VOA标准英语2012--US Tribes Struggle With Growing Enrollment

US Tribes Struggle With Growing Enrollment²

The U.S. government recognizes 566 American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and bands within its borders.
In some respects, they're nations within a nation. Native American tribes can make their own laws on their reservations. Tribal³ governments have the sole authority to determine who can be a member of the tribe.
Rising prosperity from casinos and other businesses is luring⁴ Native Americans back into the fold. However, fast growth has strained the fabric⁵ of some tribes, while others wish they had more members.
The swelling⁶ membership of the Tulalip Tribes, based near Everett, Washington, for example, is a point of pride for tribal member and state representative John McCoy, who believes improved health care and an above-average birth rate are at play.
"We're living longer. Our babies are surviving birth," says McCoy, adding that more jobs on reservations, led by tribal gaming, is another reason for the growth. "So we have our peoples coming back from other states. They're coming home because there is an economy."
At Tulalip, that adds up to a 22 percent growth rate over the past decade. Other tribes around the country have grown even faster.
And some of those have felt the need to tighten⁷ enrollment criteria⁸ to control burgeoning⁹ growth. California has even witnessed a spate¹⁰ of bitter purges¹¹ by some tribal governments. The biggest motive¹² appears to be financial.
For example, the Puyallup Tribe in western Washington state currently pays each enrolled¹³ man, woman and child $2000 per month in profit sharing. Tribal members voted to clamp down on new enrollments in 2005.
Like the Puyallups, the Grand Ronde Tribe in western Oregon operates a successful casino. Grand Ronde tribal members have revisited their enrollment standards three times since 1999.
The most recent election was a couple months ago. Tribal members voted to keep strict enrollment standards in place. Among other things, new members need to have a parent on the tribal membership roll at the time of birth. Before the vote, Dee Edwards posted a tearful YouTube video about how technicalities in the rules split her family and excluded her grandchildren.
Former tribal councilmember Andy Jenness taped that video and favors a looser standard that wouldn't split families.
"The amount of growth that is acceptable to me is that of natural birth and the tribe growing at the natural rate, whatever that is," Jenness says. "If that means I have less in my per capita check, so be it."
But other members wrote letters and posted online to warn against opening the "floodgates" of tribal membership. Over the years, people have complained about "tribal jumpers." These are Native Americans whose heritage includes connections to multiple tribes.
"Jumping" refers to relinquishing¹⁴ citizenship¹⁵ in one tribe to switch to a richer one. If too many people do that, it can dilute¹⁶ the profit-sharing checks or strain services in the tribe everyone wants to get into.
At the other end of the spectrum¹⁷ are tribes whose enrollments are stagnating¹⁸, including for example the Colville Confederated Tribes in northeast Washington.
Tribal councilmember Ricky Gabriel has proposed a referendum to relax the blood requirement in the tribal constitution so more children of mixed marriages can enroll¹.
"I've had a lot of very positive [reactions]," he says. "The elders are extremely happy about this. They're pushing hard. They're seeing their grandchildren not be able to be enrolled."
Enrollment in the tribe currently requires a minimum of one-quarter Colville blood. But when you have intermarriage, that bloodline is diluted¹⁹. It takes just a couple of generations of intermarriage to put the children at risk of being disqualified from membership.
Then the tribal population withers²⁰. The proposed referendum would change the rules to count any Indian blood toward the minimum.
Dozens of tribes around the country including the Tulalips and Puyallups have gotten rid of blood quantum requirements altogether. They now base membership on direct descent from tribal members on the historic rolls.

1 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

2 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
• I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。

3 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

4 luring   

吸引，引诱（lure的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Cheese is very good for luring a mouse into a trap. 奶酪是引诱老鼠上钩的极好的东西。
• Her training warned her of peril and of the wrong, subtle, mysterious, luring. 她的教养警告她：有危险，要出错儿，这是微妙、神秘而又诱人的。

5 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

6 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

7 tighten   

v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧

参考例句：

• Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
• Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。

8 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。

9 burgeoning   

adj.迅速成长的，迅速发展的v.发芽，抽枝( burgeon的现在分词 )；迅速发展；发（芽），抽（枝）

参考例句：

• Our company's business is burgeoning now. 我们公司的业务现在发展很迅速。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These efforts were insufficient to contain the burgeoning crisis. 这些努力不足以抑制迅速扩散的危机。 来自辞典例句

10 spate   

n.泛滥，洪水，突然的一阵

参考例句：

• Police are investigating a spate of burglaries in the area.警察正在调查这一地区发生的大量盗窃案。
• Refugees crossed the border in full spate.难民大量地越过了边境。

11 purges   

清除异己( purge的名词复数 )； 整肃（行动）； 清洗； 泻药

参考例句：

• Mandelshtam perished in the purges of the 1930s, Akhmatova remained silent. 曼杰利什坦姆在30年代的清洗中死去，阿赫玛托娃也销声匿迹。
• He purges his subconscious and meditates only on God. 他净化他的潜意识且只思念上帝。

12 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。

13 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 relinquishing   

交出，让给( relinquish的现在分词 )； 放弃

参考例句：

• The international relinquishing of sovereignty would have to spring from the people. 在国际间放弃主权一举要由人民提出要求。
• We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. 我们很明白，没有人会为了废除权力而夺取权力。 来自英汉文学

15 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

16 dilute   

vt.稀释，冲淡；adj.稀释的，冲淡的

参考例句：

• The water will dilute the wine.水能使酒变淡。
• Zinc displaces the hydrogen of dilute acids.锌置换了稀酸中的氢。

17 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

18 stagnating   

v.停滞，不流动，不发展( stagnate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I feel I'm stagnating in this job. 我觉得，干这份工作我没有长进。
• ITT was stagnating when Geneen became the chief executive officer in 1959. 1959年吉宁出任行政总负责人时，国际电话电报公司正处于不景气时期。 来自辞典例句

19 diluted   

无力的，冲淡的

参考例句：

• The paint can be diluted with water to make a lighter shade. 这颜料可用水稀释以使色度淡一些。
• This pesticide is diluted with water and applied directly to the fields. 这种杀虫剂用水稀释后直接施用在田里。

20 withers   

马肩隆

参考例句：

• The girl's pitiful history would wring one's withers. 这女孩子的经历令人心碎。
• "I will be there to show you," and so Mr. Withers withdrew. “我会等在那里，领你去看房间的，"威瑟斯先生这样说着，退了出去。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