返回首页

MelanieNezer_2019X-_寻求庇护的基本权利_-
Last summer, I got a call from a woman named Ellie. 去年夏天,我接到一个电话, 是一个叫埃莉的女人打来的。
And she had heard about the family separations at the southern border and wanted to know what she could do to help. 她听说了在南部边境 发生家庭分离的故事。 她想知道, 有没有她能帮上忙的地方。
separations:n.分色(separation的复数形式);
She told me the story of her grandfather and his father. 她跟我讲述了 他祖父和父亲的故事。
When they were kids in Poland , their father, fearing for his son's safety, gave them a little bit of money and told them to walk west, to just keep walking west across Europe. 她父亲和兄弟幼时生活在波兰, 他的父亲, 因为担心儿子的安全问题, 给了他们些许钱 然后告诉他们往西出发, 一直往西,穿过欧洲。
Poland:n.波兰(欧洲国家);
And they did. 他们成功了。
They walked all the way west across Europe, and they got on a boat and they got to America. 他们一路向西穿越欧洲, 搭上一艘船,踏上了美国的大陆。
Ellie said that when she heard the stories of the teens walking up across Mexico, all she could think about was her grandfather and his brother. 埃莉说当她听闻,那些少年们 他们一路穿越墨西哥的故事时, 她唯一能够想到的 就是她祖父和父亲的兄弟。
teens:n.十多岁,十几岁;青少年;
She said that for her, the stories were exactly the same. 她说,对她而言, 这些故事几乎一模一样。
Those brothers were the Hassenfeld Brothers -- the "Has" "bros" -- the Hasbro toy company, which, of course, brought us Mr. Potato Head. 这对兄弟就是 哈森菲尔德兄弟, 也就是 孩之（Has） 宝（bros） —— 孩之宝玩具公司, 为我们带来了“蛋头先生”。
But that is not actually why I'm telling you this story. 然而,这并不是我给你们 讲这个故事的原因。
I'm telling you this story because it made me think about whether I would have the faith , the courage, to send my teens -- and I have three of them -- on a journey like that. 我讲述这个故事, 是因为它让我思考 我是否会有信心、 有勇气, 把我的孩子们—— 我有三个孩子, 送上这样一段旅程。
faith:n.信心;信任;宗教信仰; journey:n.旅行;行程;vi.旅行;
Knowing that they wouldn't be safe where we were, would I be able to watch them go? 当我知晓待在这个地方 他们不再安全的时候, 我能做到目送他们离开吗？
I started my career decades ago at the southern US border, working with Central American asylum seekers . 早在数十年前,我就开始 在美国南部边境展开工作, 帮助来自中美洲的难民。
career:n.职业;事业;生涯;经历; asylum:n.庇护;收容所,救济院; seekers:n.探求者;搜查人;
And in the last 16 years, I've been at HIAS, the Jewish organization that fights for refugee rights around the world, as a lawyer and an advocate . 过去 16 年,我就职于 希伯来移民援助协会（HIAS), 一个为全世界 难民权利斗争的犹太组织, 在那里担任一名律师和辩护人。
Jewish:adj.犹太人的;犹太族的; organization:n.组织;机构;体制;团体; refugee:n.难民;避难者;逃亡者;v.避难;adj.避难的; advocate:v.拥护;支持;提倡;n.支持者;提倡者;辩护律师;出庭辩护人;
And one thing I've learned is that, sometimes, the things that we're told make us safer and stronger actually don't. 我学到的一个道理是,有时候, 那些别人告诉我们, 让我们更安全也更强大的事情, 实际上并非如此。
And, in fact, some of these policies have the opposite of the intended results and in the meantime , cause tremendous and unnecessary suffering. 不仅如此,事实上,有一些政策 还会产生适得其反的效果。 与此同时,造成巨大的 而且不必要的伤害。
policies:n.政策;方针;原则;为人之道;保险单(policy的复数) intended:adj.预定的;计划的;v.打算;计划;想要;(intend的过去分词和过去式) in the meantime:在此期间;于此际; tremendous:adj.极大的,巨大的;惊人的;极好的;
So why are people showing up at our southern border? 为什么会有难民 出现在我们的南部边境呢？
Most of the immigrants and refugees that are coming to our southern border are fleeing three countries: Guatemala , Honduras and El Salvador . 绝大多数的这样的移民和难民, 都从这三个国家逃难而来, 危地马拉、洪都拉斯和萨尔瓦多。
