VOA标准英语2009年-Helping the Poor just South of the US Bord

By Roger Hsu
El Paso to Juarez
09 October 2009

A river - and an international border - separate the city of Juarez in Mexico and El Paso in the United States. Even though they are in many respects worlds apart - Juarez is poor and crime-ridden and El Paso is prosperous and relatively¹ safe - the two cities are bound by powerful ties. One of them is the family of Jesus and Maria Ruiz and the charity they have started.

 
Juarez is poor and crime-ridden
U.S. Interstate 10 is a major thoroughfare in the city of El Paso, Texas, bustling² with traffic night and day. Just several hundred meters to the south, on the hilltops overlooking the interstate, sit the concrete houses of Juarez, Mexico.

Jesus and Maria Ruiz and their 19-year-old daughter Liz and 13-year-old son Jesus Jr. live in a quiet suburb of El Paso. Like 80 percent of the city's residents, they're Latin American.

Every weekend the family makes a trip across the border into Mexico. They go not to visit relatives or friends but to help people in need.

"Once you cross the border [into Mexico] you see so many people there already, people all over the place. You see a lot of people who are hungry, who need food, who need money, who are asking for your help," said daughter Liz.

All along the way, they have to watch out for drug dealers³ and kidnappers⁴. They also have to be wary⁵ of the police, many of whom are corrupt⁶. One hour after leaving their home in El Paso, they arrive in one of Juarez's poor suburbs.

"These are the outskirts⁷ of Juarez. Usually the outskirts are the areas that's being forgotten," Maria said.

As on every weekend, the family's destination is an aid office that is the base they use to deliver goods to the poor.

"When we come over, it's not only the food. We bring hygiene⁸ supplies and school supplies," Maria explains.

 
People line up outside the aid office in Juarez
By 9 o'clock on this morning, almost 200 people are lining⁹ up outside the aid office. The volunteers inside pack rice, canned food and vegetables into paper bags. All the people in line receive a free lunch and a large bag to collect 10 items of clothing, one pair of shoes and soap and shampoo.

Jesus is no stranger to poverty. He was born and grew up in Juarez. He came to the United States, illegally, when he was 14. The difference struck him immediately - and angered him.

"In those 14 years I lived in Juarez, I experienced poverty, I experienced everything that they are living right now till today, it has not changed even a bit. When I came across, I made a promise to myself, I turned around and I was so upset with the country and the society, the way they handle things, I screamed and I yelled to Juarez and said Juarez, Mexico I will never, ever, come back to you, turned around and left," Jesus explains.

But it was Maria, who was born in the United States, who changed his mind. She made her first visit to Mexico more than 10 years ago, for the funeral of a relative, and was shocked by the poverty. "I had to tell my husband, I said, 'I have to go back and I had to do something.' I couldn't just turn around and say 'Oh' and pretend I didn't see anything," she says. "I told him I want to do something, and he said, 'What do you want to do?' and I said, 'I want to take apples, oranges and bananas and sweet breads to the kids to the school.'"

 
Juarez residents are invited to pickup¹⁰ donated food and clothes from the aid office
Soon, when word got out on what they wanted to do, people in and around El Paso began donating money, clothing and food to the ministry¹¹ that the couple started, Jesus es mana, which translates as Jesus is the bread of life. With the approval of the local government in Juarez, Maria and Jesus built a church and an aid office on an abandoned lot in the middle of the slum.

As for the Ruizes, they gave so much to the ministry they started that their living standard in El Paso was close to that of those they were helping¹² in Juarez.

"Even though we were living under the poverty level, when I would cross the border and see other people's need, then my needs were nothing compared to what their needs are," Maria said.

As the ministry they started has grown, so have their ambitions. They are now building a community kitchen with space to feed 500, an orphanage¹³ for 100 residents and a trade school.

Why do they do it? "When you make a child smile," Maria says, "it's awesome¹⁴."

1 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

2 bustling   

adj.喧闹的

参考例句：

• The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。
• This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。

3 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。

4 kidnappers   

n.拐子，绑匪( kidnapper的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were freed yesterday by their kidnappers unharmed. 他们昨天被绑架者释放了，没有受到伤害。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The kidnappers had threatened to behead all four unless their jailed comrades were released. 帮匪们曾经威胁说如果印度方面不释放他们的同伙，他们就要将这四名人质全部斩首。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

6 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

7 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

8 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

9 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

10 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

11 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

13 orphanage   

n.孤儿院

参考例句：

• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage.他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。
• They gave the proceeds of the sale to the orphanage.他们把销售的收入给了这家孤儿院。

14 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.