Lesson Seven
Section One: News in Brief
1. Both House and Senate negotiators today approved sweeping immigration legislation that could grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens who entered the country before 1982. The bill, as worked, out in five hours of closed-door negotiations, would establish a system of fines against employers who hire illegal immigrants. It would also make those who came to the US illegally but have established roots in this country eligible for amnesty.
2. The Supreme Court today agreed to decide if Illinois can require minors wanting abortions to notify their parents or obtain judicial consent. The justices will review the decision striking down a 1983 law, which required some girls to wait twenty-four hours after telling their parents they wanted an abortion.
3. It was announced today that the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize is Elie Wiesel. He has written twenty' five books on his experiences in a Nazi prison of war camp and on the Holocaust. And he's been a human rights activist for thirty years. NPR's Mike Shuster reports. "Wiesel was sleeping in his Manhattan apartment when he received the word at five o'clock this morning from the Nobel Committee in Oslo , Norway . Wiesel said he was flabbergasted at the news, and later at a press conference, he said he would dedicate his Prize to the survivors of the Holocaust and their children. "The honor is not mine alone. It belongs to all the survivors who have tried to do something with their pain, with their memory, with their silence, with their life. "Wiesel, fifty-eight, is a native of Rumania . As a teenager, he and his family were sent to a Nazi death camp. He and two sisters survived; his mother, father, and younger sister did not. After the War, Wiesel went first to France , then to the United States . He is credited with the first use of the word 'Holocaust' to describe the Nazi extermination of the Jews."
第一节 简明新闻
1. 众参两院的谈判代表今天同意清扫移民立法障碍,可以给予 1982 年以前进入美国的数百万非法移民以大赦。该法案的制定经过了 5 个小时的闭门谈判,这将建立一个针对雇佣非法移民的雇主的罚款制度。这还将使那些非法进入美国,并且已经在这个国家落地生根的人们有特赦的资格。
2. 最高法院今天同意裁定,伊利诺斯州能否要求未成年人需要堕胎时得通知其父母或获得司法同意。法官将审查决定取消这项在 1983 年制定的法律。该法律要求一些女生需要堕胎时需要告诉他们的父母后等候 24 小时。
3. 今天宣布了今年的诺贝尔和平奖获得者是埃利威塞尔。他先后写过 25 本关于在纳粹战俘营和有关大屠杀的经历。而且他作为人权活动家已经 30 年了。全国公共电台迈克舒斯特的报道。 “ 当威塞尔今天凌晨 5 点接到挪威首都奥斯陆的诺贝尔委员会的电话时正在曼哈顿的寓所里睡觉,他对这个消息大吃一惊,稍后在记者招待会上,他说他将把奖金捐献给大屠杀的幸存者及其子女。 “ 这项荣誉并不是属于我一个人。它属于所有的试图为他们的痛苦与记忆,为他们的沉默与他们的生活做些实事的幸存者。威塞尔, 58 岁,罗马尼亚裔。当他是位一个少年时,他和他的家人被送进纳粹死亡集中营。他和两个姐妹幸存,他的母亲,父亲,妹妹却没有。战后,威塞尔首先去了法国,然后是美国。他的功绩是第一个使用 ’ 大屠杀 ’ 一词来形容纳粹对犹太人的种族灭绝。
1986年诺贝尔和平奖获得者埃利威塞尔(1928-)
Section Two: News in Detail
A House-Senate Conference Committee has agreed to an immigration reform bill. The measure, which had died in the final days of the fast two Congresses, now looks as though it will become law. NPR's Cokie Roberts reports.
