Women Breaking with Traditions in the Business World 土耳其妇女打破商界传统

⊙By Nihal Kayali ⊙ 翻译：T Boy

Women Breaking with Traditions in the Business World 土耳其妇女打破商界传统

⊙By Nihal Kayali ⊙ 翻译：T Boy

妇女在八十多年前就有选举权，但大部分妇女至今没有属于自己的银行账户，这听起来很怪异，但也是土耳其妇女地位的真实写照。那里的妇女用自己的努力一点一点地改变着这种现状，比如从一家糖果店开始……

In Turkey, traditions1)die hard. Just2)peek into Istanbul’s old city. That’s where you can still find3)coppersmiths,carpet sellers and4)vendors measuring out dried fruit and nuts with metal weights. And, for as long as anyone can remember, those doing the selling have been men; still are.But times are changing.

Men pull wooden5)carts down6)cobblestone streets,heading to the covered markets of the Grand Bazaar,just as they have for 500 years. Hakan Altan stands by the open door of the candy shop his great-greatgrandfather started a century and a half ago. He’s worked here since he was five. “Candy making is a

1) die hard 根深蒂固，顽固到底

2) peek [piːk] v. 一瞥

3) coppersmith ['kɒpəsmɪθ] n. 铜匠

4) vendor ['vendə（r）] n. 小贩

5) cart [kɑːt] n. 手推车

6) cobblestone ['kɒbləstəʊn] n. （铺路的）圆石，鹅卵石

Turkish art,” Hakan tells me.

Inside the shop, traditional7)sweets are8)stacked from floor to ceiling: Turkish Delights dusted in powdered sugar, hard candies flavored with9)rosewater, orange and10)pistachio, and Halva—11)crushed sesame seeds and honey. On the walls there are yellowing photos of Hakan’s ancestors.There’s nothing modern here. Well, there is one thing.

Arzu (Hakan’s Daughter): My name’s Arzu, I’m 27 years old. I’m a mathematical engineer and I’m working as marketing manager.

This is Arzu, Hakan’s daughter, his only child. If the business is going to stay in the family, she’s going to have to take it over, and a woman taking over a business just doesn’t happen here in the old city. It’s still a man’s world.

Arzu: People are thinking that womans [sic]have less information than the man. These kind of people are the old people. He [sic]thinking, “OK, where is your father?” “Come on, I will ask Dad.”

You can12)barely find a woman running a business in the old13)quarters. And, across Turkey, most women still don’t have bank accounts. This is slowly changing as more young Turkish women are breaking with tradition, entering university, starting careers and earning salaries of their own. But that’s not happening here in the old city yet,where a woman like Arzu still looks out of place with her14)neon sneakers and iPhone,walking past the coppersmiths and traditional dusty carpet shops. She knows it’s gonna be a big challenge winning over customers’ trust when she takes over the candy shop.

The family knows it needs to adapt to changing times. The pressures of globalization, cheap candy15)flooding in from16)elsewhere, and lately, tourists17)scared away by terrorist attacks. This is where Arzu comes in. The family hopes her education and18)sophistication will keep the business alive. And she actually thinks being a woman will be an advantage.

Arzu: Woman [sic] are seeing the whole picture. Woman [sic] knows, understanding the customers’ needs. They are thinking more delicately than the man. Besides, they’re more sensitive than the others.

More sensitive and perhaps more outward. She thinks there’s an19)untapped market for selling the candy overseas, and she’s developing a marketing plan to take advantage of that.

As we’re talking, Arzu’s 93-year-old grandfather20)totters in. It21)strikes me that he has spent his whole life between the shop and the street. He’s clearly proud that his granddaughter’s educated and living in a larger world. And as for passing the shop on to a woman, “Of course, of course,” he tells me as Arzu listens on, “Why not?”

