反烏托邦暢銷小說
Imagine living in a near-future world where women lead miserable lives.
想像你住在一個女人過著悲慘生活的未來世界。
關係副詞where=in whichlead a happy life 過著快樂的生活miserable (adj.)悲慘的
They are not allowed to work or to possess any property, let alone to receive an education.
她們都無法去工作或是擁有財產，更別提受教育。
not allowed to do sth. 不被允許做某事possess (v.)擁有possess skills 擁有技能 possess a smartphone 擁有智慧型手機possessed (adj.)著魔的,被鬼附身的let alone 更不用說
The sole purpose of their existence is to bear children for high-ranking government officials because birthrates have dropped dramatically due to environmental crisis.
因為環境危機的關係，生育率大幅地下降，她們生存的唯一目的就是為高階政府官員生育後代。
sole (adj.)唯一的,單一的bear children=give birth to childrenhigh-ranking (adj.)高階的rank (n.)官階、階級birthrate (n.)生育率due to=owing to=because of 因為
The harder they try to fight the unjust system, the severer their punishments are.
她們愈想要抵抗這個不公平的體制，她們就得到愈嚴厲的懲罰。
unjust (adj.)不公正的
This is exactly what happens in Canadian author Margaret Atwood’s famous novel The Handmaid’s Tale.
這正是發生在加拿大作家瑪格麗特愛伍德的小說使女的故事中的情節。
exactly (adv.)確切地,完全準確地famous=celebrated=well-known=renowned 知名的
You might think the plot is a bit exaggerated and that women’s rights can never be destroyed like this.
你可能會認為這個劇情有些誇大，且覺得女性的權利不可能會這樣被摧毀。
a bit 有一點=somewhat= a littleexaggerated (adj.)誇張的right (n.)權利 voting rights 投票權 education rights 受教權destroy (v.)毀壞,破壞=damage=ruin
However, Atwood claims that she would never put any events into the book that had not already happened in history, and some of which are still happening.
然而，愛伍德聲稱她決不會把在歷史上從未發生過的事放進書中，而其中有些還持續在發生。
claim (v.)宣稱,聲稱
She wants the novel to be a warning, to caution us that the rights women have struggled and fought for could disappear overnight.
她希望這本小說可當作一個警告，告誡我們女人所努力奮鬥來的權利可能在一夕之間消失。
caution (v.)告誡,提醒caution sb. against sth. 警告某人不要做某事
After all, history has a tendency to repeat itself, and the last thing we want is to have the misfortunes that once happened to women to reoccur.
畢竟，歷史有重演的傾向，我們最不想要的就是那些曾發生在女性身上的不幸事件再次重演。
tendency (n.)傾向tend to 傾向於the last thing sb. want 根本不想或不需要的東西misfortune (n.)不幸,厄運reoccur (v.)再次發生