VOA标准英语2011--Cuban-Americans Divided Over Expanded US

Cuban-Americans Divided Over Expanded US-Cuba Flights

More U.S. airports are now offering charter flights to Cuba after President Barack Obama relaxed travel restrictions¹ earlier this year. A long-time U.S. trade embargo² still bans tourist travel to the communist nation, but the move makes it easier for Cuban-Americans and other authorized³ travelers to visit. Not everyone approves.
A cigar store in the Miami neighborhood of Little Havana gives Cubans in the U.S. a taste of home. But for many, this Cuba away from Cuba is not enough.
About a 30 minute drive away at the airport in Fort Lauderdale, several generations of Cubans wait eagerly to visit their families.
"This is a very big day because a new location has been opened for all the Cubans who want to travel to the island," said Octavio Giraldo, who is one of more than 100 passengers on a flight that is first from Fort Lauderdale to Cuba in more than two decades. The occasion inspired a fiesta, complete with Cuban food, live music and even dancing.
Irelys Uzcategui-Alvarez, returning to Cuba for the first time in 10 years, says the day is historic. "[It's] very exciting, because it's the first flight from here, near my house in Fort Lauderdale, and it seems to me that it's more economical and more convenient."
Fort Lauderdale is one of several airports that have begun flights to Cuba since the Obama administration loosened restrictions this year.
Before, only airports in Miami, New York and Los Angeles were authorized to run direct flights to the island.
Vivian Mannerud is president of Airline Brokers⁴, the charter company behind this flight and others to Cuba.
"It's a celebration for everybody, because anything that we can get approved that makes it more normal to travel to Cuba, to leave from any airport to visit your family, is a celebration day," Mannerud said.
But not all Cubans are celebrating.
"This decision to open flights to Cuba is a mistake - more space that we have for a country that is a sponsor of terrorism," said Emilio Izquierdo, coordinator⁵ of a citizen movement known as Cuban American Patriots⁶ and Friends. He spent more than two years as a political prisoner in Cuba in the 1960s. He and others in the exile community often gather at Little Havana's famed Versailles Restaurant - a hub of anti-Castro politics.
Antonio Esquivel, head of the democracy-seeking Cuban Patriotic⁷ Council, says U.S.-Cuba flights provide only one-sided benefits.
"It's not helping⁸ anybody but the Castro regime. What they're looking for is their money. That's all," he said.
But travelers say money is not the motive⁹. "It's not putting money in the hands of the Castros, but happiness in the homes of the families who miss their relatives who have come to this country and are returning and can return every day to see them," said passenger Octavio Giraldo.
As takeoff gets closer, it is clear how much that family time means to Manuel Marquez and many other Cubans. "There I have my mother, my siblings¹⁰, my wife, and they are my loved ones. I wish I could have them here," Marquez said.
Marquez wants the flights to continue. And in Little Havana, whether other Cuban-Americans agree or not, they remain connected to their homeland.

1 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

2 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。

3 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

4 brokers   

n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• The firm in question was Alsbery & Co., whiskey brokers. 那家公司叫阿尔斯伯里公司，经销威士忌。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• From time to time a telephone would ring in the brokers' offices. 那两排经纪人房间里不时响着叮令的电话。 来自子夜部分

5 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

6 patriots   

爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Abraham Lincoln was a fine type of the American patriots. 亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国爱国者的优秀典型。
• These patriots would fight to death before they surrendered. 这些爱国者宁愿战斗到死，也不愿投降。

7 patriotic   

adj.爱国的，有爱国心的

参考例句：

• His speech was full of patriotic sentiments.他的演说充满了爱国之情。
• The old man is a patriotic overseas Chinese.这位老人是一位爱国华侨。

8 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。

9 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

10 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分