VOA标准英语2011--Refugees Revitalize Buffalo

Refugees Revitalize Buffalo¹

Zaw Win's journey from Burma to Buffalo, New York was not a matter of just buying an airline ticket.
He spent five years as a political prisoner in his native country where Win says he was tortured and starved. Escaping after paying smugglers to hide him in the bottom of a fishing boat, he eventually made it to the United States where he was granted asylum². In 2005, he was resettled in Buffalo.
Now, Win runs a laundromat where the walls are plastered with colorful posters denouncing Burma's military junta³.
"Whenever I put the sign, the customer they ask me question and they can explain current situation in my country," he says. "Where is location of Burma? What happening in Burma now? Who is the leader now? What is the military dictatorship?"
Thousands of Buffalo residents already know the answers. Like Win, they fled from Burma. And they also landed in America's third poorest city unable to speak English with almost no money or job prospects⁴. But some long-time residents see investing in these refugees as Buffalo's way forward.
"What we feel like we're doing is just giving people a little leg up on prosperity and we've seen people take hold of that and blossom with it," says Bonnie Smith. "Slowly the community begins to improve."
Working through her church, the retired⁵ businesswoman helped Win develop a business plan and provided collateral⁶ for him to get a microloan. It's something he never would have qualified⁷ for on his own. In the past decade, close to 10 nonprofits in Buffalo have started or added refugee resettlement to their mission. That can include English classes, driving lessons or help buying and improving one of the economically-depressed region's thousands of abandoned homes.
Cities along the Great Lakes used to rule the American economy, manufacturing steel by the shipload. Now, these once mighty⁸ metros⁹ are known as the Rust¹⁰ Belt. Since the aging industrial plants in Buffalo started closing in the 1950s, more half of its population has left. But now, thousands are moving in: refugees from Burma, Sudan and other far-away, conflicted places. Officials are trying to turn their relocation into a renaissance¹¹.
According to Aaron Bartley, director of PUSH Buffalo, refugees are perfect candidates to bring Rust Belt cities back to life. "The way we're going to solve that is by making it a neighborhood people want to stay in. And a neighborhood the various communities - whether they're Burmese, Somalian, Sudanese, Liberian - want to put down roots in. That they don't see it as a stopping point to get to another place."
This wouldn't be happening on such a large scale without the Refugee Protection Act of 1980. The law was designed to stop population loss in Rust Belt cities like Buffalo, Detroit and Cleveland by subsidizing refugee resettlement there. About 1,500 refugees came to Buffalo just last year.
"Even with that 1,500 refugees, we still saw a population decline in our community. We're still trying to catch up even with those refugees coming in," says Molly Short, who runs Journey's End, one of Buffalo's four resettlement agencies.
While most American cities have one agency like hers, the Rust Belt is home to dozens and Short says they can barely meet the demand. She adds that services like hers have been severely¹² hurt by federal budget cuts in recent years. Often times, the agencies can't predict what help a refugee needs to feel at home.
"Sometimes we'll have a refugee arrive who has literally¹³ never been in a car before they left a refugee camp, never used electricity and then we have refugees come in who are doctors and scientists and mathematicians¹⁴."
And many times, the educated and illiterate¹⁵ are competing for the same small pot of jobs.
While Burmese refugee Win feels quite welcome in Buffalo, some customers can be difficult and Win feels business could be better.
"Not really bad, not really good. So-so. Not much money for my pocket. And then for future more and more better, I believe this."
Win says his microloan will be paid off in a year or two. Then, he plans to assist others just as he was aided - helping¹⁶ out-of-work refugees open their own shops and create their own jobs.

1 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

2 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

3 junta   

n.团体；政务审议会

参考例句：

• The junta reacted violently to the perceived threat to its authority.军政府感到自身权力受威胁而进行了激烈反击。
• A military junta took control of the country.一个军政权控制了国家。

4 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

5 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

6 collateral   

adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品

参考例句：

• Many people use personal assets as collateral for small business loans.很多人把个人财产用作小额商业贷款的抵押品。
• Most people here cannot borrow from banks because they lack collateral.由于拿不出东西作为抵押，这里大部分人无法从银行贷款。

7 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

8 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

9 metros   

n.地下铁路( metro的名词复数 )；（尤指）巴黎地铁

参考例句：

• The map says the highest peak in this vicinity is 1500 metros. 地图显示附近最高点是1500米。 来自互联网
• Cuando estaba en el equipo de atletismo, siempre corría 400 metros. 我在田径队时，总是跑400米。 来自互联网

10 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

11 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

12 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

13 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

14 mathematicians   

数学家( mathematician的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Do you suppose our mathematicians are unequal to that? 你以为我们的数学家做不到这一点吗？ 来自英汉文学
• Mathematicians can solve problems with two variables. 数学家们可以用两个变数来解决问题。 来自哲学部分

15 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。

16 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。