7) sweet [swiːt] n. 糖果

8) stack [stæk] v. 叠，摞

9) rosewater ['rəʊzwɔːtə（r）] n. 玫瑰香水

10) pistachio [pɪ'stæʃɪəʊ] n. 开心果

11) crushed [krʌʃd] adj. 压碎的

12) barely ['beəlɪ] adv. 几乎没有

13) quarter ['kwɔːtə（r）] n. 区域

14) neon ['niːɒn] n. 霓虹灯

15) fl ood [flʌd] v. 大量涌来，涌到

16) elsewhere ['els'weə（r）] prep. 在别处，到别处

17) scare [skeə（r）] v. 恐吓，惊吓

18) sophistication [səfɪstɪ'keɪʃən] n. 先进方法

19) untapped [ʌn'tæpt] adj. 未使用的，未开采的

20) totter ['tɒtə（r）] v. 蹒跚

21) strike [straɪk] v. 突然想到，猛然悟到

This is where Arzu comes in.

动词词组come in除了最基本的“进入，进来”义项外，还有许多用法，其中一种就是文中的这句话，come in在这里是“在某事中发挥作用”的意思，指阿尔祖成为整个局面的一部分，参与其中，并起到积极的作用。This/which is where sb./sth. comes in是come in这种用法的常见句式，where指此句之前讲述的形势，说明谈论的对象正是在这其中发挥作用，这个对象可以是人，也可以是机构，也可以是某种工具，如：Finally,he could do no more, which is where Jacques came in.（最后，他再也无能为力了，这也正是雅克发挥作用的时候。）

在土耳其，旧传统无比顽固。你只要看看伊斯坦布尔的老城区就知道了：在那里，你还会看到铜匠和地毯商贩，还有售卖干果和坚果仁时用金属秤砣的小贩，而且，在人们的记忆里，售卖东西的都是男人，如今也一样，但时代正在慢慢改变。

男人们像过去五百年一样，拉着木制手推车，在鹅卵石铺成的街道上朝大巴扎集市的室内市场走去。哈坎·阿尔坦站在他家糖果店敞开的大门前。这家店是他的高祖父150年前开的，他自五岁起就在这里劳作。“糖果制作是土耳其的一门艺术，”他这样对我说。

在店里，从地板到天花板都堆满了传统糖果。这里有洒着糖粉的土耳其软糖、含有玫瑰水、香橙和开心果味的硬糖，还有用碾碎的芝麻拌蜂蜜做成的哈尔瓦酥糖。墙上挂着哈坎家先辈发黄的照片。这里没有一样东西是带有现代色彩的。哦，有一样。

阿尔祖（哈坎的女儿）：我叫阿尔祖，今年27岁，是一名数学工程师，现在的职业是市场营销经理。

阿尔祖是哈坎的女儿，也是他唯一的孩子。如果糖果店的生意要继续留在家族里的话，她就将掌管家里的生意。可是老城区还从来没有女性接管家族生意的先例，这里依然是男人的天下。

阿尔祖：人们认为女性掌握的资讯不如男性多，有这种想法的都是些老人。他会想：“好吧，你爸爸在哪里？”“好了，我要问一下你老爸。”

在老城区，你很难找到掌管企业的女性。在整个土耳其，大多数妇女至今没有自己的银行账户。尽管越来越多的年轻土耳其女性正打破传统，上大学，开始自己的工作，挣工资，但这一切尚未发生在老城区。走在大街上，脚踏霓虹运动鞋，手握苹果手机，经过一家家铜器店和布满灰尘的传统地毯店，像阿尔祖这样的女性显得格格不入。她明白当她接手糖果店时，要赢得顾客的信任将是莫大的考验。

但这个家也明白他们必须与时俱进。全球化带来的压力、从其他地方涌入的廉价糖果，还有近来被恐怖袭击吓跑的游客——阿尔祖正好可以在这个时候发挥作用。家里希望她所受的教育和掌握的现代知识会让家族生意继续下去。而她则认为，身为女性实际上是一种优势。

阿尔祖：女性会看清全局。女性明白顾客的需要，她们的思维比男性的更加细腻。此外，她们对他人的感觉更为敏感。

更为敏感，或许也更为开放。她认为海外有尚未开发的糖果市场，她正在构思一个开发海外市场的营销计划。

就在我们交谈的时候，阿尔祖那93岁高龄的爷爷蹒跚着走进糖果店。我忽然想到，他这一辈子都在这家店和这条街上度过。他显然对自己受过教育、生活范围大大超过前人的孙女备感骄傲。在把家族生意交给一个女人这个事情上，他对我说：“为什么不可以呢？”阿尔祖当时就在他身边

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