【英语语言学习】加拿大对避难者的态度是欢迎的

 SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Members of Congress and a number of governors have said they oppose the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States. And they oppose President Obama's plan to welcome 10,000 Syrians. In Canada, the newly elected liberal government is pushing ahead with a plan to let in 25,000 Syrians by the end of the year. NPR's Martin Kaste crossed the border to find out why the politics of refugees may look so different there.

MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE¹: Mohammed Alsaleh is a 26-year-old who came to Canada a year ago, after he was tortured by the Assad regime in Syria. Now he sits in a Vancouver Starbucks, dressed in blue scrubs. He just came from his nurses aide training nearby. And he recalls the shock he felt when he arrived in this peaceful, rainy city.

MOHAMMED ALSALEH: I was, like, saying to myself, what did I do (laughter)?

KASTE: He didn't know a single person in all of Canada. And he wondered how he'd survive here so alone.

ALSALEH: But that changed the next day. The Canadians, I can tell you, are - they are the most friendly population in the whole Earth.

KASTE: Canada is generous with its refugees. They get free medical care, subsidized language classes, stipends². And when they arrive in Vancouver, their first stop after the airport is here in the welcome center. It's a lobby in a special hospital for refugees right downtown. At this moment, there's just one young family of Syrians sitting here, surrounded by suitcases, looking dazed. But very soon, this room is going to get a lot more crowded.

CHRIS FRIESEN: We're talking about 25,000 refugees coming to Canada in a matter of weeks.

KASTE: Chris Friesen is with the Immigration Services Society of British Columbia. His organization alone will go from processing about 900 refugees a year to maybe 3,000 just in the next six weeks. He's scrambling³ to find places for all those people to sleep.

FRIESEN: We've developed, you know, it's sort of like the Airbnb on steroids, OK? We're doing a housing registry for refugees.

KASTE: And the offers are streaming in - spare rooms, basement suites⁴. One real estate developer has offered free apartments.

FRIESEN: You know, I've got a lot of self-imposed bruises⁵ because I'm pinching myself here. After 10 years of negative discourse⁶ on refugees, suddenly they've become sexy. Everybody wants a refugee.

KASTE: So what's the difference between Canada and the U.S.? Well, one big factor is that they've already had their election before the attacks in Paris. During the fall campaign, refugees got a lot of sympathy, in part because of that famous photo of the little boy who drowned on his way to Europe. It turned out that his family had applied⁷ to come to Canada and had been denied. The boy's aunt lives in British Columbia. And Canadians saw her on television, weeping over his death.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TIMA KURDI: And then when he look in his left arm, with the older boy, Ghalib, he was already dead.

KASTE: The Liberal Party's Justin Trudeau promised to bring in 25,000 Syrians by the end of the year. And now that he's become prime minister, he says he's sticking with that plan, though his government has yet to release the details of how that'll work. And there are some rumblings that the deadline will slip. And Paris has had an effect on the public. One newspaper poll this week showed a majority of Canadians now oppose fast-track resettlement. Brad Wall, the premier⁸ of Saskatchewan, raised the possibility that rushing things could let a terrorist slip in.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BRAD WALL: Usually one miss out of 25,000 would be acceptable for government or for business or for almost any organization. I don't know that it is in this instance.

KASTE: Still, this is Canada. And unlike some of the governors south of the border, Wall said he had no intention of trying to block the refugees from coming to his province. Martin Kaste, NPR News, Vancouver.

1 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。

2 stipends   

n.（尤指牧师的）薪俸( stipend的名词复数 )

参考例句：

3 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 suites   

n.套( suite的名词复数 )；一套房间；一套家具；一套公寓

参考例句：

• First he called upon all the Foreign Ministers in their hotel suites. 他首先到所有外交部长住的旅馆套间去拜访。 来自辞典例句
• All four doors to the two reserved suites were open. 预定的两个套房的四扇门都敞开着。 来自辞典例句

5 bruises   

n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was covered with bruises after falling off his bicycle. 他从自行车上摔了下来，摔得浑身伤痕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The pear had bruises of dark spots. 这个梨子有碰伤的黑斑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

7 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

8 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。