VOA常速英语2016--芝加哥选举委员会向南亚选民抛出橄榄枝

芝加哥选举委员会向南亚选民抛出橄榄枝

Bangladeshi immigrant Rashida Parveen voted in her first U.S. election in 2000,when she was just getting a grasp on the English language.

孟加拉移民拉斯达·帕文在2000年投出了她在美国的第一张选票，那时的她才刚刚掌握英语。

But exercising the right to vote was important to her.

但行使表决权对她意义重大。

“If you do not give a vote, you do not have any voice.”

“如果你不投票，别人就无法听到你的声音。”

Sixteen years later, she is not just voting, but spreading the word to other South Asian immigrants who can cast a ballot 1.

一晃16年过去了，她现在不仅仅是投票，还从事其他能够投票南亚移民的宣传工作。

“Asking them, please come and that I am here and I can assist you. You know.”

“我跟他们说，请来这里，我在这里，我能够帮到你们。你知道的。”

Parveen assists as translator at a Chicago polling location where many South Asians can vote, an ideal place to put her language skills to use.

帕文在芝加哥投票站进行翻译等工作，很多南亚人来这里投票，因此这个投票站是发挥她语言技能的理想场所。

“I'm speaking four languages…Bengali, Hindi, Urdu and English.”

“我能说4门语言。孟加拉语、印度语、乌尔都语，还有英语。”

She is part of a larger effort by the Chicago Board of Elections to comply with Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires language assistance to minority groups, outlined by population numbers in the U.S. Census 2 report released in 2011.

她为芝加哥选举委员会做出了巨大努力，这符合依照2011年美国人口普查报告公布的人口数量而制定的第203条投票权法案为少数人群投票提供语言翻译支持。

“Now they were required by federal law to provide language assistance to a very high number of South Asians, mostly Indians, in Chicago.”

“现在联邦法律也要求为芝加哥大部分南亚人及印度人提供语言帮助。”

Shobhana Johri Verma is the director of South Asian Outreach for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners 3.

赫巴娜·约里·沃玛是芝加哥选举委员会南亚地区的负责人。

She says one of the biggest challenges to meet the requirements was deciding how to best represent the diversity of the South Asian community in Illinois.

她表示为了满足这些需求最大的一个难题就是决定如何最好地体现伊利诺斯州南亚移民群的多样性。

“The big decision was: which language do we choose to provide language assistance in.”

“最大的问题就是：我们到底选哪种语言提供帮助。”

Based on community feedback, Hindi was the best option.

而根据社区团体反馈，印度语是最好的选择。

Since 2012 it is now one of the four languages found on election materials in Illinois.

从2012年起，印度语就已经成为伊利诺斯州选举材料4种语言中的一种。

But language services are only one of the hurdles 4 Parveen says those in her community overcome to vote.

但帕文表示她所居住的社区中移民们要进行投票所要克服的困难不只是语言障碍。

“Most of the people, they do not drive.

“很多人不会开车。

During the official time you know, they have to…somebody has to go and then get them, we know.”

在指定投票时间内，有人得开车去接他们。”

But she thinks the outreach efforts are working.

但她觉得这些宣传与努力都收到了效果。

“Even some people I have seen here they never give vote in their country but they come here to give vote.”

“甚至我在这里见到的一些人在自己的国家都不会去投票，但是从这里他们投出了宝贵的一票。”

The next step, says Illinois General Assembly candidate and Indian immigrant Harish Patel, is encouraging more to run for office.

伊利诺斯州议会候选人及印度移民哈利斯·帕特尔表示下一步是鼓励更多人参选。

“A community's representation only counts sometimes when people are elected from that community,”

“有时候，由社区选举而出来的代表才算数。”

Chicago is home to the third largest South Asian population in the United States, a community that continues to grow with each election cycle.

芝加哥是美国第3大南亚移民聚集地，而且人口随着每轮选举呈现增加趋势。