VOA慢速英语2021--病毒与暴力影响了亚裔美国人送孩子上学的决定

Virus, Violence Influence Asian Americans’ Decision to Send Children to School

Across the country, schools for children of all ages are reopening. Asian American families are struggling with making a decision whether to send their children back into classrooms. Their concern is based on increasing anti-Asian behavior.

A Chinese American mother in a town outside Boston is sending her sons to in-person classes this month. Earlier, another student made a racist¹ "slanted²-eyes" movement with his hands to one of the boys.

In the Dallas area, a Korean American family is keeping their middle school aged³ child in online classes for the rest of the year. They made the decision after they saw a question filled with racist Chinese stereotypes⁵ on one of her tests.

Asian American students have the highest rates of at home learning more than a year after the coronavirus pandemic closed school buildings. Earlier this month, the federal government released a report that found just 15 percent of Asian American nine to ten-year-olds were attending classes in-person as of February. More than half of white children that age are attending in person.

Those rates appear to be rising in some cities, but are still far lower than those of Black, Latino and white students. Sacramento, Boston and Chicago public schools, for example, expect that about 33 percent of Asian American students will return to in-person classes this month. In comparison, they expect some 70 percent of white students to return.

In Quincy, a small town near Boston, Kim Horrigan said she and her husband have struggled with their decision to keep their 8-year-old son home this year.

Horrigan said she has never really considered racism⁶ a threat to her family, even though the Asian-American population of the town has grown to 25 percent, and there are some racial problems in the community.

She is worried about exposing her household, including her aged parents and her two young children, to COVID-19.

"We've taken so many precautions, she said. "Why would we drop our guard now, with just a few weeks left?"

Anti-Asian behavior has affected⁷ many Asian American children. A September report by Stop AAPI Hate found that about 25 percent of Asian American children said they had experienced discrimination. That includes spoken words, social shunning⁹, and physical attacks during the pandemic.

Family support systems

Concerns about virus spread and rising racism are reasons for the in-person learning differences. Peter Kiang is director of Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. He says that at-home learning is often a better choice for many Asian families who live in multi-generational households.

"These ethnic-defined support systems have been operating for more than a year already while parents are out working long hours," Kiang said.

It is important to note that many Asian Americans live in and around large cities like Boston. Schools there have just begun to re-open, said Robert Teranishi. He is a professor of education and Asian American studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, more than 30 percent of public school students are from Asian families, and there is no plan for the return of students 12 and older.

Feeling trapped at home

Grace Hu is a 16-year-old in Sharon, Massachusetts. She has been learning at home all school year. She found it easy to decide to go back to in-person classes later this month.

"I'm feeling trapped at home," Hu said. "I just want to see my classmates again."

Meanwhile, in Needham, Massachusetts, Denise Chan said she is not concerned about placing her three young sons back in classes full-time¹⁰ in recent weeks, even after the "slanted-eyes" incident.

She said her son talked with his teacher about the racist comment. His teacher had the other student apologize, and she promised to talk about racism in the classroom.

Words in This Story

slanted – adj. angled; to not be level

stereotype⁴ – n. an often unfair and untrue belief that many people have about all people or things with a particular characteristic

teenager – n. someone who is between 13 and 19 years old

bigotry¹¹ – n. behavior of someone who hates or refuses to accept the members of a particular group (such as a racial or religious group)

shun⁸ - to avoid (someone or something)

discouraging – adj. causing loss of hope or confidence

cruel – adj. used to describe people who hurt others and do not feel sorry about it

positive – adj. thinking that a good result will happen; hopeful or optimistic

1 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。

2 slanted   

有偏见的； 倾斜的

参考例句：

• The sun slanted through the window. 太阳斜照进窗户。
• She had slanted brown eyes. 她有一双棕色的丹凤眼。

3 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

4 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

5 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 shun   

vt.避开，回避，避免

参考例句：

• Materialists face truth,whereas idealists shun it.唯物主义者面向真理，唯心主义者则逃避真理。
• This extremist organization has shunned conventional politics.这个极端主义组织有意避开了传统政治。

9 shunning   

v.避开，回避，避免( shun的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• My flight was more a shunning of external and internal dangers. 我的出走是要避开各种外在的和内在的威胁。 来自辞典例句
• That book Yeh-yeh gave me-"On Filial Piety and the Shunning of Lewdness"-was still on the table. 我坐下来，祖父给我的那本《刘芷唐先生教孝戒淫浅训》还在桌子上。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

10 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

11 bigotry   

n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等

参考例句：

• She tried to dissociate herself from the bigotry in her past.她力图使自己摆脱她以前的偏见。
• At least we can proceed in this matter without bigotry.目前这件事咱们至少可以毫无偏见地进行下去。