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In the American state of Kansas, a group of religious women have been calling on large companies to change the way they do business.
在美国堪萨斯州，一群宗教女性一直在呼吁大公司改变他们的经营方式。
The women are Catholic Benedictine religious workers called nuns.
这些女性是天主教本笃会的宗教工作者，被称为修女。
They live together in a monastery called Mount Saint Scholastica.
她们一起住在一个叫圣斯科拉斯蒂卡山的修道院里。
The nuns, who call themselves sisters, pray and chant three times a day in their small church.
修女们，她们自称姐妹，每天在她们的小教堂里祈祷和吟唱三次。
Members of the Benedictine Order have followed this way of life for about 1,500 years.
本笃会的成员遵循这种生活方式已有约1500年。
But the sisters also put their money into investments in several companies.
但是姐妹们也把她们的钱投资到了几家公司中。
This gives them the right to propose changes to company policies at regular shareholder meetings that involve important decisions.
这使她们有权在涉及重要决策的定期股东大会上提议修改公司政策。
For example, the women asked oil company Chevron to consider more carefully its human rights policies.
例如，这些妇女要求雪佛龙石油公司更仔细地考虑其人权政策。
They asked Amazon to publish how much money the company spends trying to influence government officials.
她们要求亚马逊公布该公司为说服政府官员花了多少钱。
And they proposed that several manufacturers of medical drugs reconsider ownership rights called patents that, they said, increase drug prices.
此外，她们还建议几家医疗药品生产商重新考虑被称为专利的所有权，她们说专利会提高药品价格。
Patents legally protect a company’s right to manufacture and sell a product that it developed or owns for a limited time.
专利在法律上保护公司在有限时间内制造和销售其开发或拥有的产品的权利。
“Some of these companies, they just really hate us,” said Sister Barbara McCracken.
“其中一些公司，他们真的很讨厌我们，”芭芭拉·麦克拉肯修女说。
She leads the nuns’ corporate responsibility program.
她领导着修女们的企业责任项目。
She added that, because they are a small group of women, the large companies might consider them like an unwanted insect. Until the 1990s, the nuns had few investments.
她补充说，因为她们是一小群女性，大公司可能会认为她们像一只不受欢迎的昆虫。直到20世纪90年代，修女们几乎没有投资。
That changed as they began to invest money to care for older sisters as the community aged.
随着社区的老龄化，她们开始投资照顾年长的姐妹，情况发生了变化。
They invest what little money they have in corporations that meet their religious ideals.
她们把仅有的一点钱投资给符合他们宗教理想的公司。
But they also invest in some that do not meet their ideal.
但她们也投资了一些不符合他们理想的项目。
So, they push those companies to change policies they consider harmful.
所以，她们推动这些公司改变他们认为有害的政策。
Sister Rose Marie Stallbaumer supervised the community’s finances for years.
罗丝·玛丽·施塔尔鲍默修女多年来一直负责管理社区的财务。
She said it was important that the group “invested in a responsible way.”
她说重要的是集团“以负责任的方式进行投资”。
She added that they wanted to make sure their investments did not bring harm to others.
她补充说，她们希望确保她们的投资不会给他人带来伤害。
The sisters at St. Scholastica and other Benedictine groups work closely with the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR).
圣斯科拉蒂卡修女会和其他本笃会团体与宗教间企业责任中心（ICCR）密切合作。
The ICCR is an organization based in New York City that involves religious groups in organizing to push companies to change their policies. Tim Smith is a policy advisor for the center.
ICCR 是一个总部设在纽约市的组织，它让宗教团体参与组织工作，推动公司改变政策。 蒂姆-史密斯是该中心的政策顾问。
He said the Benedictine nuns have been an important part of ICCR for years.
他说，本笃会修女多年来一直是ICCR的重要组成部分。
He said that while it can take years to see companies change, the sisters “have the endurance of long-distance runners.”
他说，虽然可能需要数年时间才能看到公司的变化，但姐妹们“有长跑运动员的耐力”。
Support for many of the changes the nuns seek has grown over the years.
多年来，对修女们寻求的许多变革的支持一直在增加。
Early on, their resolutions received less than 10 percent support from shareholders.
早些时候，她们的决议得到了不到10%的股东支持。
But in some cases, they have received 30 percent or even over 50 percent support.
但在某些情况下，她们得到了30%甚至超过50%的支持。
Pushing companies to change comes naturally to McCracken. She has been a peace activist for many years.
推动公司变革对麦克拉肯来说是自然而然的事情。她多年来一直是一名和平活动家。
“There’s not a protest she wouldn’t go to,” said Sister Anne Shepard.
“没有她不会去的抗议活动，”安妮·谢泼德修女说。
She said McCracken’s past involved anti-war, anti-racism, and union-supporting demonstrations.
她说，麦克莱肯过去参加过反战、反种族主义和支持工会的示威活动。
McCracken entered the Benedictine community in 1961.
