VOA常速英语2014--被困境和梦想推到美国

 

Central American Border-crossers Both Pushed, Drawn¹ to US 被困境和梦想推到美国

 The tens of thousands of Central Americans who have crossed over the border in south Texas seeking asylum² over the past year left their homelands to escape poverty and violence. But they also have been drawn to the United States by the idea that they would be allowed to stay. Even though many of them, in fact, face deportation³ after their expensive, difficult and dangerous journey, they say they had no choice but to try.

休斯顿— 成千上万的中美洲难民在过去一年里为了摆脱贫穷和暴力背井离乡，越过德克萨斯州南部边界寻求庇护。但是，他们同时被可以留在美国的消息所吸引。尽管大多数人历经艰难险阻，长途跋涉，仍要面临遣返的命运，他们却表示自己只能冒险一试，别无选择。

A man, who calls himself Eddy⁴, fled his hometown in Guatemala with his three-year-old daughter in fear for their lives.

一名自称艾迪的男子说，迫于对人身安全的担心，他携三岁的女儿逃离家乡危地马拉。

“There is a lot of crime, drug trafficking and kidnapping of children. The drug traffickers have a lot of power,” he said.

他说， “犯罪，毒品走私和拐骗儿童事件在这里时常发生。毒枭的势力非常强大。”

The same fear drove Alma Ciro and her two children from their home in crime-plagued Honduras.

正是同样的忧虑使阿尔玛·西罗带着她两个孩子离开犯罪猖獗的洪都拉斯。

“It is an ugly situation. There is crime, a lot of unemployment because there are few employers, and there are men who chase the girls leaving school. This happened to my daughter,” she said.

西罗说，“这里的情况很糟糕：有犯罪，有因为缺少雇佣者而导致的高失业率，还有男人追逐放学的女孩子。我女儿就是这样。”

Her daughter made it home, Ciro said, but some girls have been abducted⁵, abused and murdered.

西罗的女儿回到了家里，但有些女孩子却被诱拐、虐待或杀害。

The ordeal⁶

Alma Ciro said it took her more than a month to travel through Mexico to the U.S. border, often hungry and subjected to harassment⁷ from those who prey⁸ on immigrants.

西罗说，她花了一个多月才穿过墨西哥来到美国边界，路上经常挨饿，还经常有人朝着移民下手。

“They take money from people. It is always about money. They take the little money people have with them,” she said.

“他们把人们身上的钱都抢走了。这一直都是关于钱的问题。他们把我们身上少得可怜的钱抢走了。”

Coming up from Guatemala through Mexico, Eddy said so many people demanded money that he arrived at the border with practically nothing.

艾迪说，从危地马拉穿过墨西哥，很多人都向他们要钱。等艾迪到了边境的时候，已经身无分文了。

“In Mexico, they are always swindling you, but the worst part was crossing the river because I was afraid my little girl would drown,” said Eddy.

“在墨西哥，他们总是招摇撞骗。但最糟糕的还是过河的时候，因为我很担心女儿会淹死。”

Such stories are all too familiar to Hipolito Acosta, a former U.S. immigration special agent.

前美国移民特工伊波利托·阿科斯塔对这样的故事再熟悉不过了。

“Your heart goes out to them, because you can only imagine what they have gone through,” he said.

他说，“你会非常同情他们，因为你能想象出他们的遭遇。”

Acosta went through some hardships himself, going undercover as an immigrant to gather evidence against smugglers.

阿科斯塔本人经历过一些苦难。为了收集蛇头的犯罪证据，

“I have ridden in the back of a U-Haul [truck] with a group of Mexican illegal aliens that entered the country being smuggled⁹ by smugglers across the Rio Grande River and actually I almost drowned,” he recalled.

他曾乔装成偷渡客。“我曾经同一群墨西哥偷渡客一起被走私者关在卡车后面入境，穿过里奥格兰德河，我几乎被淹死。”

Acosta said the recent influx¹⁰ of Central American immigrants is part of a much longer story.

阿科斯塔说，最近这股中美洲移民潮是那里长期问题的一部分。

“Poverty and violence have been a condition in Central American countries for decades; it is nothing new,” said Acosta.

“贫穷和暴力是中美洲几十年来的状况，不是新鲜事。”

He believes more are coming now because of the current U.S. policy of processing asylum seekers and then releasing them while they await their court date.

阿科斯塔相信将会有更多的中美洲移民，这主要是因为寻求避难的人会被释放，等候出庭。很多人就再也不露面了。

But Alma Ciro said she took the risky¹¹ journey to protect her two children - adding she would voluntarily return to Honduras if things change.

但是阿尔玛·西罗表示，她冒险前往美国是为了保护她的两个孩子。她还称，如果洪都拉斯的情况好转，她会自愿回去。

“We need two things, we need more work and less crime,” said Ciro.

“我们需要两样：多一些工作机会，少一些犯罪。”

 

Solving those problems will take a long time however, so the influx at the border is likely to continue.

解决这些问题需要很长时间。所以，这股移民潮可能会持续下去。

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 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

3 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

4 eddy   

n.漩涡，涡流

参考例句：

• The motor car disappeared in eddy of dust.汽车在一片扬尘的涡流中不见了。
• In Taylor's picture,the eddy is the basic element of turbulence.在泰勒的描述里，旋涡是湍流的基本要素。

5 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

6 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

7 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

8 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

9 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网

10 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

11 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。