immigrants:n.移民(immigrant的复数); refugees:n.避难者;逃亡者;难民;(refugee的复数) fleeing:v.迅速离开;逃避,逃跑;(flee的现在分词) Guatemala:n.危地马拉(拉丁美洲国家);危地马拉人; Salvador:n.萨尔瓦多(巴西东部港市);
These countries are consistently ranked among the most violent countries in the world. 这些国家长期以来被视为 世界上暴力事件最多的国家之一。
consistently:adv.一贯地;一致地;坚实地; violent:adj.暴力的;猛烈的;
It's very difficult to be safe in these countries, let alone build a future for yourself and your family. 在这些国家生活, 是很难保证安全的, 更不要说为自己 和家庭创造未来了。
let alone:更不必说;听任;不打扰;
And violence against women and girls is pervasive . 侵害妇女和女童 的暴力行为无处不在。
violence:n.暴力;侵犯;激烈;歪曲; pervasive:adj.普遍的;到处渗透的;流行的;
People have been fleeing Central America for generations. 人们逃离自己位于中美洲的家园, 已经持续了好几代人。
Central America:n.中美洲(包括危地马拉、伯利兹、洪都拉斯、萨尔瓦多、尼加拉瓜、哥斯达黎加以及巴拿马);
Generations of refugees have been coming to our shores, fleeing the civil wars of the 1980s, in which the United States was deeply involved . 一代又一代难民移民美国, 因 20 世纪 80 年代的内战逃难而来, 这些战争的爆发, 美国都深深涉足其中。
civil:adj.公民的;民间的;文职的;有礼貌的;根据民法的; United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式) involved:adj.有关的; v.涉及; (involve的过去式和过去分词)
This is nothing new. 这并不是什么新鲜事。
What's new is that recently , there's been a spike in families, children and families, showing up at checkpoints and presenting themselves to seek asylum. 新鲜的是最近逃难家庭的数量 出现了飙升现象, 孩子们和逃难的家庭, 出现在过境关卡, 提出寻求庇护的请求。
recently:adv.最近;新近; spike:n.长钉,道钉;钉鞋;细高跟;vt.阻止;以大钉钉牢;用尖物刺穿; checkpoints:n.检查点集;检验点;(checkpoint的复数)
Now, this has been in the news lately, so I want you to remember a few things as you see those images . 这已经出现在最近的新闻中, 所以我希望各位在看这些图片 的时候记住几件事。
images:n.印象;声誉;形象;画像;雕像;(image的第三人称单数和复数)
One, this is not a historically high level of interceptions at the southern border, and, in fact, people are presenting themselves at checkpoints. 一,南部边境被截留的难民人数 并没有达到历史高位, 而且,事实上, 人们滞留在过境关卡。
historically:adv.历史上地;从历史观点上说; interceptions:n.拦截;截击;遮断;截取;(interception的复数)
Two, people are showing up with the clothes on their backs; some of them are literally in flip-flops . 二,逃难的人们衣不蔽体; 有一些人的鞋破得像拖鞋一样。
literally:adv.按字面:字面上:确实地: flip-flops:n.平底人字拖鞋(flip-flop的复数);
And three, we're the most powerful country in the world. 三,我们的美国是 世界上最强大的国家。
It's not a time to panic . 这不是该恐慌的时候。
panic:adj.恐慌的;n.惊恐;恐慌;惶恐不安;v.惊慌失措;
It's easy from the safety of the destination country to think in terms of absolutes: 从目的国的安全角度考虑, 我们很容易 从绝对的视角来思考问题:
Is it legal, or is it illegal ? 这是合法的,还是非法的？
illegal:adj.不合法的;非法的;n.非法移民;非法劳工;
But the people who are wrestling with these questions and making these decisions about their families are thinking about very different questions: 但是正是这些 为上述问题纠结的人们, 在关乎难民家庭的问题上进行决策。 而这些家庭思考的 是截然不同的问题:
wrestling:n.摔跤运动;v.摔跤;奋力对付;全力解决;(wrestle的现在分词)
How do I keep my daughter safe? 我怎样保证我女儿的安全？
How do I protect my son? 我怎样保护我的儿子？
And if you want absolutes, it's absolutely legal to seek asylum. 如果你要求绝对的视角, 寻求避难的做法是绝对合法的。
absolutely:adv.绝对地;完全地;
It is a fundamental right in our own laws and in international law. 这是我们的法律以及国际法 规定的一项基本权利。
fundamental:n.基础; adj.十分重大的;
And, in fact -- 而且,事实上——
(Applause) （掌声）
it stems from the 1951 Refugee Convention , which was the world's response to the Holocaust and a way for countries to say never again would we return people to countries where they would harmed or killed. 这一规定源于 1951 年 的《难民公约》, 这是国际社会 对犹太人大屠杀的回应, 也是所有国家对遣返难民 这种行为坚决说不的一种途径, 在迁出国他们会被伤害甚至杀害。
stems:n.花草的茎或梗; v.阻止; (stem的第三人称单数和复数) Convention:n.习俗;惯例;协定;常规; Holocaust:n.大屠杀;毁灭;
There are several ways refugees come to this country. 有好几种难民迁移到 这个国家的方式。
One is through the US Refugee Admissions Program. 一种就是通过美国 难民安置计划。
Admissions:n.许可;承认;入会费;入场券(admission的复数形式);
Through that program, the US identifies and selects refugees abroad and brings them to the United States. 通过这一计划,美国政府确认 和选取国外的难民, 然后带至美国领土。
identifies:vt.[计]识别,认明;视为相同,鉴定;v.[计]识别,确定(identify的单三形式); abroad:adv.在国外;到海外;adj.往国外的;n.海外;异国;
Last year, the US resettled fewer refugees than at any time since the program began in 1980. 去年,美国重新安置的难民数量 是该计划自1980年 实施以来最低的数字。
resettled:vi.重新定居;vt.使重新定居;
And this year, it'll probably be less. 而今年,这个数字可能还会减少。
And this is at a time when we have more refugees in the world than at any other time in recorded history, even since World War II. 而这一刻,世界上 拥有的难民数量 比历史上任何时候都要多, 甚至要比二战时还要多。
Another way that refugees come to this country is by seeking asylum. 另一种就是难民通过 寻求避难的方式来到这个国家。
seeking:v.寻找;寻求;谋求;争取;(向人)请求(seek的现在分词)
Asylum seekers are people who present themselves at a border and say that they'll be persecuted if they're sent back home. 寻求避难者是一群 出现在一国边境 声明他们如若被遣返回国 将遭受迫害的人们。
persecuted:v.迫害,残害,压迫;骚扰;打扰(persecute的过去分词和过去式)
An asylum seeker is simply somebody who's going through the process in the United States to prove that they meet the refugee definition . 一名寻求避难者只是一个 通过相关流程 在美国边境, 来证明自己符合难民标准的人。
asylum seeker:n.寻求避难者;寻求庇护的移民; process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的; definition:n.定义;清晰度;(尤指词典里的词或短语的)释义;解释;
And it's never been more difficult to seek asylum. 而且也未出现过 寻求避难变得如此艰难的情况。
Border guards are telling people when they show up at our borders that our country's full, that they simply can't apply . 护边员正在告诉避难者们 当他们出现在我们边境的时候, 我们国家的安置名额已满, 他们就是不能提出申请了。
apply:v.申请;涂,敷;应用;适用;请求;
This is unprecedented and illegal. 这是前所未有的, 也是不合法理的。
unprecedented:adj.空前的;无前例的;
Under a new program, with the kind of Orwellian title "Migrant Protection Protocols ," 在一个新项目下, 该项目有着奥威尔式的标题 “移民保护协议”,
Protocols:n.协议; v.拟定议定书;
refugees are told they have to wait in Mexico while their cases make their way through the courts in the United States, and this can take months or years. 难民被告知 他们需要在墨西哥等候, 当他们的案件在美国法庭 进行审理批准的时候, 而这一流程会耗上数月甚至数年。
Meanwhile , they're not safe, and they have no access to lawyers. 同时,他们的安全 并没有得到保障, 他们也请不起律师。
Meanwhile:adv.同时,其间;n.其间,其时;
Our country, our government, has detained over 3,000 children, separating them from their parents' arms, as a deterrent from seeking asylum. 我们的国家,我们的政府, 已经扣留了超过 3000 名儿童, 将他们从家庭的怀抱中抽离, 作为震慑寻求避难行为的一种手段。
detained:v.拘留;扣押;留住;阻留;(detain的过去分词和过去式) deterrent:adj.遏制的,威慑的;制止的;n.威慑;妨碍物;挽留的事物;
Many were toddlers , and at least one was a six-year-old blind girl. 他们有许多还是蹒跚学步的孩子, 而且至少有一名 是一个六岁的盲童女孩。
toddlers:n.初学走路的孩子;儿童短衫(toddler的复数形式);
And this is still going on. 而这一切还在继续。
We spend billions to detain people in what are virtually prisons who have committed no crime. 我们花费了数百万来震慑避难者, 用着近乎对待罪犯的方式, 而这群人并没有犯下任何罪行。
virtually:adv.事实上,几乎;实质上; committed:adj.坚信的; v.做出错事; (commit的过去分词和过去式)
And family separation has become the hallmark of our immigration system. 分离家庭的做法已经成为 我们移民系统的标志。
hallmark:n.特点;品质证明;vt.给…盖上品质证明印记;使具有…标志; immigration:n.外来移民;移居;
That's a far cry from a shining city on a hill or a beacon of hope or all of the other ways we like to talk about ourselves and our values. 这与一座山上熠熠生辉的城市 或一座希望的灯塔相距甚远, 也与其他我们习惯于 标榜的自我形象和价值观相去甚远。
beacon:n.灯塔; v.像灯塔般照耀;
Migration has always been with us, and it always will be. 移民现象一直存在于我们身边, 也会继续存在下去。
The reasons why people flee -- persecution , war, violence, climate change and the ability now to see on your phone what life is like in other places -- those pressures are only growing. 人们逃离迫害、战争、暴力、 气候变化的缘由, 还有你在手机上能看见的 其他角落生活状况都证明—— 这些压力只会进一步增加。
persecution:n.迫害;烦扰;
But there are ways that we can have policies that reflect our values and actually make sense , given the reality in the world. 但是我们也有一些方式来 制定反映我们价值取向的政策, 考虑到世界上目前的现状, 这也的确合乎情理。
reflect:v.反映;映出(影像);反射;表明,表达; make sense:有意义;讲得通;言之有理;
The first thing we need to do is dial back the toxic rhetoric that has been the basis of our national debate on this issue for too long. 我们要做的第一件事 就是减少于事无补的言论, 这一言论已经成为了我们国家 在这一议题上辩论基础太久了。
toxic:adj.有毒的;中毒的; rhetoric:n.修辞,修辞学;华丽的词藻;adj.花言巧语的; debate:n.辩论;争论;考虑;v.辩论;争论;考虑; issue:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;发行;
(Applause) （掌声）
I am not an immigrant or a refugee myself, but I take these attacks personally , because my grandparents were. 我本人不是一名移民或难民, 但我把这些攻击看作针对我个人的, 因为我的祖辈们就是他们的一员。
personally:adv.个人;亲自;本人;就本人而言;
My great-grandmother Rose didn't see her kids for seven years, as she tried to bring them from Poland to New York. 我的曾祖母罗斯长达 7 年 没能见到自己的孩子们, 她曾拼尽全力把他们 从波兰带到了美国,
great-grandmother:n.曾祖母;外曾祖母;
She left my grandfather when he was seven and didn't see him again until he was 14. 她在我祖父 7 岁时就离开了家, 直到祖父 14 岁时, 她才与祖父再次相见。
On the other side of my family, my grandmother Aliza left Poland in the 1930s and left for what was then the British Mandate of Palestine, and she never saw her family and friends again. 在我家族故事的另一面, 我的祖母阿里扎 上世纪 30 年代离开波兰, 来到了随后被称为 英属巴勒斯坦托管地的地方, 从此再也没见过 她的亲人和朋友们。
On the other side:另一面;在另一边; Mandate:n.授权;命令,指令;委托管理;受命进行的工作;vt.授权;托管;
Global cooperation as a response to global migration and displacement would go a long way towards making migration something that isn't a crisis but something that just is, and that we deal with as a global community . 国际合作要成为 应对国际移民的回应, 还有很长的路要走, 把移民不再当作是一场危机 而是一件,仅仅是一件 我们作为一个国际社会 可以应对的事情。
Global:adj.全球的;总体的;球形的; cooperation:n.合作;配合; displacement:n.取代,位移;[船]排水量; crisis:n.危机;危险期;决定性时刻;adj.危机的;用于处理危机的; community:n.社区;[生态]群落;共同体;团体;
Humanitarian aid is also critical . 人道主义援助也至关重要。
Humanitarian:adj.人道主义的;博爱的;基督凡人论的;n.人道主义者;基督凡人论者; critical:adj.鉴定的;[核]临界的;批评的,爱挑剔的;危险的;决定性的;评论的;
The amount of support we provide to countries in Central America that are sending refugees and migrants is a tiny fraction of the amount we spend on enforcement and detention . 我们花在中美洲国家的援助金额, 用以转移难民和移民的部分 只是我们花在执行法令 和扣留儿童上的一小部分。
fraction:n.分数;小部分;小数;少量; enforcement:n.执行,实施;强制; detention:n.拘留;延迟;挽留;
