Translation 1 (E. Martin, Anglistik) – Winter 2006/07
6e: Text 6 plus some English stuff
page
contents
2
3
4 onwards
German text
Model translation with highlighted points
Matching English articles (highlighted)
Translation 1 (E. Martin, Anglistik) – Winter 2006/07
Text 6
Translate the following newspaper text into English.
There are two reasons for choosing this week's text: it's a very eye-catching headline, and
although it's a political text, it gives us some practice with translating general, nonpolitical language for a change - which is useful and fun.
Tip 1: The specific terminology this week relates to US politics and elections and to having
children, which deserves a special colour. |-) I've also highlighted some typical journalese
phrases.
Tip 2: The tricky bits this week are the general language bits: words and phrases that are very
familiar to you from everyday German but which you might not be able to translate easily into
English.
Always write your translation on a computer and bring a complete print-out to class next
week together with the matching English texts you have used.
+++++++++++++++
Das schwarze Schaf der Cheneys ist schwanger
[Do not translate the parts in italics. They are just for your information.]
"Der Vizepräsident und Frau Cheney sehen der Ankunft ihres sechsten
Enkelkindes mit freudiger Erwartung entgegen", heißt es in einer knappen
Erklärung, mit der das Büro von Großvater Dick die frohe Botschaft bestätigte. Im
Frühjahr soll Entbindung sein. Dass die Nachricht in Washington überhaupt eine ist,
liegt an der Person Mary Cheney und den politischen Freunden ihres Vaters. Die
betrachten Mary seit langem als das schwarze Schaf in der Familie ihres
konservativen Idols. Denn Mary lebt seit 15 Jahren mit ihrer Lebensgefährtin
Heather Poe zusammen. Sie ist nicht nur offen homosexuell, sondern war jahrelang
auch in der Gay-Community aktiv. Das passt so gar nicht zu dem Bild, das viele
Amerikaner von Dick Cheney haben. Der gilt als stockkonservativ.
Als einer von nur 13 Kongressabgeordneten stimmte er in den 80er Jahren gegen
Geld für die Aids-Beratung. Als Verteidigungsminister verwehrte er Anfang der 90er
Homosexuellen den Dienst an der Waffe. 2004 wurden Bush/Cheney auch deshalb
wiedergewählt, weil die Republikaner in vielen Bundesstaaten konservative Wähler
mit Referenden gegen die Homo-Ehe zu den Urnen lockten. Da aber hatte sich
Cheney bereits gegen den Vorschlag ausgesprochen, ein Verbot
gleichgeschlechtlicher Ehen in der US-Verfassung zu verankern. Und anders als
vier Jahre zuvor spielte Tochter Mary als Wahlhelferin eine prominente Rolle an der
Seite ihres Vaters, der sich seither öffentlich zur lesbischen Tochter bekennt.
Lange haben Amerikas christliche Eiferer dies als irregeleitete Vaterliebe toleriert
oder peinlich berührt geschwiegen. Die Nachricht aber, dass Cheney nach fünf
Enkeln von der ältesten Tochter Elizabeth jetzt Nachwuchs von Mary erwartet,
löste in konservativen Zirkeln einen Aufschrei aus. Janice Crouse von der
konservativen Organisation Besorgte Mütter Amerikas nannte den Kinderwunsch
der Cheney-Tochter "unverschämt". Dadurch würden andere homosexuelle Paare
ermuntert, sich ebenfalls Kinder anzuschaffen.
(195 words)
URL: http://www.f-r.de/in_und_ausland/politik/aktuell/?em_cnt=1027601
Copyright © FR online 2006, Erscheinungsdatum 08.12.2006
Translation 1 (E. Martin, Anglistik) – Winter 2006/07
highlighted points: punctuation and spelling, vocabulary, grammar and syntax
The Cheneys’ black sheep is pregnant
"The V/vice P/president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with
eager anticipation to the arrival of their sixth grandchild," says the
brief statement from Grandfather Dick’s office confirming the happy
news. The birth is expected in spring / The baby is due in spring.
The fact that this (news) is news in the first place/ at all in
Washington is connected with Mary Cheney herself/ as a person
and her father’s political friends. They have long seen Mary as the
black sheep in their conservative idol’s family – because Mary has
lived/ been living with her partner Heather Poe for 15 years.
