VOA新闻杂志2023 高昂的生活成本迫使夏威夷原住民前往拉斯维加斯

High Costs Force Native Hawaiians to Leave for Las Vegas

Just because your family is native to an area, it does not mean you will be able to live there forever. Increasingly¹, many Native Hawaiians are leaving the island, known as the paradise² of the Pacific, for the mainland³ United States.

As a Native Hawaiian, Kona Purdy never wanted to live anywhere else. He wanted his children to grow up in the same place as their ancestors, close to Honolulu.

Hawaii is one of the costliest⁴ places to live in the U.S. The Forbes Home study finds that people spend over 40 percent of the money they earn each month on their rent in Hawaii. California comes in second, but people there pay much less, about 28 percent.

Purdy said he did not mind living in a small living space if it meant he could be close to the mountains and the ocean. He and his small family shared a house with other relatives. Their part of the rent for the house was $2,300 per month. Rent is the money people pay an owner for the right to live in a home. When the cost went up, Purdy decided⁵ he had to move to a less costly⁶ place.

"I was so busy working... We never took our kids out to the beach. We didn't go hiking," he told the Associated Press.

In 2017, Purdy moved his four-person family to the state of Nevada. It was a hard choice, but the family found a larger living space for $1,000 per month just outside of Las Vegas. They chose Las Vegas because it is a common place for people from Hawaii to visit.

And, it is much less costly to live there. For example, a home that is priced at $300,000 in Las Vegas would cost over $1 million in Hawaii. Terry Nacion, a Native Hawaiian, works⁷ as a representative for home buyers and sellers⁸. She left Hawaii for Las Vegas in 2003 because of the high cost of home ownership⁹. "Back home, you either had to have your home passed down to you or you have to work four jobs," she said.

The Purdys are not alone.

In 2011, the American Community Survey found that there were nearly 300,000 Native Hawaiians in Hawaii and about 221,000 in the mainland U.S. Just 10 years later, the numbers changed. In 2021, about 370,000 Native Hawaiians lived in other states and only about 310,000 lived in Hawaii.

Kona Purdy said it was "painful" to be apart from the land where he was born. He said the family felt like "a fish out of water," living in Las Vegas.

However, just months after Purdy moved his family to Las Vegas, 20 other relatives, including his mother, uncle and sister, followed them. Even though they were thousands of kilometers from home, the Hawaiian culture was all around them. The area is full of restaurants that serve Hawaiian food and cultural events celebrating Hawaiian people.

"You go into any store in any part of the valley and you'll find someone from Hawaii working there or shopping there," Purdy said.

But in 2021, four years after leaving Hawaii, the Purdys decided to move back to the island. Purdy's wife wanted to return to care for her mother. Their daughter got into a very good school in Honolulu which offered more opportunities for Native Hawaiian children.

The family again shares a house with other relatives. The costs are high. There is not much time to take hula lessons or go to the beach. But the Purdys feel good about returning home.

"It's a grind¹⁰, it's hard, it's really expensive," he said. "But I also feel like we're exactly where we're supposed to be right now."

Tommy Waters, a Native Hawaiian, leads the city council¹¹ in Honolulu. He has five brothers and sisters, and none live in Hawaii anymore.

"There's no Hawaii without Hawaiians," he said. "That's just incredibly sad to me, that Hawaiians cannot afford to live in Hawaii."

Words in This Story

paradise –adj. a beautiful place

rent –n. the cost to pay to live in someone else's property

hike –v. to walk in nature for fun

fish out of water –phrase. used to describe being in a new place

opportunity –n. the chance to do something

grind –n. something that is hard or difficult work

expensive –adj. very costly

incredible¹² –adj. something that is hard to believe

afford –v. having money to pay for something

1 increasingly   

adv.逐渐地，日益地，逐渐增加地

参考例句：

• Rivers are being increasingly made use of by man. 河流正在日益为人类所利用。
• I find it increasingly difficult to live within my income.我发现靠收入过日子越来越难了。

2 paradise   

n.伊甸乐园，天堂

参考例句：

• My house had a small backyard,the paradise of children.我那幢房子有一个小后院，那是孩子们玩耍的乐园。
• On a hot day a dip in the sea is sheer paradise.热天洗个海水澡是十分令人惬意的事。

3 mainland   

n.大陆，本土

参考例句：

• The new bridge will link the island to the mainland.新的桥梁将把该岛与大陆连接在一起。
• Hong Kong's prosperity relies heavily on mainland.香港的繁荣在很大程度上依赖于大陆。

4 costliest   

adj.昂贵的( costly的最高级 )；代价高的；引起困难的；造成损失的

参考例句：

• At 81 billion dollars, Katrina is the costliest natural disaster in American history. “卡特里娜”飓风造成了近810亿美圆的损失，是美国历史上最严重的自然灾难之一。 来自互联网
• Senator John Kerry has proposed a tax on the costliest health plans sold by insurance companies. 参议员约翰？克里(JohnKerry)已经提议对保险公司销售的高价值的保险计划征税。 来自互联网

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 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。

7 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

8 sellers   

n.卖者( seller的名词复数 )；卖方；销售者；销售商

参考例句：

• buyers and sellers transacting business 进行交易的买方和卖方
• All manner of hawkers and street sellers were plying their trade. 形形色色的沿街小贩都在做着自己的买卖。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 ownership   

n.所有(权)，所有制

参考例句：

• The house is under new ownership.那栋房子已易新主。
• He claimed ownership of the house.他声称那幢房子归他所有。

10 grind   

n.（常贬义）用功的学生，书呆子；vt.磨，磨碎

参考例句：

• Would you please grind a pound of coffee for me? 请给我磨一磅咖啡好吗？
• Do you find learning English a grind?你觉得学英语是一件苦差事吗？

11 council   

n.理事会，委员会，议事机构

参考例句：

• The town council passed a law forbidding the distribution of handbills.市议会通过法律，禁止散发传单。
• The city council has declared for improving the public bus system.市议会宣布同意改进公共汽车系统。

12 incredible   

adj.难以置信的，不可信的，极好的，大量的

参考例句：

• Some planets run at incredible speed.某些星球以难以置信的速度运行着。
• Her answer showed the most incredible stupidity.她的回答显示出不可思议的愚蠢。