最新15篇文章贯通英语四级词汇MP3 Unit5-Part2

[00:00.00]An article in the Illustrated 1

[00:03.48] London News in January 1875

[00:05.57]gave  some insight into

[00:09.29]the emigration process of

[00:11.69]the Chinese by conveying the ideas

[00:13.77]of changes they might undergo.

[00:15.63]The author thought the modifications 2

[00:19.68]would be slight and principally external.

[00:23.94]He believed that, in an attempt

[00:26.57]to blend in, the Chinese

[00:29.09]would adopt American language,

[00:30.95]culture, and dress. However,

[00:35.11] because the Chinese brought

[00:36.97]with them a strong sense

[00:38.60]of their own identity,

[00:40.14]it wasn’t necessary for

[00:42.33]them to cultivate a

[00:43.74]North American way of life,

[00:45.83]nor did they feel an obligation

[00:48.23]to abandon their traditions.

[00:50.42]Much of the article

[00:52.94]would be considered insulting

[00:55.24]by today’s standards.

[00:56.55]In the United States, there were

[01:01.47]two opposing points of view.

[01:04.10]On one side of the coin,

[01:05.84]the Chinese were seen as

[01:07.71]an inexpensive means of providing

[01:10.00] the manual labor 3 necessary to

[01:12.74]develop the assets of the country,

[01:15.48]most often in hazardous 4 occupations.

[01:18.21]On the other side,there were

[01:21.49]those who branded them

[01:23.35]as the “curse” of the nation.

[01:25.65]Some Americans applauded the Chinese

[01:29.15]but others condemned 5 them as evil.

[01:32.76] Some were disturbed by

[01:34.95]what might happen if all

[01:36.70]the immigrants decided 6 to stay.

[01:38.76] Their distress 7 was unfounded however,

[01:42.48] as most Chinese had

[01:44.24]no intention of staying.

[01:46.86]Their greatest wish was to

[01:49.38]accumulate as much money

[01:51.13]as possible and return to China.

[01:53.97]Guilds 8 were set up

[01:56.38]to provide lodging 9 and

[01:57.80]employment for the emigrants 10,

[01:59.88]for a fee of course.

[02:01.52]The fee ensured that

[02:03.93]the worker would be paid a decent wage

[02:05.90] and that his employer

[02:08.08]would not deceive him.

[02:10.61]The accumulated fees amounted to

[02:13.99]a large sum, allowing the Guilds

[02:16.73]to help those who

[02:18.37]were ill or out of work.

[02:20.56]They not only saw that

[02:22.96]the worker received whatever

[02:24.61]was due to him, they also

[02:26.35]made him pay all his debts.

[02:28.33]The worker wasn’t allowed to

[02:31.50]return to his own country

[02:33.14]without a certificate from

[02:35.22] his agent stating he owed nothing.

[02:37.63]Many Chinese were able to

[02:42.66] save a portion of their earnings 11

[02:44.41]to take with them to

[02:46.16] their family back home.

[02:48.02]Often, after workers returned to China,

[02:51.41] they would revisit North America

[02:54.26]to accumulate more money.

[02:55.90]Before being allowed to

[02:59.61]board a ship in China,

[03:01.37]however, they had to prove

[03:03.34]that they were going of

[03:04.87]their own free will and

[03:07.06]were under no labor contract.

[03:09.13]Before the ships set sail,

[03:12.09]the authorities  would visit

[03:14.28]to guarantee that all on board

[03:16.57]had their tickets stamped

[03:18.54]and were not leaving

[03:20.29] the country against their will