In 2004, Bush and Cheney were re-elected/ won re-election partly
(had)
because
in
many
states
the
Republicans
attracted/lured/enticed conservative voters to the polls with
referenda/referendums against gay/same-sex marriage. But by
then Cheney had already said he was opposed to the proposal to
enshrine a ban on same-sex marriage(s) in the US constitution /
the proposal for an amendment to the US constitution banning
same-sex marriage(s). And, unlike four years before, daughter
Mary played a prominent part as a campaign aide at the side of her
father, who since then has publicly stood by his lesbian daughter.
For a long time now, America’s Christian zealots have seen this as
misguided paternal love or (have) kept a shocked/ an
embarrassed silence. But the news that, after five grandchildren
from his oldest daughter Elizabeth, Cheney is expecting offspring
from Mary has sparked an outcry in conservative circles/ among
conservatives. Janice Crouse of/ from the conservative organisation
Concerned Women for America called Cheney’s daughter’s
pregnancy/ wish for a child “unconscionable”. (BrE) /
“unconscionable.” (AmE) This, she said, would encourage other
homosexual couples to have children, too.
Translation 1 (E. Martin, Anglistik) – Winter 2006/07
Groups Mixed on Mary Cheney's Pregnancy
Thursday December 7, 2006 2:16 AM
By DAVID CRARY
AP National Writer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6263464,00.html
NEW YORK (AP) - Conservative leaders voiced dismay Wednesday at news that Mary Cheney, the lesbian
daughter of Dick Cheney, is pregnant, while a gay-rights group said the vice president faces ``a lifetime of
sleepless nights'' for serving in an administration that has opposed recognition of same-sex couples.
Mary Cheney, 37, and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, 45, are expecting a baby in late spring, said
Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for the vice president.
``The vice president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with eager anticipation'' to the arrival of their sixth
grandchild, McBride said.
Mary Cheney was an aide to her father during the 2004 campaign, and now is vice president for consumer
advocacy at AOL. She and Poe moved from Colorado to Virginia a year ago to be closer to the Cheney
family.
Family Pride, which advocates on behalf of gay and lesbian families, noted that Virginia last month became
one of 27 states with a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. ``Unless they move to a
handful of less restrictive states, Heather will never be able to have a legal relationship with her child,'' said
Family Pride executive director Jennifer Chrisler.
The couple ``will quickly face the reality that no matter how loved their child will be. ... he or she will never
have the same protections that other children born to heterosexual couples enjoy,'' Chrisler said.
``Grandfather Cheney will no doubt face a lifetime of sleepless nights as he reflects on the irreparable harm
he and his administration have done to the millions of American gay and lesbian parents and their children.''
For years, Mary Cheney's openness about her sexual orientation had posed a dilemma for conservative
activists who admire Dick Cheney's stance on many issues but consider homosexuality a sin.
Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America described the pregnancy as ``unconscionable.''
``It's very disappointing that a celebrity couple like this would deliberately bring into the world a child that will
never have a father,'' said Crouse, a senior fellow at the group's think tank. ``They are encouraging people
who don't have the advantages they have.''
Crouse said there was no doubt that the news would, in conservatives' eyes, be damaging to the Bush
administration, which already has been chided by some leaders on the right for what they felt was
halfhearted commitment to anti-abortion and anti-gay-rights causes in this year's general election.
Carrie Gordon Earll, a policy analyst for the conservative Christian ministry Focus on the Family, expressed
empathy for the Cheney family but depicted the newly announced pregnancy as unwise.
``Just because you can conceive a child outside a one-woman, one-man marriage doesn't mean it's a good
idea,'' said. ``Love can't replace a mother and a father.''
The vice president's office declined to elaborate on the circumstances of Mary Cheney's pregnancy.
The news was welcomed by the president of the largest national gay-rights group, Joe Solmonese of the
Human Rights Campaign.
``Mary and Heather's decision to have a child is an example that families in America come in all different
shapes and sizes,'' he said. ``The bottom line is that a family is made up of love and commitment.''
Translation 1 (E. Martin, Anglistik) – Winter 2006/07
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2705001&page=1
Cheney's Grandchild Will Have Two Mommies
Conservatives Upset at Prospect of 'Fatherless' Cheney Child
By JAKE TAPPER
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2006 — - Mary Cheney, the vice president's openly gay daughter and
political adviser, has revealed today that she is pregnant, bringing good news to the vice president's
family and a profoundly disappointed and upset reaction from Christian conservatives.
Many in this key Republican constituency say that it's a disaster for the vice president's daughter to
have a child without an apparent father.
"The vice president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with eager anticipation to the arrival of
their sixth grandchild," spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said to ABC News.
