not only at home but also at movie theaters, concerts and even wrestling matches.
一些沙國女性原本即使家人允許她們出來工作，也只能在具私密性的辦公室內工作，如今卻幹起了咖啡師。沙國人現在可以跟異性共處一堂，不只在家裡，在電影院、音樂會，甚至摔角比賽都行。
Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/4414614
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