美国国家公共电台 NPR When The Border Is Just Next Door, Crossing It Is A Fact Of (Daily) Life

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Let's hear the way President Trump's emerging border policy looks from the U.S.-Mexico border. On this day when a Senate committee in Washington considers plans for more border walls, we visit Nogales, Ariz., and its sister city Nogales, Mexico. NPR's Melissa Block is reporting the series Our Land.

MELISSA BLOCK, BYLINE¹: These twinned border cities are known as ambos Nogales or both Nogales. And crossing over is no big thing - just walk through a turnstile into Mexico to get a root canal, maybe a haircut or a manicure. Delia Garza has crossed the border on her day off for a color change.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Speaking Spanish).

BLOCK: Red or pink or springly colors?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Speaking Spanish).

BLOCK: OK. Yeah. It's spring, right?

That manicure costs a fraction of what it would cost just steps away in the other Nogales in Arizona. Each year, more than 3 million people cross through here by foot. And today, just a little ways down the road, we're waiting for a big group that will be crossing by hoof².

JUAN MANUEL FLEISCHER: It's crazy what goes on here.

(SOUNDBITE OF PHONE RINGING)

FLEISCHER: I got to take this.

BLOCK: Meet Juan Manuel Fleischer.

FLEISCHER: Ramon.

BLOCK: Cattle broker³.

FLEISCHER: (Speaking Spanish).

BLOCK: Fleischer's waiting for the latest herd⁴ of cattle he bought in Mexico to cross into the U.S.

FLEISCHER: A thousand fifteen hundred head come in here every day, and they leave every day.

BLOCK: They come through that border wall we hear so much about. The wall looms⁵ high on the hill above us - 20 to 30-feet tall. It's made of rusted⁶ steel tubes reinforced with concrete with steel plates on top, and there's a gate up there that's for the cattle. Arizona has just three of these cattle ports along its entire border. Juan Fleischer was born on this side of the wall.

FLEISCHER: Right here.

BLOCK: In Nogales, Arizona. His wife - born in Mexico.

FLEISCHER: We're all intertwined here on the border.

BLOCK: And Fleischer sees his own identity as an easy blend.

FLEISCHER: I'm Latin. I'm white. Yeah, no - I'm a Mexican-American from the border.

BLOCK: Fleischer's family lived here when all this land was part of Mexico, in fact even earlier when the United States didn't even exist. Growing up in the '60s and '70s, he remembers an open border.

FLEISCHER: Oh, yeah. You could cross with nothing before. People knew each other. Mexican people could come back and forth⁷.

BLOCK: With nothing?

FLEISCHER: You know, you - customs - you say, hey, I'm going to just go get some stuff at the grocery store, you know, what - it was different times.

BLOCK: Over time, the Nogales wall has evolved and grown from a simple, barbed-wire fence to this latest version put up in 2011. Fleischer says it's stupid to think that wall stops drug traffic.

FLEISCHER: You'll see people just hop⁸ over that fence with loads of dope on their backs and risk the cross, you know?

BLOCK: Right there?

FLEISCHER: Oh, yeah. It happens a lot. These are agile⁹ kids. I couldn't do it. You know? It'd scare the hell out of me to get up there. (Laughter) So...

BLOCK: It's time for the legal crossing of cattle, the steel border gate has been opened. Mexican cattle with M branded on their right hip¹⁰, careen down the dusty hill and are funneled¹¹ into pens on the U.S. side. Juan Fleischer will be shipping¹² his to California and Texas.

FLEISCHER: I guess what I would tell people that aren't from the borders is we aren't in any risk - OK? - of being invaded by drug dealers¹³ or terrorists or illegal aliens. The fact that they can cross through here is just a fact, you know?

BLOCK: What is it that you love about where you're from?

FLEISCHER: I love the fact that I can live on both sides of the border and be OK with that. I think it's a fair deal, you know? And I think we're fortunate as a country to have a country next to us that is our friend. It could be a lot worse.

BLOCK: Melissa Block, NPR News, Nogales, Ariz.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 hoof   

n.(马，牛等的)蹄

参考例句：

• Suddenly he heard the quick,short click of a horse's hoof behind him.突然间，他听见背后响起一阵急骤的马蹄的得得声。
• I was kicked by a hoof.我被一只蹄子踢到了。

3 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

4 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

5 looms   

n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙，男的耕田，女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 rusted   

v.（使）生锈( rust的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I can't get these screws out; they've rusted in. 我无法取出这些螺丝，它们都锈住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My bike has rusted and needs oil. 我的自行车生锈了，需要上油。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

8 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

9 agile   

adj.敏捷的，灵活的

参考例句：

• She is such an agile dancer!她跳起舞来是那么灵巧！
• An acrobat has to be agile.杂技演员必须身手敏捷。

10 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

11 funneled   

漏斗状的

参考例句：

• The crowd funneled through the hall. 群众从走廊中鱼贯而过。
• The large crowd funneled out of the gates after the football match. 足球赛后大群人从各个门中涌出。

12 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

13 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。