McBride would not answer questions about how the child was conceived, or say whether the vice
president considered Heather Poe, Mary Cheney's partner of 15 years, the other mother of the child.
While Grandma and Grandpa Cheney are no doubt celebrating the pregnancy, the fact that their
sixth grandchild will have two mommies is potentially awkward for the Bush administration. The
administration has called for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and won reelection in 2004 in no small part because of its opposition to gay and lesbian marriage.
Many political observers believe that issue helped motivate Christian conservatives to the polls,
especially in key swing states such as Ohio, where a statewide referendum banning same-sex
marriage was on the ballot.
"I believe that marriage is a union between a man and a woman," President Bush said to the
applause of an Iowa crowd on Oct. 26, 2006, after the New Jersey Supreme Court instructed the
state legislature to provide the same legal rights to same-sex couples as to straight couples. The
court left it up to lawmakers to decide whether such arrangements would be called "marriage."
"And I believe it's a sacred institution that is critical to the health of our society and the well-being
of families, and it must be defended," Bush said. As Texas governor, Bush opposed gay couples
being able to legally adopt. "I believe children ought to be adopted in families with a woman and a
man who are married," he said.
In an interview last year with The New York Times, the president said "studies have shown that the
ideal is where a child is raised in a married family with a man and a woman."
Vice President Dick Cheney has said that he opposes a federal amendment banning same-sex
marriage, preferring to leave that up to the states. Mary Cheney clearly disagrees with her father's
boss, the man she worked hard to re-elect in 2000 and 2004.
Earlier this year, she told ABC News' Diane Sawyer that "every study has confirmed what matters
is that children are raised in a loving and supportive environment. And there's no reason why that
can't be provided by a same-sex couple."
She also told Sawyer that from her perspective, "Heather and I already are married. We have built a
home and a life together. I hope I get to spend the rest of my life with her. The way I look at it is,
we're just waiting for state and federal law to catch up with us."
Translation 1 (E. Martin, Anglistik) – Winter 2006/07
The Culture War
As news of Cheney's pregnancy hit Washington today, it quickly emerged as an issue in the battle
between entrenched groups representing differing views of morality in the country. In an interview
with ABC News, Janice Crouse, an official with the conservative advocacy group Concerned
Women for America, called Cheney's pregnancy "wrong."
"They're deliberately bringing a child into the world without a father, leaving a great gaping hole,"
Crouse said. "Father absence is the biggest problem we're facing in this country," she said, and "the
root cause of all sorts of negative outcomes -- drug use, juvenile delinquency. You name it."
Similar sentiments were expressed by Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Media Institute of
the Media Research Center.
"I think it's tragic that a child has been conceived with the express purpose of denying it a father,"
Knight said.
"Fatherhood is important and always will be, so if Mary and her partner indicate that that is a trivial
matter, they're shortchanging this child from the start."
"Mary and Heather can believe what they want," Knight said, "but what they're seeking is to force
others to bless their nonmarital relationship as marriage" and to "create a culture that is based on
sexual anarchy instead of marriage and family values."
Conversely, Jennifer Chrisler, the executive director of Family Pride, an advocacy group for gay
and lesbian parents and their families, seized upon Cheney's baby news to underline what she sees
as injustice. "As Mary and Heather enter into the life-changing roles of parents, they will quickly
face the reality that no matter how loved their child will be -- by its mothers and its grandparents,
aunts and uncles, cousins and close family friends -- he or she will never have the same protections
that other children born to heterosexual couples enjoy," Chrisler said.
"Mary and Heather currently live in Virginia. Unless they move to a handful of less restrictive
states, Heather will never be able to have a legal relationship with her child" because Mary Cheney
will be the birth mother and Virginia does not recognize the legal status of same-sex couples.
Chrisler added that Grandfather Cheney "has been complicit in the largest full-scale attack on the
LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community in modern history. … Grandfather
Cheney will no doubt face a lifetime of sleepless nights as he reflects on the irreparable harm he and
his administration have done to the millions of American gay and lesbian parents and their
children."
Cheney's office said it would not have any comment on Mary's pregnancy beyond its statement this
morning. In Davenport, Iowa, in August 2004, the vice president said that, "With respect to the
question of relationships, my general view is that freedom means freedom for everyone. People
ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to."
Some conservatives believe that Mary Cheney's lesbianism has tempered Bush's support for the
constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. "The Cheney situation clearly tempered what Mr. Bush
said about the marriage issue," Knight said. "He may have backed the marriage amendment, but he
didn't really put a lot of effort into it."
Karen Travers contributed to this report Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures