密歇根新闻广播 美国仍有民主吗

 

Last night, the main ballroom¹ was filled to capacity at the Atheneum Suite² Hotel in Detroit's Greektown, a place designed partly to attract higher-stakes gamblers.

But no one among the hundreds present was there to do anything except gamble that this nation could still live up to its promise.

Some there had already taken that gamble and won, after being threatened and physically³ tortured abroad.

They were there for the annual dinner to celebrate Freedom House, an institution like no other, a place founded 34 years ago to help the tortured and oppressed of the world win political asylum⁴ in our country. America was founded, after all, by those fleeing torture and oppression, and we’ve always recognized a right to asylum for those with a “well-founded fear of persecution⁵" where they come from.

Millions have come since. But we are living in an age and with a president who is perhaps the least welcoming ever when it comes to refugees.

There was a small, quiet woman at my table last night who introduced herself just as Barb⁶ and who neither sought nor attracted any particular notice. That is, until she was called up to the podium.

"Remember Barack Obama?" she asked softly, as the audience began to applaud.

And then she said two more words that had them ecstatically applauding louder and even rising to their feet.

"Remember America?" she asked.

The speaker knew very well what America was about and how to defend it.

She was Barbara McQuade, the first woman to serve as the federal district attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Among other things, she had successfully prosecuted⁷ Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and sent him to prison for decades. She nailed human traffickers and corrupt⁸ Detroit school principals and many other bad guys.

But McQuade has done more to fight terrorism, too, than most people. She and her team successfully prosecuted Detroit’s bizarre underwear bomber⁹, and co-chaired a subcommittee on terrorism and national security for the Attorney General.

She grew up in Macomb County, a place not known for welcoming attitudes towards immigrants. But McQuade, one of more than 90 U.S. District Attorneys unceremoniously fired in March, knows that those whom Freedom House shelters are not terrorists but the victims of terror.

"We are now in some dark days in America," she told an enraptured¹⁰ audience. "But Freedom House gives me hope that we will once again see through the darkness, and that Lady Liberty will once again lift the lamp behind the golden door," she said, referring to Emma Lazarus’s famous poem engraved¹¹ on the pedestal on which the Statue of Liberty stands.

There are those who say Barbara McQuade could have had the Democratic nomination¹² for governor had she wanted it. But she told me she had two teenagers in high school, two more in college, and for now is enjoying being a law professor at the University of Michigan.

After her remarks, a Burundi couple spoke¹³ who had won asylum, and are starting Baobab Fare, an East African restaurant.

"Some said I came here to steal a job. I came here to create jobs," Hamissi Mamba told the diners. Earlier, Deborah Drennan, Freedom House’s executive director, said of her community that simply, "we are the best of America."

I’d bet no one in that ballroom would disagree.

Jack¹⁴ Lessenberry is Michigan Radio's Senior news analyst¹⁵. Views expressed in his essays are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management or the station licensee, The University of Michigan.

1 ballroom   

n.舞厅

参考例句：

• The boss of the ballroom excused them the fee.舞厅老板给他们免费。
• I go ballroom dancing twice a week.我一个星期跳两次交际舞。

2 suite   

n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员

参考例句：

• She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
• That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。

3 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

4 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。

5 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

6 barb   

n.（鱼钩等的）倒钩，倒刺

参考例句：

• The barb of his wit made us wince.他那锋芒毕露的机智使我们退避三舍。
• A fish hook has a barb to prevent the fish from escaping after being hooked.鱼钩上都有一个倒钩以防上了钩的鱼逃走。

7 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

8 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

9 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

10 enraptured   

v.使狂喜( enrapture的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was enraptured that she had smiled at him. 她对他的微笑使他心荡神驰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were enraptured to meet the great singer. 他们和大名鼎鼎的歌手见面，欣喜若狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 engraved   

v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• The silver cup was engraved with his name. 银杯上刻有他的名字。
• It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back. 此件雕刻精美，背面有花饰图案。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

13 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

14 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

15 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。