2007年VOA标准英语-Somali Taxi Drivers in Minnesota in Dispute Ove

By Deborah Block
Minneapolis, Minnesota
04 April 2007
 
Watch Taxi Controversy¹ report

Many Muslim taxi drivers are refusing service to passengers carrying alcohol, and sometimes pets, at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in the Midwest U.S. state of Minnesota.  They say it is for religious reasons.   But airport officials recently held hearings to consider tough, new penalties against those drivers because they say religious beliefs should not interfere² with the job.  VOA's Deborah Block has more from Minneapolis.

Airport officials say an average of 12 people each month are denied taxi service at the airport because they are carrying alcohol.

 
Taxi driver Mohamoud Mohamud
About three-quarters of the 900 airport taxi drivers are from the East African country of Somalia, and they are mostly Muslim.  Somali cab driver Mohamoud Mohamud says he will not take passengers with alcohol.

"It is against my religion, and I don't think I can carry somebody who has alcohol," he says.

Islam prohibits drinking alcohol.  But it is debatable whether the religion forbids anyone from carrying alcohol. 

Last year, the airport commission received a fatwa, or religious edict, from the Muslim American Society of Minnesota.  The group said Islamic law prohibits taxi drivers from taking passengers with alcohol because it involves cooperating in sin.  But spokesman Hesham Hussein says Muslim scholars have different interpretations³.

 
Hesham Hussein
"Applying it to the airport situation, to the cab drivers, there is a difference of opinion amongst people whether [by] carrying a person who is carrying alcohol, you are helping⁴ him do that or are you actually carrying the person and you don't have to worry about what they're carrying with them," Hussein says. 

Airport officials say a few Muslim taxi drivers also refuse to carry passengers with animals, especially dogs. Hassan Mohamoud, a local Muslim spiritual leader or imam, says Islam considers dogs unclean.

"There is a question of whether the saliva⁵ of dog touches the body of the Muslim.  They have to wash that at least seven times before they pray," he explains. "So they are trying to avoid the saliva of the dog, but they're not trying to avoid the whole dog."

College student Nickie Coby is blind and uses a service dog.  She is concerned that people with service dogs are not allowed in some taxis. "When you agree to become a cab driver, I think, to some extent you have to be willing to transport everyone," she says.

Currently, drivers who refuse to take passengers must go to the end of the taxi line.  They wait for their turn in a nearby parking lot where it may take two hours or more before they are called back to the airport.  

"Unfortunately, that penalty hasn't been enough to encourage drivers not to refuse people," says Patrick Hogan, an airport commission spokesman.  "We still have the problem of people coming to the airport just thinking that they're going to get a ride home, to a hotel or wherever they're going, and lo and behold⁶ they can't get a ride because they happen to have a dog with them or cat with them or alcohol in their possession."

If the new regulations are passed, drivers who refuse passengers the first time will have their airport taxi license⁷ suspended for 30 days.  The next time they lose their license for two years.  

Somali taxi driver Muse⁸ Mohamud thinks the penalties are too harsh. "It's wrong if they suspend the license for somebody because of his faith or religion," he says.  "It's absolutely wrong, wrong." 

But cab driver Rick Heil sees things differently.  "Even though it may fall against somebody's religious beliefs, the benefit should go to the person who needs the service," he says.

 
Taxi driver Kidist Gemtow
Ethiopian driver Kidist Gemtow is not Muslim.  She says the Muslim cab drivers knew what they were getting into when they took the job. "They have to decide to work here or leave the place and find another job," she says.

On April 15, the airport commission expects to make a decision on whether to impose the new regulations, which would begin in mid-May.  If that happens, hundreds of drivers may decide to leave or possibly lose their jobs.

1 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

2 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

3 interpretations   

n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解

参考例句：

• This passage is open to a variety of interpretations. 这篇文章可以有各种不同的解释。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The involved and abstruse passage makes several interpretations possible. 这段艰涩的文字可以作出好几种解释。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 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。

5 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

6 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。

7 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

8 muse   

n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感

参考例句：

• His muse had deserted him,and he could no longer write.他已无灵感，不能再写作了。
• Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President.很多报纸都在揣测总统的命运。