VOA慢速英语2015 美国穆斯林欲改变其负面形象

American Muslims Fight Stereotypes¹ 美国穆斯林欲改变其负面形象

Muslims around the world will celebrate the holiday of Eid-al-Fitr, the end of the holy month of Ramadan, on Friday. Ramadan is a time when Muslims fast and focus on God.

For Muslims in the United States, it is also a time to reflect and fight misconceptions and negative stereotypes of Islam.

Muslims feel Islamic extremists hurt their community

Ahsan Mahmood Khan is the President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Los Angeles East Chapter. He says the news does not reflect who Muslims are.

“You hear a lot in the news about (the Islamic State group) ISIL or ISIS and what is going on in the Middle East. It is just terrible, and we hear this in the news every day.”

He says it is very similar to what happened after the September 11 terrorist² attacks against the U.S. in 2001.

Mohammed Zafarullah is the imam of the Baitul Hammed Mosque³. He says Islam is a religion of peace. But extremism has led to misconceptions about Islam.

“Those people who are doing these kind of things, they say they are Muslim but according to our religion, they are not a real Muslim because that is … they have their own agenda⁴, which they are using in the name of the religion.”

A 2011 study by the Pew Research Center showed that Muslims in the U.S. are concerned about the acts of Islamic extremists. The study explains how life became more difficult for Muslim-Americans after the September 11 attacks. Some Muslims reported that people looked at them with suspicion⁵ and called them offensive⁶ names.

More than half of the Muslims surveyed also said they believe government policies single out Muslims in the United States for increased monitoring.

Even more challenges for Muslim women

Muslim women in the U.S. face other challenges in their daily lives. People can notice them more easily because of their hijab – the head covering worn by some Muslim women.

Mozna Khraiwesh is a Muslim woman from Jordan. She and her husband came to the U.S. in 2002. They live in Washington D.C. with their two sons and one daughter.

“People right away, some of them of course you can’t generalize⁷--not everyone is the same--but majority whenever they see you wearing hijab, they assume⁸ right away that you are a woman oppressed⁹, treated unequally, with no rights, which is, unfortunately, it’s totally the opposite.”

She says sometimes people look at her differently at grocery stores.

“And it used to bother me a lot. Now I start to train myself how to deal with it. And sometimes I feel sorry for these people, because they don’t know. And maybe we have, as a Muslim, we have to do more to show who we are and to present ourselves in a good way, so maybe to get them in a better way.”

Edina Lekovic is the Director of Policy and Programming at the Muslim Public Affairs Council¹⁰. In an interview with Share America, she said American Muslim women in positions of leadership play an important role in fighting these stereotypes.

She added that it is important to show people that Muslim women are “not second-class citizens” and “are active members of the communities and society.”

Islam is already the fastest-growing religion in the world. And several studies have shown that the number of Muslims will equal the number of Christians¹¹ by the year 2050.

Words in This Story

stereotypes – n. often unfair and untrue beliefs that many people have about all people with a particular characteristic

fast – v. to eat no food for a period of time

misconceptions – n. mistaken ideas

generalize – v. to make a general statement

suspicion – adj. a feeling that someone is doing something wrong

single out – v. to treat someone in a different way that others

oppressed – v. to control

grocery stores – n. stores that sell food

1 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 terrorist   

n.恐怖主义者，恐怖分子

参考例句：

• Without the gun,I'm a sitting duck for any terrorist.没有这支枪，我就成了恐怖分子下手的目标了。
• The district was put on red alert during a terrorist's bomb scare.这个地区在得到恐怖分子炸弹恐吓后作了应急准备。

3 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

4 agenda   

n.议事日程，记事册

参考例句：

• We now proceed to the next item on the agenda.我们现在着手讨论下一项议题。
• If there is no objection,the agenda is adopted.如果没有意见，议程就通过了。

5 suspicion   

n.猜疑，怀疑；怀疑，嫌疑

参考例句：

• There was just a suspicion of light in the east. 东方刚刚泛白。
• I confess to some suspicion of your honesty.我承认对你的诚实有所怀疑。

6 offensive   

adj.令人不快的，侮辱的，攻击用的；n.进攻

参考例句：

• His mode of doing business is offensive to me.他干事情的方式叫我很不喜欢。
• If all else fails,I will take the offensive.如果其他方法不行，我将采取攻势。

7 generalize   

vt.概括出；vi.形成概念

参考例句：

• When we use "he",we generalize for both sex.当我们用he时，我们泛指男女。
• Since I do not know the details,I can only generalize about the matter.由于不了解详情，我对此事只能泛泛而谈。

8 assume   

vt.假装；假定，设想；承担；呈现，采取

参考例句：

• I assume that he won't cheat you.想来他是不会骗你的。
• We can't assume anything in this case.在这种情况下我们不可能做出假设。

9 oppressed   

adj. 被压迫的，郁闷的 动词oppress的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• It'seemed that the realisation of his life's dream oppressed him with overjoy. 夙愿得偿似乎使他欣喜若狂。
• The bad eggs wielded power, while the good people were oppressed. 坏人当道，好人受气

10 council   

n.理事会，委员会，议事机构

参考例句：

• The town council passed a law forbidding the distribution of handbills.市议会通过法律，禁止散发传单。
• The city council has declared for improving the public bus system.市议会宣布同意改进公共汽车系统。

11 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。