美国国家公共电台 NPR 2 Immigrants On What Patriotism Means To Them

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Today, we've been exploring the meaning of patriotism¹ on this Memorial Day weekend. Now, we hear from two women who were not born in the United States but are proudly American.

LAILA LALAMI: My name is Laila Lalami, and I'm a writer and professor, and I live in Los Angeles. I think for me patriotism means a constant questioning, a constant re-evaluation of what it means to be from this country at this particular moment, a constant striving² to make it a better place - a more perfect union, if you will. I'm an immigrant to this country, and one of the things that struck me about America when I started living in it is how easily Americans accepted the idea that their country was the best country in the world, and what does it really mean for America to be the No. 1 country in the world? Does it mean that it has the best health care system? Does it mean that it has the best educational system? Does it mean that it's achieved the most perfect record on human rights ever? So to me, that's what patriotism means. It means to question rather than to accept the answer.

ASMA NAEEM: My name is Asma Naeem. I am the curator of prints, drawings and media arts at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian. You know, my parents came here when I was very young. I was not born here. I was born in Pakistan, and my parents were born in India. They left India because of the aftermath of partition³, and they came to this country with all of the stereotypes⁴ that we think of when immigrants come to this new land. They came with optimism⁵. They came with hope, and they came with starting a new life, and they did that, and they showed me and this wonderful country showed me that it can accept all kinds of people. And I deeply believe in that history. And so in how I relate to people now, people from all different kinds of backgrounds and political views, I hope that I am showing and growing as an American and showing my identity as an American.

SIMON: Asma Naeem of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery and writer and professor Laila Lalami.

1 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。

2 striving   

v.努力奋斗，力求( strive的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The swimmer was striving against the current. 游泳者正在和激浪搏斗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rows of dragons pull downstream, each striving to take the lead. 各色各状造型的“蛟龙”如箭离弦，顺流而下，欲争群龙首。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

3 partition   

n.分开，隔板，隔开；vt.分割，隔开

参考例句：

• She tapped on the glass partition and the car stopped.她轻轻敲击玻璃隔板，汽车便停了下来。
• There is a plywood partition between the two rooms.两个房子中间有一个夹板墙。

4 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 optimism   

n.乐观，乐观主义

参考例句：

• Don't pour cold water on their optimism.别给他们的乐观态度泼冷水。
• Optimism made him alive through the hard days.乐观主义使他在艰难的岁月里活了下来。