美洲－墨西哥非法移民激怒了许多亚利桑那州市民

 

Illegal Immigration from Mexico Angers Many in Arizona

 

The recent arrival of some 700 citizen volunteers on the Arizona border with Mexico has drawn¹ attention to the problem of illegal immigration on the border. While many Americans express sympathy for poor immigrants seeking honest work in this country, many citizens are also angered by the damage immigrant crossers have done to pristine² desert areas.

 

The civilian³ volunteers, who call themselves Minutemen, have come to watch the border and report illegal crossings to the Border Patrol. They have plenty of critics in Arizona, but along the border they enjoy general support among landowners and residents who blame illegal aliens for a rise in violent crime as well as damage to property and the environment. One local man drove out to greet the Minutemen the other day and thanked them.

 

One local man: The main reason I am glad these guys are out here is because the bottom line is it is illegal. That is the bottom line. In the last five years that we have lived here I have seen it triple, in numbers of people coming across. It is illegal to do what they are doing, they are trashing this place.

 

The trash left by immigrants includes discarded clothing, plastic bottles, food wrappers and plastic bags, which can be seen flapping in the breeze on trees and shrubs⁵ all over the desert. Ranchers accuse the immigrants of knocking down fences, breaking water pipes and damaging other infrastructure⁶.

 

About 300 kilometers to the west of where the Minutemen are staging their month-long border watch, immigrants continue to flow across the border into military reserves, national park land, and an Indian reservation.

 

Organ Pipe Cactus⁷ National Monument Superintendent⁸ Kathy Billings says the thousands of immigrants who pass over the border into this federally protected natural area each year have a devastating⁹ effect on cactus like the Organ Pipe and Saguaro.

 

Kathy Billings: The undocumented immigrants, when they are laying up during the day to escape the heat, will camp underneath¹⁰ these trees and then there is a lot of soil compaction¹¹. They will tear branches off to put more shade around them, thereby¹² destroying the nurse tree that protects the saguaros.

 

She says the National Park Service, in cooperation with the Border Patrol and other agencies is trying to prevent further damage, but the flow of illegal migrants remains¹³ strong.

 

Kathy Billings: There are many areas that are highly impacted by the trails and by the places where the people camp and just leave their trash and human waste," continued Ms. Billings. There is a spider web of trails through the park that have been created by that illegal activity, but there is a large part of the monument that is still very pristine.

 

The illegal border crossers traversing the National Monument include drug smugglers and criminals, too.

 

In 2002, two fugitives¹⁵ from justice in Mexico killed a Park ranger¹⁶ here. Such incidents have scared some tourists away.

 

Cross-border criminal activity has also had an impact on the nearby lands of the Tohono O'Odham Indian reservation.

 

The police chief of the reservation, Richard Saunders, says the environmental damage being done by illegal immigrants distresses¹⁷ his people, who have a great reverence¹⁸ for the land. He says tribal¹⁹ officials have worked in vain to keep their lands clean of the trash left by undocumented immigrants.

 

Richard Saunders: As soon as you clean up an area, there are people coming back through it the next day, discarding trash and articles all over again. So, it is a constant battle there.

 

Police Chief Saunders says the Tohono O'Odham people have always welcomed strangers and tried to help travelers in the desert, but, he says, they cannot cope with the numbers of people coming over the border from Mexico.

 

Chief Saunders: It is a harsh environment out here and so, with that, there is the importance of giving and to assist there. We have always been a giving people. However, with these large numbers coming through on an annual basis, it is overwhelming to the Tohono O'Odham people.

 

Immigrant advocates say the blame for this situation rests with the U.S. government for failing to provide workers a safe and legal way to come into the country to do jobs most Americans will not do.

 

Jennifer Allen of the Border Action Network says current policies ignore economic reality.

 

Jennifer Allen: We have a false economy in this country that is incredibly dependent on undocumented labor²⁰. There was just a call put out by the Yuma, Arizona Grower's Association to the Border Patrol to back off at some of their checkpoints in western Arizona because they could not get enough lettuce²¹ pickers to come in and harvest the crop.

 

But many people here say state and local governments are paying the price for the cheap immigrant labor some industries exploit in health care, education, and other social services. Last year, voters in Arizona overwhelmingly approved Proposition 200, which bans state services for illegal residents. There are now 18 more bills before the state legislature that would strengthen that measure.

 

Greg Flakus, VOA News, Sells, Arizona.

 

 

注释:

resident [5rezidEnt] n. 居民

triple [5tripl] n. 三倍

discarded [dis5kB:did] adj. 被丢弃的

shrub⁴ [FrQb] n. 灌木，灌木丛

rancher [5rAntFE] n. 牧场（或农场）主，农场工人

devastating [5devEsteitiN] adj. 破坏性的

saguaro [sE5^wB:rEu] n. 树形仙人掌

fugitive¹⁴ [5fju:dVitiv] n. 逃亡者

advocate [5AdvEkit] n. 提倡者

checkpoint [5tFekpCint] n. 检查站

1 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

2 pristine   

adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的

参考例句：

• He wiped his fingers on his pristine handkerchief.他用他那块洁净的手帕擦手指。
• He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。

3 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

4 shrub   

n.灌木，灌木丛

参考例句：

• There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。
• Moving a shrub is best done in early spring.移植灌木最好是在初春的时候。

5 shrubs   

灌木( shrub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gardener spent a complete morning in trimming those two shrubs. 园丁花了整个上午的时间修剪那两处灌木林。
• These shrubs will need more light to produce flowering shoots. 这些灌木需要更多的光照才能抽出开花的新枝。

6 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

7 cactus   

n.仙人掌

参考例句：

• It was the first year that the cactus had produced flowers.这是这棵仙人掌第一年开花。
• The giant cactus is the vegetable skycraper.高大的仙人掌是植物界巨人。

8 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

9 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

10 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

11 compaction   

n.压紧

参考例句：

• Large-scale consolidation and compaction of soil were responsible for the destruction.大部分破坏都是由于土壤的大规模固结和压密所造成的。
• Soil compaction may limit horizontal root extension.土壤的紧密度能限制水平根的扩展。

12 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

13 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

14 fugitive   

adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者

参考例句：

• The police were able to deduce where the fugitive was hiding.警方成功地推断出那逃亡者躲藏的地方。
• The fugitive is believed to be headed for the border.逃犯被认为在向国境线逃窜。

15 fugitives   

n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Three fugitives from the prison are still at large. 三名逃犯仍然未被抓获。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Members of the provisional government were prisoners or fugitives. 临时政府的成员或被捕或逃亡。 来自演讲部分

16 ranger   

n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员

参考例句：

• He was the head ranger of the national park.他曾是国家公园的首席看守员。
• He loved working as a ranger.他喜欢做护林人。

17 distresses   

n.悲痛( distress的名词复数 )；痛苦；贫困；危险

参考例句：

• It was from these distresses that the peasant wars of the fourteenth century sprang. 正是由于这些灾难才爆发了十四世纪的农民战争。 来自辞典例句
• In all dangers and distresses, I will remember that. 在一切危险和苦难中，我要记住这一件事。 来自互联网

18 reverence   

n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• We reverence tradition but will not be fettered by it.我们尊重传统，但不被传统所束缚。

19 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

20 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

21 lettuce   

n.莴苣；生菜

参考例句：

• Get some lettuce and tomatoes so I can make a salad.买些莴苣和西红柿，我好做色拉。
• The lettuce is crisp and cold.莴苣松脆爽口。