美国国家公共电台 NPR Hispanic Unemployment Has Hit Record Lows. But Does That Mean Progress?

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Unemployment is at a historic low right now. Nationwide, it's at 3.6%. This week, NPR is bringing you profiles of how this affects different communities. Among Hispanics, joblessness has hit a low of 4.2%, but many say that is not all good news. There is still a wide income gap compared to whites. Hispanics earn about one-fourth less than white workers do. NPR's Jasmine Garsd spent time with one family who struggle to succeed, but there is one investment they have made that could change the family's entire future.

JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE¹: Ernesto Martinez remembers this one day when he was 17. He had 120 bucks² to his name, and it was all in his pocket. That's how much he got paid for his first job in the U.S. as a mover. And he says he stood there, in front of a shop window at the mall. He was mesmerized³. It was a pair of Air Jordans. They cost around $100.

ERNESTO MARTINEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

GARSD: "I fell in love with them," he says. He didn't speak English, so he turned to his brother and said, ask them to bring me a size eight. And his brother responded disapprovingly⁴, what do you want those shoes for? Martinez says that's when he decided⁵ to learn English so he could speak for himself and go back and buy the shoes. He'd just arrived from Mexico. It was the 1990s, and back then, if you turned on the radio, you might hear this No. 1 billboard⁶ hit.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIVIN' LA VIDA LOCA")

RICKY MARTIN: (Singing) Upside, inside out, she's living la vida loca. She'll push and pull you down.

GARSD: This is what pundits⁷ called the Latin explosion. Over the next two decades, the Hispanic population would grow from 22.4 million people to 50.5 million. But many Latinos were hardly living la vida loca. The 2000 Census⁸ reported that they had a poverty rate of 22.6%. Ernesto Martinez's wife, Araceli, had three cleaning jobs, and it was still hard to get by.

ARACELI MARTINEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

GARSD: She says the owners of one of the hotels she cleaned at made her do the heavy lifting, like moving furniture. It was grueling, but she just could not afford to lose that job. Today across the U.S., there is an abundance of jobs. Unemployment is at the lowest ever for Latinos, and their poverty rate has gone down somewhat.

ARACELI MARTINEZ: This is my kitchen. So this is the dining room.

GARSD: On a rainy Sunday afternoon, Araceli shows me around her home in southern New Jersey⁹. They were able to buy it in the year 2000. It's beautiful. The backyard is expansive, and it takes a lot of work to afford this place. Araceli still has three jobs - cleaning houses, as a supermarket cashier and she's a day care assistant. Ernesto owns a small drywall company, and in this booming economy, there's so much construction, he can hardly keep up. Things have improved dramatically for this family, but Araceli says their income has barely budged¹⁰ in the last decade. And meanwhile, the cost of living has gone up.

ARACELI MARTINEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

GARSD: "Sometimes you have to have two or three jobs to make ends meet," she says. Everything is expensive - food, utilities, car insurance. It's these details economists¹¹ point to when heeding¹² caution about the stunning¹³ unemployment numbers. Yes, joblessness is down, and that's great, but there's still this huge wage gap between Latinos and whites. And for some 7 million Central American and Mexican immigrants who don't have legal status, it's even harder to move up.

Being undocumented often leads to exploitation. It makes it harder to get an education. It forces people to work for low wages in the informal economy. It makes it difficult to start and build a company. Which is why for all the talk about the Latin cultural explosion and unemployment going down, there are activists¹⁴ who worry about the formation of a permanent Latino underclass in America. But Ernesto and Araceli Martinez say they actually see a really bright future, and it's because of their kids.

ARACELI MARTINEZ: Alondra.

GARSD: Alondra, or Alo, is 22 years old. She's the older of the two Martinez kids. When they were born, Ernesto says he had this really clear vision.

E MARTINEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

GARSD: He didn't want to see them doing drywall. He says, I want them to have a 9-to-5 job. I want them to be well dressed and not dirty like we get dirty. As soon as she was born, he started saving for her college. He saw it as an investment. The problem is as Alondra got older, she didn't see herself as the kind of person who goes into higher education.

ALONDRA MARTINEZ: I feel like growing up, I was very aware of the kind of family I came from. I feel like when you're - when you don't know, when you don't have people that are, like, lawyers and doctors and people with careers in your family, then you think it's so farfetched and it's, like, so much money.

GARSD: It was a high school Spanish teacher who spoke¹⁶ to her about New Jersey's Educational Opportunity Fund, the state's support program for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. That's how Alondra ended up at Montclair State University. She's part of the record number of Hispanics going to college. Nationwide, enrollment¹⁷ nearly tripled between 1999 and 2016.

(SOUNDBITE OF SIR EDWARD ELGAR'S "POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE")

GARSD: She graduated this month with a degree in human development. At the ceremony for the Educational Opportunity Fund's students, she gave a speech. She was nervous.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ALONDRA MARTINEZ: Sorry. I didn't expect to be so emotional.

GARSD: But she started.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ALONDRA MARTINEZ: Being a first-generation college student means breaking every barrier, silencing every negative voice and pushing myself to be the woman I know I am meant to be.

GARSD: And then she broke format¹⁵, speaking in Spanish.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ALONDRA MARTINEZ: And to my parents, Mama, Papa (speaking Spanish).

GARSD: "Mom, Dad, we made it." In fall of this year, Alondra Martinez will be going to Rutgers University to get her master's degree in college student affairs. She dreams of being dean of a university someday. She'll likely earn many times what her parents do. Her father, Ernesto, marvels¹⁸ at this. This generation's goal is to be lawyers, engineers, architects.

E MARTINEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

GARSD: "That is their dream," he says. "And what was my dream? Nearly 30 years ago, it was a pair of Air Jordans."

Jasmine Garsd, NPR News, New Jersey.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 mesmerized   

v.使入迷( mesmerize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The country girl stood by the road, mesmerized at the speed of cars racing past. 村姑站在路旁被疾驶而过的一辆辆车迷住了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• My 14-year-old daughter was mesmerized by the movie Titanic. 我14岁的女儿完全被电影《泰坦尼克号》迷住了。 来自互联网

4 disapprovingly   

adv.不以为然地，不赞成地，非难地

参考例句：

• When I suggested a drink, she coughed disapprovingly. 我提议喝一杯时，她咳了一下表示反对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He shook his head disapprovingly. 他摇了摇头，表示不赞成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

7 pundits   

n.某一学科的权威，专家( pundit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pundits disagree on the best way of dealing with the problem. 如何妥善处理这一问题，专家众说纷纭。 来自辞典例句
• That did not stop Chinese pundits from making a fuss over it. 这并没有阻止中国的博学之士对此大惊小怪。 来自互联网

8 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

9 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

10 budged   

v.（使）稍微移动( budge的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）改变主意，（使）让步

参考例句：

• Old Bosc had never budged an inch--he was totally indifferent. 老包斯克一直连动也没有动，他全然无所谓。 来自辞典例句
• Nobody budged you an inch. 别人一丁点儿都算计不了你。 来自辞典例句

11 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 heeding   

v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• This come of heeding people who say one thing and mean another! 有些人嘴里一回事，心里又是一回事，今天这个下场都是听信了这种人的话的结果。 来自辞典例句
• Her dwarfish spouse still smoked his cigar and drank his rum without heeding her. 她那矮老公还在吸他的雪茄，喝他的蔗酒，睬也不睬她。 来自辞典例句

13 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

14 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

16 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。

17 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
• I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。

18 marvels   

n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The doctor's treatment has worked marvels : the patient has recovered completely. 该医生妙手回春，病人已完全康复。 来自辞典例句
• Nevertheless he revels in a catalogue of marvels. 可他还是兴致勃勃地罗列了一堆怪诞不经的事物。 来自辞典例句