美国国家公共电台 NPR--How one magazine became a mainstay of New Jersey's Chinese community

How one magazine became a mainstay of New Jersey¹'s Chinese community

Transcript²

A decades-old magazine caters³ to Chinese immigrants in New Jersey — helping⁴ newcomers fit in, and celebrating the community's successes. (Story aired on All Things Considered on May 31, 2023.)

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Ethnic⁵ media outlets⁶ can be a lifeline for new immigrants who don't have a firm grasp of English. They introduce their readers to civic⁷ life in America and to each other. That's just what an independent magazine has been doing for decades in New Jersey, which has one of the country's largest Chinese-speaking populations. Here's NPR's Mary Yang.

MARY YANG, BYLINE⁸: The pages of Sino Monthly come together in a one-story office building neighbored by single-family homes in Edison, N.J.

IVY⁹ LEE: Sorry my office is small.

M YANG: Editor and founder¹⁰ Ivy Lee is at her desk on the morning of their print deadline. Copies of previous issues sit around the room. She points out last month's cover story.

LEE: They looks like 40...

M YANG: Yeah, they're gorgeous.

LEE: ...But they are 70 years old.

M YANG: It's about a friend group of older Chinese women who share their secrets to staying young.

LEE: We interviewed them. What do they eat? What do they exercise? What do they do to keep them young?

M YANG: That's something her readers would want to know, Lee says. Also in that issue, a profile of the new White House deputy assistant for racial justice and equity¹¹, Jenny Yang, who grew up in New Jersey with Chinese immigrant parents. A black-and-white proof of next month's edition teases a feature on Edward Tian, the Princeton student who coded an app to detect ChatGPT. Lee says her magazine is like milk.

LEE: Milk is healthy. Milk is inexpensive. And you can get milk everywhere.

JENNIFER LU: (Through interpreter) I was either at a Chinese school or a medical office where I was surprised to see a handful of the magazines.

M YANG: Jennifer Lu, whom I met at a tea festival, doesn't remember exactly where she first came across Sino Monthly, but she remembers being happy to see it.

LU: (Through interpreter) I'd just moved to New Jersey and thought it was great to have the local information.

M YANG: Sino Monthly and other ethnic media outlets don't aim to be papers of record covering all the news fit to print. They cover news, culture and politics that matter to their community. Tao Yang, a librarian at Rutgers University, maintains an archive of all Sino Monthly issues since the first in 1991. He walks down to the basement where the magazines take up four rows of one large bookshelf. He says they'll be useful for future historians.

TAO YANG: They can understand the conditions in the community. Even advertisements are useful.

M YANG: Sino Monthly stands out among the Chinese language press for its independence. Yang says many other outlets have ties to the Chinese government or spiritual groups like the Falun Gong. The magazine's nonpartisan but promotes participation¹² in U.S. elections. One October 1994 article ahead of the midterms reads...

T YANG: (Non-English language spoken) - which means, please, please cast your sacred vote.

M YANG: Current print subscriptions¹³, which go for $12 a year, hover¹⁴ around 10,000. Researcher Anthony Advincula, who studies ethnic and community media at Montclair State University, says staying small has kept these news outlets alive.

ANTHONY ADVINCULA: The general market - it's always with the bandwagon. Like, oh, let's go digital. Everybody goes digital.

M YANG: For ethnic media, he says, most ad revenue comes from print. Immigrant business owners, their main market, want to see themselves in paper. But the pandemic was hard for Sino Monthly, and Lee worries about the financial picture ahead.

LEE: My business started at ground zero, so I know how to survive.

M YANG: Lee's husband retired¹⁵ from his full-time¹⁶ job a few years ago. She's been searching for a successor, but for now, she's not done.

Mary Yang, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 caters   

提供饮食及服务( cater的第三人称单数 )； 满足需要，适合

参考例句：

• That shop caters exclusively to the weaker sex. 那家商店专供妇女需要的商品。
• The boutique caters for a rather select clientele. 这家精品店为特定的顾客群服务。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

6 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

8 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

9 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

10 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

11 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

12 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

13 subscriptions   

n.（报刊等的）订阅费( subscription的名词复数 )；捐款；（俱乐部的）会员费；捐助

参考例句：

• Subscriptions to these magazines can be paid in at the post office. 这些杂志的订阅费可以在邮局缴纳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Payment of subscriptions should be made to the club secretary. 会费应交给俱乐部秘书。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 hover   

vi.翱翔，盘旋；徘徊；彷徨，犹豫

参考例句：

• You don't hover round the table.你不要围着桌子走来走去。
• A plane is hover on our house.有一架飞机在我们的房子上盘旋。

15 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

16 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。