麦克拉肯于1961年进入本笃会社区。
She calls herself unusual for a person who lives in a monastery because she “hates to miss a party.”
她称自己是住在修道院里的不寻常的人，因为她“讨厌错过派对”。
She and the other sisters follow the Benedictine rule to “pray and work.”
她和其他修女遵循本笃会的规定“祈祷和工作”。
At the center of much of what they do is the belief that the wealthy have too much, the poor have too little, and more should be shared for the benefit of everyone.
她们所做的许多事情的核心是这样一种信念：富人拥有的太多，穷人拥有的太少，为了每个人的利益，应该分享更多。
“To me, it’s a continuation of Catholic social teaching,” McCracken said of their activist investing.
“麦克莱肯谈到他们的积极投资时说："对我来说，这是天主教社会教义的延续。
Care for the environment has long been of central importance to Mount St. Scholastica members.
长期以来，圣斯科拉蒂卡山的成员们一直非常重视环境保护。
Their college’s graduates include Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmental activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Maathai died in 2011.
学院的毕业生包括肯尼亚环保活动家和诺贝尔和平奖获得者旺加里·马塔伊。马塔伊于2011年去世。
One of their top concerns is climate change.
她们最关心的问题之一是气候变化。
They use much of their 21 hectares of land for solar panels, community gardens and 18 beehives that produced about 360 kilograms of honey last year.
修女们将21公顷土地中的大部分用于太阳能电池板、社区花园和18个蜂箱，去年这些蜂箱产出了约360公斤蜂蜜。
Their activism has often led to criticisms that they are too politically liberal.
她们的行动主义经常导致批评，认为她们在政治上过于自由。
They recently received attention after they responded to statements made by Harrison Butker, a professional American football player.
因为对美国职业橄榄球运动员哈里森·巴特克的言论做出了回应，她们受到了关注。
Butker had given a speech at nearby Benedictine College—cofounded by the Benedictine nuns.
巴特克在附近的本笃会学院发表了演讲，该学院由本笃会修女共同创立。
In the speech, he suggested that most of the women there would be more excited to be wives and mothers than anything else.
在演讲中，他表示那里的大多数女性对成为妻子和母亲会更兴奋，而不是其他任何事情。
In a written statement, the sisters expressed concern with the idea “that being a homemaker is the highest calling for a woman.”
在一份书面声明中，姐妹们表达了对“做家庭主妇是女性的最高使命”这一观点的担忧。
The nuns are not married and do not have children. Many of the sisters have doctoral degrees. Most have worked in professions.
修女们没有结婚，也没有孩子。许多修女拥有博士学位。大多数人都从事过职业。
Members of their group include a doctor, a lawyer of Catholic Church law, and a professional violinist.
她们的团体成员包括一名医生、一名天主教教会法的律师和一名专业小提琴手。
The sisters received angry phone calls after they released their statement.
姐妹们在发表声明后接到了愤怒的电话。
At the same time, the nuns are strong supporters of the team Butker plays for, the nearby Kansas City Chiefs.
与此同时，这些修女是巴特克所在球队的坚定支持者，这支球队就在附近，是堪萨斯城酋长队。
They often wear the team’s red and gold colors to religious services on days when the team is playing.
他们经常在球队比赛日穿着球队的红金色队服去参加宗教仪式。
Sister Mary Elizabeth Schweiger helped write the nuns’ statement.
玛丽·伊丽莎白·施韦格修女帮助撰写了修女们的声明。
“It came from a very basic understanding of who we are and the values that we hold true,” Schweiger said.
“这源自对我们是谁以及我们秉持的价值观的非常基本的理解，”施威格说。
“We just thought that voice had to be heard because we believe very much in being inclusive.”
“我们只是认为那个声音必须被听到，因为我们非常相信要具有包容性。”
Sister McCracken said that following their religious beliefs brings them into contact with political and economic issues.
麦卡肯修女说，遵循他们的宗教信仰使他们接触到政治和经济问题。
“It’s just the nature of being an active citizen,” she said.
“这只是作为一个积极的公民的天性，”她说。
McCracken is nearly 85 years old and cannot be as active as she once was.
麦克拉肯将近85岁了，不能像以前那样活跃了。
But pushing companies to change gives her “a sit-down job when you can’t go to the streets. ” The members of Mount St. Scholastica do not retire, not really. “We don’t use that word,” McCracken said.
但推动公司变革给了她 “一份不能上街的坐着的工作”。“圣斯科拉斯蒂卡山的成员不会退休，真的不会。 “麦克莱肯说："我们不用这个词。
She added that if they still have the ability think clearly, “we just keep going, you know? ”
她补充说，只要她们仍然有能力清晰地思考，“我们就继续前进，你知道吗？”
I’m Jill Robbins. And I’m Andrew Smith.
我是吉尔·罗宾斯。我是安德鲁·史密斯。