And we can absolutely have an asylum system that works. 而我们完全可以制定一套 发挥作用的难民庇护系统。
For a tiny fraction of the cost of a wall, we could hire more judges, make sure asylum seekers have lawyers and commit to a humane asylum system. 只需修建边境墙资金的一小部分, 我们就可以雇佣更多的法官, 确保寻求避难者请的起律师, 以及帮助建立一套 人道的难民庇护系统。
humane:adj.仁慈的,人道的;高尚的;
(Applause) （掌声）
And we could resettle more refugees. 我们可以重新安置更多的难民。
To give you a sense of the decline in the refugee program: three years ago, the US resettled 15,000 Syrian refugees in response to the largest refugee crisis on earth. 为了让你知晓 难民安置项目的缩减: 三年前,美国政府重新安置了 15000 名叙利亚难民 作为对世界上 最大的难民危机的回应。
decline:v.下降;衰退;减少;谢绝;n.下降; Syrian:adj.叙利亚的;叙利亚人的;叙利亚语的;n.叙利亚人;叙利亚语; in response to:响应;回答;对…有反应;
A year later, that number was 3,000. 一年后,这个数字是 3000。
And last year, that number was 62 people. 去年,这个数字是 62。
62 people. 62 名难民。
Despite the harsh rhetoric and efforts to block immigration, keep refugees out of the country, support for refugees and immigrants in this country, according to polls , has never been higher. 尽管存在激烈的舆论 和各方势力来阻挡难民潮, 阻止难民进入这个国家, 然而根据民意调查,这个国家 对于难民和移民支持的呼声, 已经到达了史无前例的高度。
Despite:prep.尽管,不管;n.轻视;憎恨;侮辱; harsh:adj.严厉的;严酷的;刺耳的;粗糙的;刺目的; according to:根据,据说; polls:n.民意调查; v.对…进行民意测验,使投票(poll的单三形式);
Organizations like HIAS, where I work, and other humanitarian and faith-based organizations, make it easy for you to take a stand when there's a law that's worth opposing or a law that's worth suppo rting or a policy that needs oversight. 类似于我就职的 HIAS 这样的组织, 还有其他的人道主义 和信仰为基础的组织的存在, 为你提供了选择立场的便利, 当有这么一条法律值得反对时, 或是有这么一条法律值得支持时, 或有这么一条政策需要监督时。
Organizations:n.组织,构造,有机体(organization的复数);组织机构; faith-based:基于信仰; take a stand:表态;采取立场,表示立场;
If you have a phone, you can do something, and if you want to do more, you can. 如果你有一部手机的话, 你就可以做一些事情, 甚至可以做得更多。
I will tell you that if you see one of these detention centers along the border with children in them -- they're jails -- you will never be the same. 我会告诉你,如果你看见 其中一个拘留中心 坐落在边境边上, 还关押着孩子们——它们是监狱—— 而你永远无法感同身受。
jails:n.监狱;监牢;拘留所;vt.监禁;下狱;
What I loved so much about my call with Ellie was that she knew in her core that the stories of her grandparents were no different than today's stories, and she wanted to do something about it. 在我和埃莉的通话中 我十分欣赏的部分是, 她在内心深处知道 她祖辈们的故事 和如今发生的故事并无区别, 她还想做一些事情来帮助他们。
core:n.核心;要点;果心;[计]磁心;vt.挖...的核; different than:不同于;
If I leave you with one thing, beyond the backstory for Mr. Potato Head, which is, of course, a good story to leave with, it's that a country shows strength through compassion and pragmatism , not through force and through fear. 如果今天我只能给各位留下一句话, 在“蛋头先生”的背景故事之外—— 当然,这是值得被留下一句话—— 那就是一个国家要展现自身的强大, 是通过同情和务实 而不是通过武力和恐惧。
backstory:背景故事; compassion:n.同情;怜悯; pragmatism:n.实用主义;独断;
(Applause) （掌声）
These stories of the Hassenfelds and my relatives and your relatives are still happening today; they're all the same . 哈森菲尔德兄弟的故事, 我的亲人还有你的亲人们的故事, 今天还在上演; 这些故事都是一样的。
relatives:n.亲戚;亲属;同类事物;(relative的复数) all the same:仍然:依然:照样:
A country is strong when it says to the refugee, not, "Go away," but, "It's OK, we've got you, you're safe." 一个强大国家会对难民说的 不是“滚开”,而是 “没事,有我在呢,你安全了。”
Thank you. 谢谢！
(Applause) （掌声）
Thanks. 谢谢！
(Applause) （掌声）