Sikh Family Takes Precautions
Born in the USA, eight-year-old Jajhaar Singh, like most American kids loves baseball. But since the attack the only place his parents will let him play is in his own backyard.
Jajhaar Singh: “I can’t play basketball; I can’t go on the street; I have to be really extra careful.”
Extra careful because Jajhaar and his six-year-old brother are Sikhs, a religion formed 500 years ago in India. In public Sikh men and some women wear turbans【纏頭巾】. Turbans that often mean they are mistaken for Muslims.
Jajhaar: “I usually say it’s called a turban, and we don’t cut our hair because we’re Sikhs, and we believe in one god.”
Charon Kamel Singh: “They look different with their little turbans and their dark skin. I just don’t want anybody randomly(1) coming by in a car, and, either yelling(2) out something at them or you know my big fear is shooting.”
J.J. Singh : “Right now they’re not allowed out doors at all whether it be basketball or a walk in the park or going to a friend’s house.”
Every day, their mother Charon meets them at school on foot and walks them to the car. Then it’s off to karate【空手道】or computer class. She used to run errands(3) during class , now she parks herself right at the front door.
Jajhaar: “Now she sometimes stays with us instead of going.(Do you know why?)Yeah (why?) ‘Cause somebody might shoot us or something.”
At home a well-loved scooter【踏板車】 stands idle(4). Bicycles hung up indefinitely(5). The reasons don’t make sense to an eight-year-old.
Jajhaar: “Just because they look different doesn’t mean or they have a beard or something doesn’t mean they’re bad. Even if we were Muslims, it doesn’t matter. If one person did, it doesn’t mean all Muslims are bad.”
Inside four walls a family makes the best of it while sometimes imagining the worst.
Charon: “It’s claustrophobic(6) to some extent; it’s shocking; it’s just unnerving, and to imagine it’s happening here with freedom of everything and liberty, it’s scary.”
For the Singhs it’s the current cost of living the American dream in troubled times.
聽音瓶頸詞匯
1. randomly[] adv.任意地;隨便地
2. yell[] v.叫喊;吼叫
3. errand [] n.瑣事;差事
4. idle[] adj.閑置;空閑
5. indefinitely [li] adv.不定期地;無期限地
6. claustrophobic [] adj.患恐怖癥的
聽音高級短語
in public 公眾地;當(dāng)眾地
believe in 相信;信仰
on foot 步行
used to 過去時常
instead of 不…而;代替
hang up 擱置;掛斷電話
make sense 使人理解
make the best of it 充分利用;將就
to some extent 一定程度上
聽音超級句型
They look different with their…
他們的…使他們看起來與眾不同。
The reasons don’t make sense to…
這些原因讓…無法理解。
錫克人進(jìn)入戒嚴(yán)狀態(tài)
像其他大部分美國出生的孩子一樣,現(xiàn)年8歲的佳哈爾•辛弗也同樣地喜歡棒球。但是自從恐怖襲擊后,他的父母只允許他在自家的后院里玩耍。
佳哈爾•辛弗:“我不能夠打籃球,我也不能夠在街上玩耍,我必須額外地小心。”
至于要額外地小心,這是因為他和他六歲的弟弟都是錫克教出生。錫克教源至于五百年前的古印度。在公共場所,錫克人不管男男女女都戴著頭巾。頭巾意味著他們常常會被別人誤認(rèn)為是穆斯林人。
佳哈爾:“我常說這僅是一條頭巾,我們不剪頭發(fā)是因為我們是錫克人,我們信仰同一個上帝。”
卡倫•喀媚爾•辛弗:“他們的小頭巾以及他們黑色的膚色使他們看起來與眾不同。我只是不喜歡有人突然開車而過向他們大聲小叫,或者你知道的,我最擔(dān)憂的是槍殺。”
J.J•辛弗:“如今,他們沒有了戶外活動,不管是打籃球,在公園散步還是去朋友家。”
每天,他們的母親Charon去學(xué)校接他們,然后送他們上車。接著他們就去上空手道或是計算機(jī)的課。她以前常常在他們上課時去忙碌著她的各種瑣事,而現(xiàn)在她直接把車停在前門等候他們。
佳哈爾•辛弗:“現(xiàn)在,她有時和我們呆在一起。(你知道為什么嗎?)知道。(為什么?)因為她害怕別人槍殺我們或之類的。”
家里那輛他非常喜愛的踏板車閑置在一邊。自行車也無限期的被擱置一旁。對于一個8歲的小孩來說,他是不會明白其中道理的。
佳哈爾•辛弗:“外表的不同,有胡子或其它什么東西,這并不意味著他們是壞人。即使我們是穆斯林人,也不能說明什么問題。一個穆斯林人干了壞事,不能說明所有的穆斯林人都是壞蛋。”
在這個四面墻圍著的院子里,一家人雖然有時候把它想得非常糟糕,但他們盡量還是好好地過。
卡倫:“一定程度上它讓人心神惶惶,在這個主張一切自由的地方,我們不敢想象會發(fā)生什么,它讓人恐慌。”
對辛弗一家來說,在這個艱難的時期,這就是追逐美國夢的代價。