VOA慢速英语2014--AS IT IS 2014-05-20 Project Remembers Chinese Railroad Workers in US 纪念在美国修建铁路的华工

 

AS IT IS 2014-05-20 Project Remembers Chinese Railroad Workers in US

Next year marks the 150th anniversary of when large numbers of Chinese started working on a huge project in the United States.  They helped to build America’s first transcontinental railroad, connecting the East Coast with the West. 

Very little is known about the Chinese railroad workers and what happened to them after the project was finished.  Stanford University in California wants to learn more about the lives of these men by reaching out to their families.  Pat Bodner has more.

Two words -- hopelessness and bravery -- could very well describe what led the ancestors of Bill Yee to come to the United States. 

“I don’t think I could do it.  To come to a strange country and don’t know a word of English.  But I guess it’s between eating or starving.  I guess you have to do what you have to do for your family.”

His ancestors came from southern China.  They became part of an important event in American history.

“My great-great-grandfather came over during the ‘gold rush’ days and he returned back to China as a wealthy man.  And then my great-grandfather came over to work on the railroad.  He came over as a -- to work with black gunpowder¹, black powder on the railroad and he died working on the railroad.”

But that did not stop his grandfather from coming to the U.S. on false papers.  He operated a laundry, a service for cleaning clothing.  Bill Yee’s father continued to head the business.

“Things were pretty bad in some parts of China at that time.  They came to America at all costs.”

Shelley Fisher Fishkin wants to hear stories like this.

“The records of specific individuals and their names and experiences are so sparse².”

Ms. Fishkin is helping³ to direct the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project

at Stanford University.  She is working with experts in Asia to look for descendants⁴ of railroad workers on both continents to learn more about the lives of these men.

“Many of the Chinese workers who came to work on the Transcontinental and other railroads returned to China after their work was done, created families there.  Some of them had families who they left when they came here and they may have descendants in China.”

The goal is to create a digital record of old objects, documents and spoken histories from the families of the railroad workers.  Historians would then piece together the mystery of who they were and what happened to them.

“…and the U.S. could not have become the modern industrial nation it did without the railroads, and the railroads would not have come together when they did without the crucial work of these Chinese workers.”

Jonathan Wong’s ancestor studied English and left China to work as a language assistant on the Transcontinental Railroad.  He later brought his family to the United States, and they settled in San Francisco.

“He kind of had a different experience than having to do labor⁵.  He wouldn’t go home feeling that he was going to be in danger the next day.  It was more of a closer relationship obviously with the white community, his white superiors.  But obviously, I know that he was still treated as if he was the inferior⁶ minority.

Shelley Fisher Fishkin says it was part of life as a Chinese railroad worker.

“They suffered greatly from discrimination and from prejudice.  They were paid less than their Euro-American workers.”

Bill Yee wants his six children and 19 grandchildren to know their family history.

“They have to appreciate the sacrifice that our grandparents did for us.  Otherwise I might be working in the rice fields now.  So it really brings a big opportunity to this generation.”

Through the Stanford University project, the lives of these men can be remembered.  This will help others more fully⁷ understand their part in American history.

1 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。

2 sparse   

adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的

参考例句：

• The teacher's house is in the suburb where the houses are sparse.老师的家在郊区，那里稀稀拉拉有几处房子。
• The sparse vegetation will only feed a small population of animals.稀疏的植物只够喂养少量的动物。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 descendants   

n. 后代，后裔 名词descendant的复数形式

参考例句：

• They were the direct descendants of the Dutch settlers. 他们是荷兰移民的直系后裔。
• They are the descendants of Queen Victoria. 他们是维多利亚女王的后裔。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 inferior   

adj.劣等的，次的，下级的；n.下级，下属

参考例句：

• These oranges are inferior to those I bought last week.这些桔子没我上个周买的好。
• They sell inferior goods at that store.那家商店卖劣等货。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。