An Uzbek Professional Woman

 

Oksana Dragan

In one way or another, all immigrants coming to the United States face the challenge of adjusting their native culture and customs to the mores¹ of the new land. In today's edition of New American Voices, an Uzbek woman raised in Afghanistan talks about the experience of her own adjustment to America.
Hamida Monawar -- a slender, dark-haired woman with luminous² eyes -- is a dental hygienist by profession. Her job includes preparing a patient's mouth for dental procedures, cleaning teeth, taking x-rays, and making recommendations about oral hygiene³. Ms Monawar notes the irony⁴ that she had never visited a dentist in her life until she immigrated⁵ to America and decided⁶ to study dental hygiene.
“Before I started dental hygiene school, I saw a dentist for the first time. Because that was one of the requirements for entering the hygiene program. I think I was blessed, very lucky, for I had no cavity, nothing. Must be the diet. Because we weren't exposed to so many sweets and sodas⁸ and all the white flour that kids are exposed to in this country.”
Hamida Monawar grew up as one of eight siblings¹⁰ in Kabul, Afghanistan. Her father, a child psychologist, was Tajik, her mother Uzbek. Ms. Monawar remembers a happy childhood, which ended in 1978 when Soviet¹¹ troops invaded Afghanistan. Four years later, Hamida's father decided that his family had to flee the country. They spent two years in Pakistan before coming to the United States as refugees. Hamida Monawar, who was nineteen at the time, says she embraced the opportunities life in America offered her.
“The only problem that I had was the language, in the beginning. Since my dad did most of his education in the United States and my brother had been living here, we were sort of prepared for the lifestyle we were going to have in the United States. Plus I was too tired of staying home in Pakistan and not being able to go to school, I was looking forward, actually, to just starting school. Although it was a very, very tough adjustment in the beginning, I enjoyed it, it was a challenge.”
Part of the adjustment, Hamida Monawar says,was accepting the American premise¹² that everyone works.
“Since I left Afghanistan and came to this country at the age of nineteen I'm working and going to school. So I thought this is the way of living. (laughs) I left as a teenager and never worked, and then came here and I worked and they said, that's how you live in this country, and I said, 'Okay.'”
In many ways Ms. Monawar now considers herself to be a typical professional American woman. But her traditional Uzbek upbringing is an inescapable part of her life.
“I'm pretty independent, for someone who's Uzbek and not married and 39. I think that shows I'm pretty independent. Of course I have my own house, I have my own car. The only thing that I'm very careful of is my mom, she's the only person that I do a lot of things because of my respect for her, because I just don't want to disappoint her.”
The clash of cultures is perhaps most evident, in Hamida Monawar's case, on the issue of matrimony. After 20 years in America, Hamida Monawar's expectations are somewhat different from her mother's more traditional views.
“The only thing I think she doesn't understand is why I'm not married. Being a mother, that's her biggest concern. She doesn't understand why I don't want to get married. Because to be honest with you, I'm not the typical Uzbek, and I'm not the typical Afghan, and I'm not the typical American, so it's hard to meet someone that mom thinks is perfect for me, or my family thinks is perfect for me. So I decided not to get married for a while, and then see what happens.”
Both because of her respect for her mother's opinion and because religion is important to her, Hamida Monawar says, she cannot envision marrying anyone who is not a Muslim. But she emphasizes, he has to be a Muslim with a broader understanding of a woman's role.
“The person has to accept me, as me. Because a lot of times they don't like independent women. Unfortunately, people who call themselves religious, they don't know the true theory of Islam. They think that women shouldn't have a voice, that women shouldn't be independent. But I'd like to share my life with someone who respects all these qualities in me, too.”
In her professional life, Hamida Monawar is surrounded by Americans. In her private life, she spends a lot of time with her large extended Afghan-Uzbek family. She says that the result of her adjustment to life in America is that, for her, the two worlds coexist very naturally.
“The only time I notice that I have changed so much when I talk with somebody who has just come from either Pakistan or Afghanistan, because they say, 'Oh, you are so American'. Because my ideas are totally different from what they expect from an Uzbek woman. My ideas have changed, and what I want for women has changed. But there are things that I do because of my culture and religion, that hasn't changed, and these same people turn around and say, 'Oh, you are typical Afghan'. So I think that over the years I have managed to pick up good things from all cultures, and build my life around those elements.”
Hamida Monawar - an Afghan, an Uzbek, and an American, but above all, her own woman.

注释：
immigrant [5imi^rEnt] n. 移民
Uzbek [7uzbek] n. 乌兹别克（中亚内陆国）
Afghanistan [Af5^AnistAn] n. 阿富汗（西南亚国家）
slender [5slendE] adj. 苗条的
luminous [5lju:minEs] adj. 明亮的
dental hygienist 牙科保健员
procedure [prE5si:dVE] n. 程序
recommendation [7rekEmen5deiFEn] n. 建议
oral hygiene口腔保健，口腔卫生
irony [5aiErEni] n. 讽刺
dentist [5dentist] n. 牙科医生
cavity [5kAviti] n. 洞
soda⁷ [5sEudE] n. 苏打，碳酸水
flour [5flauE] n. 面粉
sibling⁹ [5sibliN] n. 姐妹
Kabul [5kC:bl] n. 喀布尔（阿富汗的首都）
psychologist [psaI5kClEdVIst] n. 心理学者
refugee [7refju(:)5dVi:] n. 流亡者
embrace [im5breis] vt. 拥有，获得
premise [5premis] n. 前提
upbringing [5QpbriNiN] n. 成长，抚养
inescapable [7inis5keipEbl] adj. 不可避免的
clash [klAF] n. 冲突
matrimony [5mAtrimEni] n. 婚姻
religion [ri5lidVEn] n. 宗教，信仰
envision [in5viVEn] vt. 想象，预想
Muslim [5mJzlIm] n. 穆斯林，穆罕默德信徒
Islam [5izlB:m] n. 伊斯兰教
coexist [kEui^5zist] vi. 共存
pick up　获得，吸取

1 mores   

n.风俗，习惯，民德，道德观念

参考例句：

• The mores of that village are hard to believe.那村子的习俗让人难以置信。
• We advocate a harmonious society where corruption is swept away,and social mores are cleared.我们提倡弊绝风清，建设一个和谐社会。

2 luminous   

adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的

参考例句：

• There are luminous knobs on all the doors in my house.我家所有门上都安有夜光把手。
• Most clocks and watches in this shop are in luminous paint.这家商店出售的大多数钟表都涂了发光漆。

3 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

4 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

5 immigrated   

v.移入( immigrate的过去式和过去分词 )；移民

参考例句：

• He immigrated from Ulster in 1848. 他1848年从阿尔斯特移民到这里。 来自辞典例句
• Many Pakistanis have immigrated to Britain. 许多巴基斯坦人移居到了英国。 来自辞典例句

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

8 sodas   

n.苏打( soda的名词复数 )；碱；苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• There are plenty of sodas in the refrigerator. 冰箱里有很多碳酸饮料。 来自辞典例句
• Two whisky and sodas, please. 请来两杯威士忌苏打。 来自辞典例句

9 sibling   

n.同胞手足(指兄、弟、姐或妹)

参考例句：

• Many of us hate living in the shadows of a more successful sibling.我们很多人都讨厌活在更为成功的手足的阴影下。
• Sibling ravalry has been common in this family.这个家里，兄弟姊妹之间的矛盾很平常。

10 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

11 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

12 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。