VOA标准英语2010-Shanghai Girls: A Tale of Survival and Bo

Author Lisa See takes readers on turbulent journey from China torn by war in 1930s to Los Angeles' Chinatown

Mike O'Sullivan | Los Angeles 15 April 2010

 

Author Lisa See

In her novel Shanghai Girls, author Lisa See takes readers on a turbulent journey from China torn by war in the 1930s to Los Angeles' Chinatown.

Shanghai Girls is a story of two sisters, and it opens Shanghai in 1937. The city was a glamorous¹ international center, known as the Paris of Asia. But according to Lisa See, that life was about to change for sisters May and Pearl.

 

"It was a final, final moment before things took a real change. In August of 1937, the Japanese invaded," See said. "The Sino-Japanese War rolled right into World War II. As soon as World War II was over, civil war [erupted]. And then in 1949, Mao [Zedong] and the communists took over the country. And so Shanghai went from being kind of like the Paris of Asia to being for many, many years a very dark, very gray, very grim place."

 

Much later, Shanghai would experience a renaissance², but that is beyond the time frame of this story. See traces the journey of the sisters, beginning with their life of comfort.

"They are what were called 'beautiful girls. They are models for Shanghai advertising³. And they think they are going to have one kind of life, this kind of glamorous, beautiful, fun life and then several things happen, one of which was that the Japanese invade. Their father also loses all of their money, and they suddenly find themselves in arranged marriages on their way to the United States," See said.

Like most who arrived on the U.S. West Coast, they went through Angel Island off the California coast, where inspectors⁴ intensely questioned the hopeful immigrants.

The inspectors were looking for so-called "paper sons" – those who had bought false documents to indicate they were the children of U.S. citizens – and also for "paper merchants," those who had paid a Chinese-American business owner to create a fictitious⁵ partnership⁶. Wives and fiancées of Chinese-American citizens were also often suspected of fraud.

Pearl and May settle in humble⁷ quarters in Los Angeles' Chinatown with their new extended family. They undergo ups and downs in their business and family lives, and face continued scrutiny⁸ from immigration officials. 

The story recounts the fears of communist infiltration⁹ of the United States in the 1950s, after the communist victory in the Chinese civil war. Late in the decade, some who had entered the country illegally were granted amnesty.

But as See points out, this often was at the cost of informing on friends or family members who were illegal immigrants or were accused of being communist sympathizers.

"So this was something that ripped apart communities, families, businesses and it is something that even today, people do not want to talk about it because they still have so much shame and embarrassment¹⁰ and guilt¹¹ about what happened back in those days," See adds.

Shanghai Girls examines a part of the immigrant experience that most Americans share. Although these immigrants were from China, See points out that similar stories can be told of those from other places.

"We all have someone in our family who was scared enough, crazy enough, brave enough to leave their home country, be expelled from their own country to come here," said See. "We all share in that. And so the experience itself, I believe, is a uniquely American experience, but then there are these moments when something might be unique to the Chinese-American experience."

Like several of See's earlier novels, Shanghai Girls explores the emotional ties between women. The author says this story looks at the bond between sisters, who are best friends and rivals.

"Your sister is someone who has known you from birth, who should stand by you and love you and support you, no matter what. But you know, it is also your sister who knows exactly where to drive the knife to hurt you the most, and you know where to drive the knife to get her back," See said.

But she says the bond between sisters, like those in her story, is one of the strongest.

Lisa See looks Western – with red hair and freckles¹². But she is one-eighth Chinese, and she grew up with close ties to Los Angeles' Chinatown, where her great-grandfather was an early resident and a business owner.

All of See's books, fiction and non-fiction, relate to China or the Chinese-American immigrant experience. She says her next book will continue the story of Shanghai Girls when the present novel ends in 1957. It will focus on China's disastrous¹³ experiment known as the Great Leap Forward, the communist government's drive to industrialize and abolish private farming. The program created widespread famine and resulted in millions of deaths. See says the little-understood part of China's history affected¹⁴ families on both sides of the Pacific.

 

1 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

2 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

3 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

4 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 fictitious   

adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的

参考例句：

• She invented a fictitious boyfriend to put him off.她虚构出一个男朋友来拒绝他。
• The story my mother told me when I was young is fictitious.小时候妈妈对我讲的那个故事是虚构的。

6 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

7 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

8 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

9 infiltration   

n.渗透；下渗；渗滤；入渗

参考例句：

• The police tried to prevent infiltration by drug traffickers. 警方尽力阻止毒品走私分子的潜入。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A loss in volume will occur if infiltration takes place. 如果发生了渗润作用，水量就会减少。 来自辞典例句

10 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

11 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

12 freckles   

n.雀斑，斑点( freckle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She had a wonderful clear skin with an attractive sprinkling of freckles. 她光滑的皮肤上有几处可爱的小雀斑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• When she lies in the sun, her face gets covered in freckles. 她躺在阳光下时，脸上布满了斑点。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

14 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。