Tue, Nov 09, 2010 page14

• Spain may use alphabetic order to decide kids’ surnames 西班牙新姓名學：依字母序排列

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  A new law in Spain could lead to a boom in children whose main family names start with the letter ‘A’.

  Until now, Spanish kids have carried both parents’ surnames — their fathers’ always in first place and their mothers’ in second. In everyday use, many people give only the first surname.

  But legislation submitted to parliament would give mothers equal rights to fathers in deciding which parent’s surname goes first.

  

  Parents and their children attend a religious ceremony marking the Fiesta de las Candelas, or celebration of lights, which is celebrated with a special mass and blessing for children born during the previous year, in Burgos, northern Spain, on Feb. 2, 2010. 二月二日，家長與兒童於西班牙北部布爾戈斯參加Fiesta de las Candelas　宗教節慶，是個慶祝光明的儀式，祝福前一年當中出生的兒童。照片：路透

  Photo: Reuters

  If they can’t agree, it will be alphabetic order that decides.

  “Names like Abad or Alvarez have a promising future in Spain,” said the conservative daily ABC.

  “For others like Zurbano or Zamora, survival will be more complicated.”

  The leading center-left daily El Pais said the Spanish government simply wanted to extend the principle of equality to the symbolic social realm of family names.

  The legislation will be examined by the Justice Commission of the parliament’s lower house until tomorrow for possible amendments. It could be two years before it comes into force.(afp)

  西班牙最近的一個新法律提案，可能讓姓氏開頭字母有個「A」的嬰兒數量突然增加。

  西班牙小孩的姓氏至今以雙親的姓拼湊而成─父親的姓總是在最前面，而母親的姓氏放在父親後面。而日常生活中，許多人只給姓氏中的第一個名字。

  但是上呈國會的這條法律讓母親與父親享有平等的權力，亦即姓氏順序依照英文字母順序排列。

  如果雙方無法達成共識，那麼就得以字母順序決定先後。

  保守派的ABC日報報導，「如阿巴德（Abad）或阿爾瓦瑞滋（Alvarez）這種名字未來在西班牙肯定很受歡迎。」

  「其他像祖爾巴諾（Zurbano）或薩摩拉（Zamora）這種名字，要生存下來可能就沒那麼容易。」

  中間左傾的國家報報導說，西班牙政府不過想把均等的概念延伸到社會領域，就如姓氏排列這件事情上。

  這個法案明日將由國會下議院司法委員會審查，討論法律修正案的可行性。到頒布成為正式法律尚有兩年的時間。

  （法新社／翻譯：吳岱璟）

  For your information

  TODAY’S WORDS 今日單字

  1. boom n. 激增 (ji1 zeng1) 例: The market boom has resulted in a sharp rise in the number of new mutual funds. (市場快速膨脹的結果導致許多新的共同基金出現。) 2. alphabetical order n. 按字母順序排列 (an4 zi4 mu3 shun4 xu4 pai2 lie4) 例: The candidates’ names were listed in alphabetical order. (候選人的名字按照字母順序排列。) 3. center-left adj. 中間偏左 (zhong1 jian1 pian1 zuo3) 例: The center-left government is planning to introduce tax hikes. (中間偏左的政府計畫調高稅率。) 4. amendment n. 修正案 (xiu1 zheng4 an4) 例: A vote on the proposed constitutional amendments will be taken later today. (今天稍晚將會針對修憲案投票。)
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