美国国家公共电台 NPR Somali Refugee Abdi Nor Iftin: 'I Am Here To Make America Great'

Somali Refugee Abdi Nor Iftin: 'I Am Here To Make America Great'

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

What does it take to become an American? In 2015, This American Life told the story of a Somali refugee who was finally issued a visa to come and live in the United States.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

ABDI NOR IFTIN: This big smile was on my face. I've never, ever had such a big smile. Never, ever, ever, ever.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Abdi Nor Iftin's long road to the United States began when he was only a child in Mogadishu, watching American movies and teaching himself English while unimaginable brutality¹ and war raged around him. In his new memoir² "Call Me American," he tells his story from the beginning. And he joins us now from Portland, Maine, where he now lives. Welcome to the program.

IFTIN: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I'd like to take you back to the beginning where this book begins and your family's story, your parents, who were nomads³. And they describe a sort of Somali life that I've really never heard about, of lush fields and a peaceful pastoral life.

IFTIN: It is. It is. My mother had - you know, her entire world was just her nomadic⁴ life - you know? - the animals, her family. And she had no idea that the country that she was living in was called Somalia. She had always told me, you know, Abdi, there's only two days - the day that you're born and then the day that you die. Everything else in the middle is just grazing and hanging out with the animals. And, you know, how easy life had been to my parents before the disaster had hit and wiped out all their animals.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And that disaster, of course, was the famine and the drought. And your life was marked very early on by war. What was your earliest memory of the conflict?

IFTIN: I was 6 years old when the civil war started, militias⁵ started, you know, pouring into the city and death and killings⁶ and torture. And I described the smell of Mogadishu. It was just, you know, the smell of gunpowder⁷. And that had been sticking with me forever.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah. I mean, there's just these scenes where people are being dragged out of the back of trucks and shot on the streets and chaos⁸, essentially⁹. Everything that you'd known sort of suddenly wiped away.

IFTIN: I think this is the most, you know, touching¹⁰ memory that I can remember, to have our youngest sister die. And we said, good. That is so easy for her. And then I was jealous. I was jealous because that was the time when our feet were swollen¹¹, our bellies¹² were empty. There was a feeling that you could die anytime.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You were starving.

IFTIN: I was - yeah. We were all starving. And I looked at my other sister, and she was just eating sand. And I think that's the stories that people don't hear about.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Your first contact with America and that American dream was with U.S. Marines who came to Somalia. There was a lot of opposition¹³ to them being there - and Americans, of course, are familiar with this story because of "Black Hawk¹⁴ Down," when a helicopter was downed by insurgents¹⁵, and Americans were killed. But that was the first time that you sort of saw a different America.

IFTIN: Yes. I still say they stole my heart because it was the very first time that I saw people with guns. And the guns were pointed¹⁶ up in the air, not in my face, you know? Then they were coming and giving us, you know, sweets. And I wanted these people to stick around. I wanted these people to be part of my life.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And you've become obsessed¹⁷ with America. And you get a nickname, right?

IFTIN: Yes. Abdi the American. Yes, that was my nickname...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Because you were watching American movies, and you learned English from watching American movies.

IFTIN: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Then come the Islamists. And you were a target because you were called Abdi the American. And you were whipped on the beach for being with a girl in public. And the fighting groups were trying to recruit young men to be suicide bombers¹⁸ and fighters. And you didn't want anything to do with it, and you became a refugee.

IFTIN: I did. Unfortunately, I still believe that Islamists are - were born out of the American involvement somewhere in the Middle East. And the phrases that they had used to attract young men of my age to be recruited was just America. They said they are the enemies of Islam. They are attacking everywhere and - all of then. And, surprisingly, I was out on the streets, defending President Bush. I don't even know why I did that, you know? But I was defending him and blaming Osama bin¹⁹ Laden²⁰ for all the - but I thought - to me, it was just expressing myself. But then it got me into trouble. And I received a phone call saying, you've got to stop and drop that nickname, or we're going to kill you.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: This American Life then tells the story of the whole next part of the saga²¹, how you got that visa. And what struck me from your account in the book is not only how much luck you needed, how much help, how much perseverance²² - I mean, it literally²³ took a village to get your American dream. Do you think Americans know how hard it is?

IFTIN: I don't think they do. You know, Americans take so many things for granted. For example, I came to the U.S. through the diversity immigrant, you know, visa lottery²⁴...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: The visa lottery, which President Trump²⁵ would like to cancel.

IFTIN: Which he would like to cancel. But if it was not the diversity lottery, I would have never come to America. Never. I had been an American, you know, since I saw those Marines. And my nickname is going to be my nationality very soon. It's going to be my passport.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: When are you going to become an American?

IFTIN: A year from now.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So what do you think now - if the visa lottery ends, what do you think about that door closing?

IFTIN: Well, first of all, I - you know, when I wake up in the morning, I say, oh, I'm so lucky. I've arrived here before America had turned its back against the rest of the world. If this had happened when I was hiding myself from the Islamic terrorists, just trying to get to America and become an American and all that, it would be a disappointment. It would a betrayal, you know, by the United States because the way I understand is that America is open to the rest of the world. It's a hope. It's a dream. It's an idea that everyone has out there. And I'm here to make America great. I did not come here to take anything. I came here to contribute and to offer and to give.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Abdi Nor Iftin's memoir is "Call Me American." Thank you very much.

IFTIN: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF KHRUANGBIN'S "THE MAN WHO TOOK MY SUNGLASSES")

1 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

2 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

3 nomads   

n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 )；流浪者；游牧生活；流浪生活

参考例句：

• For ten years she dwelled among the nomads of North America. 她在北美游牧民中生活了十年。
• Nomads have inhabited this region for thousands of years. 游牧民族在这地区居住已有数千年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 nomadic   

adj.流浪的；游牧的

参考例句：

• This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
• The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。

5 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

6 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

7 gunpowder   

n.火药

参考例句：

• Gunpowder was introduced into Europe during the first half of the 14th century.在14世纪上半叶，火药传入欧洲。
• This statement has a strong smell of gunpowder.这是一篇充满火药味的声明。

8 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

11 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

12 bellies   

n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的

参考例句：

• They crawled along on their bellies. 他们匍匐前进。
• starving children with huge distended bellies 鼓着浮肿肚子的挨饿儿童

13 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

14 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

15 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

16 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

17 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

18 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

20 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

21 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

22 perseverance   

n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠

参考例句：

• It may take some perseverance to find the right people.要找到合适的人也许需要有点锲而不舍的精神。
• Perseverance leads to success.有恒心就能胜利。

23 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

24 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

25 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。