VOA标准英语2012--DC Locales Touch on Japanese-American Ties, Trials

DC Locales Touch on Japanese-American Ties, Trials

 

Washington, D.C., is always a popular tourist destination, but it’s even more attractive this time of year. Literally¹. The spring Cherry-Blossom Festival is in full swing, and nature has cooperated. A profusion² of pretty, pink blossoms rings the Tidal Basin of the Potomac River.

As many of the visitors who crowd nearby pathways to see nature’s dramatic show soon learn, about 100 of the cherry trees are very old and very hardy³. They are survivors⁴ from among the 3,000 trees given to the nation by Japan as a gesture of friendship 100 years ago, in 1912.

As more and more of the aging original trees died off in the mid-1960s, Japan renewed its gift with 3,800 new ones. Resting among all the trees - old and new - there’s an ancient, pagoda-shaped stone lantern, sent from Japan in 1954, that’s lit each year at this time.

What many of the blossom-watchers don’t know is that there’s also a more recent Japanese connection in the city - erected⁵ a short walk away in 2000 in a little park across the street from the grounds of the U.S. Capitol.

Designed as a place for meditation⁶ and learning, the privately⁷ funded National Japanese-American Memorial to Patriotism⁸ tells two stories.

One is the proud account of the exploits of Japanese Americans who fought for the United States in World War Two.

The other tells a shameful⁹ story.

Ten names appear on a wall. These were the locations of internment¹⁰ camps - which the most strident of critics call the American equivalent of concentration camps.

Some 120,000 Japanese-Americans - American citizens all - were confined in them during the same war. 

The memorial foundation’s executive director, Cherry Tsutsumida, a longtime Federal health worker, was among the little children hustled¹¹ with their families into such an internment camp in the Arizona desert.

“Even though my father was just a farmer, they assumed that he had all the characteristics of ‘those sneaky Japs’ in Japan,” she said. "And as a result, those of us who were his children carried the cape¹² of being ‘disloyal Americans,’ whatever that meant. Some of our Chinese friends also began to wear little tags that said, ‘We are not a Jap,’ which again reinforced our isolation¹³ and our feeling of being guilty of something that we did not understand.” 

In an unprecedented¹⁴ gesture, the U.S. Congress voted in 1988 to issue an apology and pay $20,000 dollars in reparations to each relocation camp internee still alive. Supporters of the Japanese-American Memorial say that it serves as a reminder¹⁵ to a free nation to never again permit the denial of individual rights of law-abiding citizens.

1 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

2 profusion   

n.挥霍；丰富

参考例句：

• He is liberal to profusion.他挥霍无度。
• The leaves are falling in profusion.落叶纷纷。

3 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

4 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

5 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

6 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

7 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

8 patriotism   

n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism.他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。

9 shameful   

adj.可耻的，不道德的

参考例句：

• It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己，真不害臊。
• We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。

10 internment   

n.拘留

参考例句：

• Certainly the recent attacks against the internment camps are evidence enough. 很明显，最近营地遭受到的攻击就是一个足好的证明。 来自互联网
• The chapters on the internment are Both readaBle and well researched. 这些关于拘留的章节不仅具可读性而且研究得很透彻。 来自互联网

11 hustled   

催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He grabbed her arm and hustled her out of the room. 他抓住她的胳膊把她推出房间。
• The secret service agents hustled the speaker out of the amphitheater. 特务机关的代理人把演讲者驱逐出竞技场。

12 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

13 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

14 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

15 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。