One of the chief advocates of the immigration bill, New York Democrat Charles Schumer, says that this year immigration became a white hat issue, that the forces fighting against the measures finally had a force on the opposite side of equal rate public opinion. The opponents of immigration reform have always been many: Hispanics in Congress and in the country have opposed the part of the bill most lawmakers consider key----punishment for employers who knowingly hire illegals. The measure, passed at a conference today, would provide civil penalties and criminal penalties for those who repeatedly hire illegal aliens. Hispanics worry the employer sanctions would cause discrimination against anyone with an accent or Spanish name, whether legal or not. The new bill includes strong anti-discrimination language for employers who do refuse to hire any Hispanics while still allowing someone to hire a citizen before an alien. To appease Hispanics and others, the immigration bill includes amnesty for aliens who have been in this country for five years. Many border state representatives fought against the legalization provisions, saying that millions of people could eventually become citizens and bring their relatives to this country. All those people could bankrupt the state's social services, said the representatives, but the idea of deporting all of those people seemed impractical as well as inhumane to most members of Congress. And aliens who came to this country before 1982 will be able to apply for legalization. The other major controversial area of the immigration bill is the farm worker program. Agricultural interests wanted to be able to bring workers into this country to harvest crops without being subjected to employer sanctions, but the trade unions opposed this section of the bill. Finally, a compromise was reached where up to three hundred and fifty thousand farm workers could come into this country, but their rights would be protected and they would also be able to apply for legalization if they met certain conditions. The elements of the final immigration package have been there all along, but this year, say the key lawmakers around this legislation, the Congress was ready to act on them. The combination of horror stories about people coming over the borders and editorials about congressional inability to act made members of Congress decide the time had come to enact immigration reform. But supporters of reform warn the end is not here yet. The conference report must still pass both houses of Congress, and a Senate filibuster is always a possibility. I'm Cokie Roberts at the Capitol.
第二节 详细新闻 《移民法案》有望获得国会通过
一个参众会议委员会已同意一项移民改革法案。这项措施,曾迅速地在两次国会的最后几天胎死腹中,现在看起来似乎将成为法律。全国公共电台科奇罗伯茨的报道。
移民法案的主要倡导者之一,纽约州民主党参议员查理斯舒默表示,今年的移民成为一个正面的话题,该法案的反对势力终于有了一个在来自于对立面相等比率的公共舆论的力量。移民法改革的反对者一直很多:在国会的和国内的西班牙裔们,反对该法案的制定者主要考虑的法案的那个关键组成部分 ---- 惩罚雇用明知是非法移民的雇主。这项将对多次雇用非法移民的人给予民事处罚和刑事处罚措施在今天的一次会议上获得通过。西班牙裔雇主担心制裁会导致对有西班牙口音或名字的人产生歧视,而不管是他是否有合法身份。新的法案包括强烈的反对语言歧视,即雇主拒绝雇用任何拉美裔人,同时仍然允许有人雇用外国人之面前优先雇佣公民。为了平息拉美裔和其他族裔,移民法案包括了对进入这个国家已有 5 年的外国人予以大赦。许多边境州的代表反对这项合法化的条款,折意味这有数百万人可能最终成为美国公民,而把他们的亲属接到这个国家里来,这些人能使国家的社会服务系破产。代表们这样说,但把这些人全部驱逐出境的想法似乎不切实际,大多数国会议员认为也不人道。 1982 年前进入这个国家的外国人将能够申请合法化。移民法案其他主要的有争议的地方是农场工人计划。出于对农业利益的考虑这将有望能够使更多的工人来到这个国家从事庄稼收割,而不会制裁雇主。但贸易工会反对法案中的这一部分。最后达成了妥协,同意多达 35 万农场工人能够来到这个国家,但他们的权利将受到保护,他们必须在现实情况下符合申请合法化的条件。最终移民法一揽子方案的诸多元素已经完成,但今年,主要的围绕合法化的法律制定人表示,国会已准备好采取行动。综合人们翻越边界的骇人听闻的报道和国会未能采取行动的评论使得国会议员们考虑到实施移民改革的时机已经到来。但改革的支持者们警告说最终的结果还没有到来,会议的报告必须由国会参众两院通过,而来自参议院的阻挠依然可能。我是科奇罗伯茨在国会报道。
Section Three: Special Report
Many photography shops are quite busy this time of the year. People back from vacation are dropping off rolls of film and hoping for the best. But commentator Tom Baudet learned a long time ago he was better off not hoping.
I've been told that I take lousy pictures. It's not that my shots aren't technically OK; it's just that my pictures seem to bring out the worst in people. I hope that's not a sign of something. I usually end up throwing half the pictures I take. It's not that they're deceiving. Not at all; they're just too honest. It's true what they say that a camera never lays, but you certainly can lie to a camera. We do it all the time; at least we exaggerate a little to a lens. The first thing you'll usually hear when you point a camera at someone is, ' Wait, I'm not ready.' Well, so you wait while they brush the crumbs off their chin, put out a cigarette, or throw an arm around the person next to them like they've been standing that way all day Well, you get your picture, but it's blown all out of proportion. Everybody's having a little more fun than they really were and liking each other more than they actually do. We're all guilty of this on time or another. You're with your sweetheart traveling somewhere. You've been walking and complaining about the price of the room, the blister on your heel and the rude waitress at the cafe. But then you stop somebody on the street, hand them your camera, and put on your very best having-a-wonderful-time smile. Well, ten year later you'll look at that picture in a scrapbook and remember what great trip it was, whether it was or not. For it's a natural thing to do: plant little seeds of contentment in our lives in case we doubt we ever had any.
Well, it's good practice to take an opportunity to mug up to a camera. There never seems to be a camera around for the real special times: that make-up embrace after a long and dangerous discussion, the look on your face as you hold the phone and hear you got that promotion, the quiet ride home from the hospital after learning those suspicious lumps were benign and something to watch but not worry about. Those are the memories that should be preserved, to be remembered and relied upon when harder times take hold. Those times when a photographer like me will catch you at a party with a loneliness on your face that you didn't think would show or bitterness tugging at your lips during a conversation you didn’t intend to be overheard. Well, we all slip up like this sometimes and sooner or later we get caught with our guards down. I think that's why I end up with pictures like that. I like it when people leave their guards down. We all know our best sides, and it's nice to keep that face forward whenever we can. But I don't mind having pictures of the other sides. Either way they all look just like people to me.
Writer Tom Baudet. He lives in Homer, Alaska .
第三节特别报道 作家汤姆保德特谈摄影
许多摄影店每年这个时候都很忙。人们放假回来送来胶卷和最好的希望。但是评论家汤姆包德特经过很长一段研究之后他就最好不抱什么希望。
有人告诉过我拍的照片很糟。这并不是说我拍得不专业,是吧,是因为我的照片似乎要表现出人们最坏得一面。我觉得这不意味着什么。我通常扔掉我拍的一半的照片。这并不是说他们在蒙我。一点都没有,他们非常诚实。的确他们说照相机不会撒谎,但你确实可以欺骗照相机。我们一直这么做,至少我们可以在镜头前夸张一点。首先,到当你用照相机对准某人的时候,通常你会听道说:“等等,我还没有准备好。”那么,当他们擦去下巴上的面包屑,扔掉香烟,或用伸出胳膊挽住他旁边的人好像他们整天都要一直这样站着似的时候,然后,你拍到你的图片,但这是有点夸张。每个人比起他们真实的那面都多少有一点乐趣,而且相互之间所做的比他们实际做的要多一些。在这一点上在时间上和其他方面我们都是有罪的。你与你的恋人到处去旅游。你们一直在走,抱怨房间的价格,脚后跟上的水泡,咖啡吧里粗鲁的服务员。但你在街上拦住人,把你的照相机给他,摆出你的最好的具有美妙时刻的微笑。那么,十年后,你将看到,这张照片就在一本剪贴本里,回忆起那是一次多么了不起的旅行,无论是与否。因为这是一件做来很自然的事:在我们的生活里种下知足的小种子,免得(将来)我们会怀疑我们是否曾经拥有过。
嗯,这是个好办法抓住机会多拍些在相机里。似乎永远不会有一个相机能够围绕着真正地特殊时刻:比如经过长期和悬忽的讨论后那些虚伪的拥抱,当你手里拿着电话看你脸上听到获得晋升消息时的表情,在得知那些可疑的肿块是良性的而且不用担心之后,心平气和地骑车回家时的样子。这些都是应当保存的、值得记忆的,尤其在艰难时刻过去后必须应该记住。这时候,像我这样的摄影师会在聚会上捕捉到你脸上意想不到会流露出来的孤独的表情,或者在交谈过程中因为听到你不打算听到的因为烦恼而拉长的嘴唇。好,我们有时都这样搞错过,迟早我们会放松一点我们的防备。我想这就是为什么我最终放弃拍摄有这样的照片。我喜欢当人们离开自己的警卫。我们都知道我们有最好的一面,这使我们无论什么时候只要我们做得到就会保持向前看。但我不介意拍摄其他方面的照片。无论哪种方式他们对我来说都和人们看我一样。
作家汤姆保德特,他居住在阿拉斯加州何摩尔
Homer, Alaska
阿拉斯加州何摩尔的夏日景色