VOA标准英语2014--Travelling Smithsonian Exhibit Highlights Bracero Worker Program 史密森展览展出短工供给计划

 

Travelling Smithsonian Exhibit Highlights Bracero Worker Program 史密森展览展出短工供给计划

EVANSTON, ILLINOIS — When hundreds of thousands of American men went to combat during World War II, they left behind a labor¹ shortage on farms and factories. One answer to the shortage was the 1942 Emergency Farm Labor Supply Program, an agreement between the United States and Mexico more commonly known as the Bracero program. It allowed 4.5 million Mexicans to work in the U.S. over the program's 22-year existence. The benefits and pitfalls² are now part of a travelling Smithsonian exhibit that comes as some U.S. lawmakers consider a new Bracero worker program as part of immigration reform.

The idea to come and work in the United States was something Saturnino Gonzales Diaz's father planted in him early.

"When I was born, my father was in Chicago. And he put in my mind, Chicago, Chicago," he said.

Diaz's father was one of the first workers to take advantage of the Bracero program.  In 1943, he found work on the railroad in Chicago. The experience and the money he earned allowed Saturnino and his family to live a good life in Mexico.

"He buy a house and everything at the time. He all the time talk to me about the Braceros, and I want to go to the Braceros," he said.

When Saturnino was accepted into the Bracero program in the early 1960s, he left for California to pick fruits and vegetables.

"Before I come to the United States I was a boxer³, I do a lot of exercise," he said.  "Fields don't do nothing to me!  I'm a champion at picking strawberries!"

While Saturnino's experience was positive, Lorenzo Cano painted a different picture of working the fields in Texas.

He said they would only pay him less than a dollar a day and because of that some of the experiences that he and others had weren't the greatest.

"I think the experience of Bracero workers really depended on the place, the type of work they were doing, and the proclivities⁴ of particular employers," said Geraldo Cadava, an assistant professor at Northwestern University, which is hosting the Smithsonian exhibit Bittersweet Harvest.

It looks at the best and the worst of the Bracero program. "Some states, like Texas, for example, even had their ability to participate in the Bracero program revoked⁵ from them because exploitation was more widespread in Texas than in other places," said Cadava.

When the program ended, many Braceros eventually immigrated⁶ to the United States to start lives in places where they worked.

Amid the current immigration reform debate in Congress, some lawmakers want to start a new Bracero program.

"I think that those who are simply saying that we need a new Bracero program today are not paying attention to the full complexity⁷ of the program and the conditions of exploitation under which Bracero workers labored," he said.

Saturnino, who now lives in Chicago where his father worked, thinks a new Bracero program could curb⁸ illegal immigration and costly⁹ deportations.

"If you are illegal, they treat you like a dog. Send you back to Mexico. Crippled or whatever. It's better, I think, to get the Braceros, again," he said.

 

But proposals for a new program face stiff opposition¹⁰ from labor unions and are one reason lawmakers have not been able to move immigration reform forward.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 pitfalls   

（捕猎野兽用的）陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 )； 意想不到的困难，易犯的错误

参考例句：

• the potential pitfalls of buying a house 购买房屋可能遇到的圈套
• Several pitfalls remain in the way of an agreement. 在达成协议的进程中还有几个隐藏的困难。

3 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

4 proclivities   

n.倾向，癖性( proclivity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Raised by adoptive parents,Hill received early encouragement in her musical proclivities. 希尔由养父母带大，从小，她的音乐爱好就受到了鼓励。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Whatever his political connections and proclivities, he did not care to neglect so powerful a man. 无论他的政治关系和脾气如何，他并不愿怠慢这样有势力的人。 来自辞典例句

5 revoked   

adj.[法]取消的v.撤销，取消，废除( revoke的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It may be revoked if the check is later dishonoured. 以后如支票被拒绝支付，结算可以撤销。 来自辞典例句
• A will is revoked expressly. 遗嘱可以通过明示推翻。 来自辞典例句

6 immigrated   

v.移入( immigrate的过去式和过去分词 )；移民

参考例句：

• He immigrated from Ulster in 1848. 他1848年从阿尔斯特移民到这里。 来自辞典例句
• Many Pakistanis have immigrated to Britain. 许多巴基斯坦人移居到了英国。 来自辞典例句

7 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

8 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

9 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

10 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。