VOA常速英语2019--记录纽约唐人街历史变迁的宝贵黑白照片

History and context turn these pictures into a treasure. They document life in Manhattan’s Chinatown at a time when it was one of the most closed communities in New York. When I first started doing this work, I was 29 years old and now I’m 67. But Glick began taking the black-and-white photographs in 1981, a Museum of Chinese in America asked him to photograph Chinatown. He quickly became captivated. My impression was the sheer population density¹, the vibrant² street life just blew me away. But it took residents a while to warm up to him. So I’m walking down the street. People are saying no picture no picture.

历史和背景将这些图片变成了宝藏。它们记录了曼哈顿唐人街的生活，那时候，这里是纽约最封闭的社区之一。我刚入行的时候是29岁，现在我已经67岁了。格雷克是181年开始拍摄黑白照片的，当时，一家美国的华人博物馆请他为唐人街拍摄照片。他很快就沉醉于其中。我印象深刻的是这里人口密度大，街头生活充满活力，这些都给我留下了深刻的印象。但这里的居民是过了一段时间才开始跟他热络起来的。每次我走上街头，大家都会说：别拍我，别拍我。

I even had someone throw a bucket of water at me once, not the bucket but the water. But I was walking down the street, and all of a sudden it’s a cold January day, all of a sudden, a man named Frankie Wang turns to me and with a big smile on his face face says, Take my picture. So for me that’s an invitation. After residents saw the photographs, they invited him into their lives: Cramped³ laundry rooms, tiny closets where men played mahjong, small apartments and untidy clothing factories. Glick digitized the pictures over a period of 30 years and published them online when one day he received an email with a picture attached. It was a photo of Frankie Wang, the subject of his first photo in Chinatown. Then he says just to show you what it was like for me growing up in Chinatown. I’m attaching the photograph of me with my father and my little brother. Glick immediately sent the young man more pictures of him and his family. Today, the photos document an era in Chinatown that has changed since. The community is not as closed or tightly knit, many immigrant communities have dissolved and blended with others, but in much of Chinatown, Glick still remains⁴ a very special guest.

有一次，还有人往我身上倒了一桶水，不是桶，是水。不过，我还是照常在街头溜达，然后突然之间，1月寒冷的一天，一个叫王·弗兰基的男子向我走来，脸上笑意满满地跟我说，给我拍张照吧。对我来说，这是一个邀请。居民们看到了照片之后，都开始让我拍他们的生活日常。狭窄的洗衣房、男人打麻将的小橱子、小公寓和不整洁的服装工厂。在长达30年的时间里，格雷克一直将这些照片数字化并发到网上。直到有一天，他收到了一封邮件，附件里有一张照片。照片上是王·弗兰基，是他在唐人街拍摄的第一张照片。正文里写道，发这封邮件，只是想向您展示我在唐人街的成长。附件里的照片是我和父亲、哥哥一起拍的。格雷克立马向这个年轻人发了更多有关他和他家人的照片。如今，这些照片记录了唐人街的一个时代，一个一去不复返的时代。这里现在不再封闭，很多移民社群都能已经融为一体，但在唐人街的大部分地方，格雷克依然是一位特殊的客人。

1 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

2 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

3 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。