VOA慢速英语2021--纽约袭击事件让亚裔美国人处于戒备状态

A 65-year-old woman who came to the United States from the Philippines was attacked while walking to church in New York City on Monday.

A man kicked her several times. Police arrested him on Wednesday on assault¹ and hate crime charges.

The man shouted anti-Asian insults² and reportedly said "you don't belong here."

The woman, identified as Vilma Kari, was taken to the hospital with broken bones. She was released³ a day later.

Nguyen Van is a 76-year-old woman who lives in the Bronx area of New York City. She told VOA that she is afraid to go out even though she does not know of any problems in her neighborhood.

"I'm afraid if they hit me, I'll fall," she said. "I don't get it why they would attack an Asian woman in the street, I feel so bad for her."

The New York attack came about two weeks after six Asian women were killed by Robert Aaron Long in the southern U.S. state of Georgia. The women all worked at spas near Atlanta.

AAPI stands for Asian American and Pacific Islanders. A group called Stop AAPI Hate said 3,800 anti-Asian incidents were reported in the last year. While the number seems large, the group said many incidents do not get reported.

Research from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University in San Bernardino shows hate crimes against Asians rose 150 percent last year while hate crimes overall⁴ dropped by seven percent.

Measures to help the Asian community

Asian American groups around the U.S. are pushing officials to take these attacks seriously. But they are also taking measures to help protect people in their community.

In the recent attack against Vilma Kari, two people who worked in a nearby building did not help. They said they were worried about being hurt themselves.

Emily May runs a group called Hollaback!. She trains people on what to do when they see something bad happening. May said there were things they could have done, even if they were worried about harm coming to themselves, like shouting.

Stan Lee is a firefighter in San Francisco. He and other volunteers are patrolling⁶ with people – not only Asian people – around their neighborhoods to keep their neighbors safe.

"We see everyone in our community as our own," he said. "It doesn't have to be just Asians."

Teresa Ting is a 29-year-old New Yorker. She said she started the Main Street Patrol⁵ following an attack on another Asian-American woman in the Flushing⁷ neighborhood last February.

"It literally⁸ could have been my mother had it been the wrong place, wrong time," Ting said of that attack.

Ting wanted to do more than putting messages on social media. She organized volunteers who go out on weekend afternoons to help keep other Asian Americans safe. A number of crimes against Asian people do not get reported, she said, because the people who are harmed do not speak English well.

Looking to change behavior

Duc Pham is a 22-year-old software engineer for Facebook. Pham said he received a letter from New York City's housing⁹ department addressed to him as "Chin Chong."

He told VOA, "It's one of the racist¹⁰ terms often used to mock¹¹ Asian people perceived¹³ to be Chinese."

The city apologized as the incident became well known on social media. But Pham said he hopes New York City will do more to educate its city employees and start to change racially insensitive behavior.

Last week, the New York Police Department started sending Asian-American police who are not wearing uniforms into neighborhoods with large Asian populations. They hope to prevent future attacks.

Words in This Story

assault –n. the crime of trying or threatening to hurt someone physically¹⁴

spa –n. a place where water that has many minerals in it comes up naturally from the ground and where people go to improve their health by swimming in, bathing in, or drinking the water

patrol –n. a group of people, vehicles, etc., that go through an area to make sure that it is safe

literally –adv. used to stress that a statement or description is true and accurate¹⁵ even though it may be surprising

perceive¹² –v. to think of (someone or something) as being something stated

insensitive –adj. showing that you do not know or care about the feelings of other people

1 assault   

v.猛烈地攻击，袭击；n.突然而猛烈的攻击

参考例句：

• She appeared in court on charges of kidnapping and assault.她因受到拐骗和侵犯人身的指控而出庭。
• The trainees were put through an assault course.受训人员接受了突击训练课程。

2 insults   

侮辱，辱骂，侮辱性的言论( insult的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He shouted insults at the boy who had kicked him. 他大声辱骂那个踢了他的男孩。
• I will by no manner of means put up with such insults. 我绝不会容忍这种侮辱。

3 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

4 overall   

n.工作服，工装裤；全面的，全体的

参考例句：

• The shop assistant was wearing a white overall.那店员穿着白色的工作服。
• How much will it cost overall?一共多少钱？

5 patrol   

v.巡逻，巡查；n.巡逻，巡查，巡逻队

参考例句：

• They attacked two soldiers on patrol.他们袭击了两名正在巡逻的士兵。
• Policemen patrol the streets.警察在街上巡逻。

6 patrolling   

巡逻

参考例句：

• We have been patrolling for days but have seen nothing. 我们巡查多日却什么也没发现。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Police are patrolling the major approach roads to the stadium. 警察正在通往运动场的主要道路上巡逻。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 flushing   

脸红

参考例句：

• The police succeeded in flushing the criminal from their secret meeting place. 警察成功地把这名罪犯从秘密据点赶出来。
• He turned away embarrassed, his face flushing red. 他难为情地扭过头去，羞红了脸。

8 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。

9 housing   

n.房屋，住宅；住房建筑；外壳，外罩

参考例句：

• Do you think our housing sales will turn around during this year?你认为今年我们的住宅销路会好转吗？
• The housing sales have been turning down since the summer.入夏以来，房屋的销售量日趋减少。

10 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

11 mock   

n.嘲笑，戏弄，模仿；adj.假的，伪造的；vt.嘲弄，模仿，轻视；vi.嘲弄

参考例句：

• Those who mock history will be mocked by history.嘲弄历史的人必将被历史所嘲弄。
• The students have done mock A levels at school.学生们在学校参加过模拟高级考试。

12 perceive   

vt.感知，感觉，察觉；意识到，理解

参考例句：

• Did you perceive a red colour or a green one?你看出来是红颜色还是绿颜色？
• I can't perceive any difference between these coins.我看不出这些硬币的区别。

13 perceived   

v.感觉( perceive的过去式和过去分词 )；视为；认为；理解为

参考例句：

• I perceived a change in his behaviour. 我注意到他举止有些改变。
• On entering his house, we at once perceived him to be tasteful. 我们一进他的房子，立刻感觉到他是个高品位的人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

15 accurate   

adj.正确无误的；准确的，精确的

参考例句：

• He has made an accurate measurement of my garden.他准确地丈量了我的花园。
• He is always accurate in what he says and does.他说的和做的总是正确无误。