VOA常速英语2014--被困境和梦想推到美国（在线收听）

Central American Border-crossers Both Pushed, Drawn to US 被困境和梦想推到美国

 The tens of thousands of Central Americans who have crossed over the border in south Texas seeking asylum over the past year left their homelands to escape poverty and violence. But they also have been drawn to the United States by the idea that they would be allowed to stay. Even though many of them, in fact, face deportation after their expensive, difficult and dangerous journey, they say they had no choice but to try.

休斯顿— 成千上万的中美洲难民在过去一年里为了摆脱贫穷和暴力背井离乡，越过德克萨斯州南部边界寻求庇护。但是，他们同时被可以留在美国的消息所吸引。尽管大多数人历经艰难险阻，长途跋涉，仍要面临遣返的命运，他们却表示自己只能冒险一试，别无选择。

A man, who calls himself Eddy, fled his hometown in Guatemala with his three-year-old daughter in fear for their lives.

一名自称艾迪的男子说，迫于对人身安全的担心，他携三岁的女儿逃离家乡危地马拉。

“There is a lot of crime, drug trafficking and kidnapping of children. The drug traffickers have a lot of power,” he said.

他说， “犯罪，毒品走私和拐骗儿童事件在这里时常发生。毒枭的势力非常强大。”

The same fear drove Alma Ciro and her two children from their home in crime-plagued Honduras.

正是同样的忧虑使阿尔玛·西罗带着她两个孩子离开犯罪猖獗的洪都拉斯。

“It is an ugly situation. There is crime, a lot of unemployment because there are few employers, and there are men who chase the girls leaving school. This happened to my daughter,” she said.

西罗说，“这里的情况很糟糕：有犯罪，有因为缺少雇佣者而导致的高失业率，还有男人追逐放学的女孩子。我女儿就是这样。”

Her daughter made it home, Ciro said, but some girls have been abducted, abused and murdered.

西罗的女儿回到了家里，但有些女孩子却被诱拐、虐待或杀害。

The ordeal

Alma Ciro said it took her more than a month to travel through Mexico to the U.S. border, often hungry and subjected to harassment from those who prey on immigrants.

西罗说，她花了一个多月才穿过墨西哥来到美国边界，路上经常挨饿，还经常有人朝着移民下手。

“They take money from people. It is always about money. They take the little money people have with them,” she said.

“他们把人们身上的钱都抢走了。这一直都是关于钱的问题。他们把我们身上少得可怜的钱抢走了。”

Coming up from Guatemala through Mexico, Eddy said so many people demanded money that he arrived at the border with practically nothing.

艾迪说，从危地马拉穿过墨西哥，很多人都向他们要钱。等艾迪到了边境的时候，已经身无分文了。

“In Mexico, they are always swindling you, but the worst part was crossing the river because I was afraid my little girl would drown,” said Eddy.

“在墨西哥，他们总是招摇撞骗。但最糟糕的还是过河的时候，因为我很担心女儿会淹死。”

Such stories are all too familiar to Hipolito Acosta, a former U.S. immigration special agent.

前美国移民特工伊波利托·阿科斯塔对这样的故事再熟悉不过了。

“Your heart goes out to them, because you can only imagine what they have gone through,” he said.

他说，“你会非常同情他们，因为你能想象出他们的遭遇。”

Acosta went through some hardships himself, going undercover as an immigrant to gather evidence against smugglers.

阿科斯塔本人经历过一些苦难。为了收集蛇头的犯罪证据，

“I have ridden in the back of a U-Haul [truck] with a group of Mexican illegal aliens that entered the country being smuggled by smugglers across the Rio Grande River and actually I almost drowned,” he recalled.

他曾乔装成偷渡客。“我曾经同一群墨西哥偷渡客一起被走私者关在卡车后面入境，穿过里奥格兰德河，我几乎被淹死。”

Acosta said the recent influx of Central American immigrants is part of a much longer story.

阿科斯塔说，最近这股中美洲移民潮是那里长期问题的一部分。

“Poverty and violence have been a condition in Central American countries for decades; it is nothing new,” said Acosta.

“贫穷和暴力是中美洲几十年来的状况，不是新鲜事。”

He believes more are coming now because of the current U.S. policy of processing asylum seekers and then releasing them while they await their court date.

阿科斯塔相信将会有更多的中美洲移民，这主要是因为寻求避难的人会被释放，等候出庭。很多人就再也不露面了。

But Alma Ciro said she took the risky journey to protect her two children - adding she would voluntarily return to Honduras if things change.

但是阿尔玛·西罗表示，她冒险前往美国是为了保护她的两个孩子。她还称，如果洪都拉斯的情况好转，她会自愿回去。

“We need two things, we need more work and less crime,” said Ciro.

“我们需要两样：多一些工作机会，少一些犯罪。”

Solving those problems will take a long time however, so the influx at the border is likely to continue.

解决这些问题需要很长时间。所以，这股移民潮可能会持续下去。