VOA慢速英语 ：中国和墨西哥裔美国人的移民经验分享2014-06-03

Chinese and Mexican Americans Share the Immigrant Experience

More immigrants live in the western state of California than anywhere else in the United States. Among the largest immigrant groups are Mexicans and Chinese. They may have come to the country legally or without legal documents. The two ethnic groups come from very different places, but they share many similarities.

Twenty-one-year-old Jonathan Wong is a fourth-generation Chinese and third-generation Mexican American. But people often wonder about his ancestry.

"They go, are you Filipino? Are you Mexican? Are you Pacific Islander? Are you Hawaiian?"

Although the cultures of his ancestors are very different, Jonathan Wong finds there is one thing both deeply value.

"The connection you have with your family, in general. Both of them are very family oriented."

Like many immigrants, his Mexican and Chinese ancestors came to the U.S. for a better life.

Shelley Fisher Fishkin is director of the American Studies Program at Stanford University in California. She says the immigrants were seeking choices or opportunities not available in their home countries.

"The Chinese who came to the U.S. in the middle of the 19th century and then Mexicans who came at the end of the 19th century or early 20th century were lured by the possibility of creating opportunities for their families that were not possible in their home countries."

The new immigrants often faced hardship and discrimination. They worked as laborers, either as modern-day Mexican farm workers or as Chinese railroad workers in the 19th century.

An art show examines the two immigrant experiences. The exhibit can be seen at the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles. One artwork has railroad tracks buried under a small mountain of fortune cookies. Artist Hung Liu created the work. It is meant to represent the early Chinese immigrants who came to dig for gold or work on the railroads.

"The very reason the Chinese first came here is to escape from the economic despair in China."

Steven Wong is the curator of the Chinese American Museum. He says immigrants from China and Mexico still come to the U.S. He adds that immigration remains an important issue.

"I think not a lot of people realize that there still is a lot of unskilled labor coming in from both communities and not a lot of people know, too, when it comes to immigration and immigration reform, usually people associate that with "Oh, that's a Latino issue." But that is also a big Asian issue of undocumented immigrants coming in also -- specifically Chinese."

In the Los Angeles area, both groups often live in ethnic neighborhoods. Artist Tony de los Reyes experienced this while growing up in Los Angeles. Mostly-Mexican East Los Angeles is one ethnic area. Next to it is Monterey Park, a mainly Chinese community. While these immigrant groups may live near each other, Tony says the two do not often mix.

"You're going to have this push and pull between not wanting to be in a place because the culture is different and then also being attracted to it."

But Jonathan Wong says such borders are becoming less clearly defined. That is why he is not surprised that his parents met and got married.

"Look like how much blending there is. It's not even weird at all like how they would have met and how they could have come across each other and hit it off."

He expects more mixing of the two cultures in other parts of the United States, as immigrants and their families continue to seek the American dream.

词汇解析

immigrant

难度：3星常用词汇，属常用6000词

英汉解释

n.移民;侨民

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

He admitted that he was an illegal immigrant.

他承认他是非法移民。

His father is of native Indian extraction and his mother an immigrant Italian.

他父亲有印第安土著血统，母亲是意大利侨民。

wonder

难度：5星基本词汇，属常用1000词

英汉解释

n.惊奇;惊愕;奇迹;奇观

v.惊奇;想知道;怀疑

adj.奇妙的;非凡的

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

It's a wonder that the child came through without a scratch.

这孩子竟能安然无恙地脱险，真是奇迹。

用作动词 (v.)

I wonder whether you are interested in doing processing business with us.

我想知道你们是否对与我们进行加工贸易感兴趣。

用作形容词 (adj.)

We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder.

为了解答疑问和探索奇妙的自然，我们成为探险家和科学家。

available

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

adj.可利用的;可得到的;有空的;有效的;<贬>【政】有资格的，适合的

参考例句

用作形容词 (adj.)

The Prime Minister was not available for comment.

首相无暇作出评论。

The round trip ticket is available for two months.

返程票两个月有效。

hardship

难度：3星常用词汇，属常用6000词

英汉解释

n.艰难;困苦

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

We are ready to face any hardship.

我们准备好了面对任何艰难。

His health broke after years of hardship.

多年的困苦生活使他的身体垮了。

railroad

难度：2星扩展词汇，属常用10000词

英汉解释

n.铁路;铁路公司

=railway(英).

vt.由铁道运输;使(议案等)草草通过;迫使仓促行事

vi.在铁路公司工作

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

We will send the goods by railroad.

我们将用铁路运输货物。

用作及物动词 (vt.)

The workers were railroaded into signing the agreement.

工人们被逼着匆忙地签订了这个协议。

用作不及物动词 (vi.)

The stock of the A. B. railroad is not worth a straw.

该铁路公司的股票如同废纸。

exhibit

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

v.展览;陈列;展示;表现

n.展品;展览

参考例句

用作动词 (v.)

Many unearthed cultural relics were exhibited at the museum.

博物馆展出了许多出土文物。

用作名词 (n.)

They deprecated the new exhibit.

他们很不赞成新展品。

despair

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

n.绝望;失望

vi.失望

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

A person is most disappointed when he is in despair.

一个人在绝望时最失望。

用作不及物动词 (vi.)

We cannot despair of humanity, since we are ourselves human beings.

身为人类,我们不能对人性失望。

remains

难度：5星基本词汇，属常用1000词

英汉解释

n.剩余物;遗迹;遗体

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

After the wheat crop has been gathered, many farmers burn the remains and plough the ash into the soil, so as to enrich it.

小麦收割完成后，农夫们把剩余物烧掉，然后用犁把灰埋入地里，使土地更肥沃。

Choi's remains true today for cremation.

崔真实的遗体今天进行火葬。