美国东部时间7月16日上午11时30分(北京时间7月17日零时30分),在美国众议院议长佩洛西的监督下,美国国会首位华裔女议员赵美心在华盛顿国会山宣誓就职。这一天她创造了美国华裔从政的新历史。她也是继吴振伟之后的第二位华裔国会议员。
奥巴马上台后,美国政府高层中不断出现华裔的身影,比如美国现任能源部长朱棣文和商务部长骆家辉。现在,赵美心说:“我很骄傲能够成为美国国会第一位华裔女议员。”
赵美心当选美国国会首位华裔女议员一事在海内外华人之间反响热烈,正如美国首位华裔女市长陈李琬若所言:“希望赵美心能够‘登高一呼’,为华裔做些实际好事,而不仅仅是为国会增加了一个黄面孔和一个中国姓氏。”我们期待这位始终保持微笑的巾帼女杰能在新的岗位上大显身手,再创佳绩!
文字难度：★★★★☆
On Tuesday (July 14th), adding to a 24-year political career launched on a local school board, Judy Chu became the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress. She won a special election—with nearly 62% of the vote—in the 32nd 1)Congressional District.
星期二(7月14日),赵美心,从当地教育董事会起步,有着24年从政生涯的她,成为了首位进入美国国会的华裔女性。在第32选区,她以近62%的选票支持率从特别选举中胜出。
She won this election in much the same way she 2)posted earlier victories—expanding on her Asian base (about 13% of voters in the congressional district) to win support among 3)Latinos (who make up almost half of the registered voters in the district), 4)organized labor (a major element in the largely working-class district) and women. Her years on the 5)Garvey School Board and the 6)Monterey Park City Council and representing a local 7)Assembly district made her a trusted household name among 8)San Gabriel Valley political leaders, many of whom crossed party and ethnic lines to support her.
她赢得这场选举的方式和她以往取得胜利的方式很是相同——拓宽她的亚洲根基(区内13%的选民为亚裔),赢得包括拉美裔选民(区内几乎一半的登记选民为拉美裔)、工会工人(工薪阶层为主的选区的主要组成部分)和妇女的支持。她在嘉伟教育董事会和蒙特利公园市市议会工作过,还担任过地方议会区代表,这些经历使她成为备受圣盖博谷政界领袖信任的明星人物,他们中许多人跨越了党派和种族界别来支持她。
One is Republican Betty Couch, who said she found common ground—and friendship—with the 9)unabashedly liberal Chu when they served together on the Monterey Park City Council. “She does her homework, she listens, and she really cares about people,” said Couch.
其中就有共和党人贝蒂·考其,她说,在和赵美心一起在蒙特利公园市市议会共事时,她与这位泰然自若的自由党人之间找到了共同点并建立起友谊。“她会做好工作,会倾听他人,而且她真的很关心别人。”考其说。
Judy Chu was born on July 7, 1953, in Los Angeles, and was the second of four children in her family. Her father worked as an electrical technician for 10)Pacific Bell and her mother was a 11)cannery worker. Judy Chu can trace the beginnings of her career as a San Gabriel Valley activist and political leader back to the early 1970s and her freshman year in college. As the young math major, intent on a career in computer science, was crossing the 12)UC Santa Barbara 13)quad one day, someone 14)thrust into her hand a 15)flier about a new Asian American studies course. She decided to give it a try. “It was like a light went off in my head,” Chu recalled. She learned about the history of Asian immigrants and their children, the discrimination and stereotypes they endured and their contributions to American life and culture.
赵美心,1953年7月7日出生于美国洛杉矶,在家里四个孩子中排行老二。父亲是太平洋贝尔公司的电气技术员,而母亲则是一间罐头厂的工人。赵美心的从政生涯最早可追溯到20世纪70年代早期,那时她正上大一,是圣盖博谷的一名社会活动人士和政治领袖。当时,她学数学专业,想着以后要投身计算机科学领域,有一天,走在圣塔巴巴拉加大校园里,突然有人塞给她一张有关新课程——亚美史研究的宣传单。她决定去选修这门课程。“那就像是我的脑子里突然闪现的灵光。”赵美心回忆道。通过这门课程,她了解到亚裔移民及其子孙的历史,他们所遭受的歧视和遵循的陈规,以及他们对美国社会生活和文化所作出的贡献。
One of the guest speakers was Pat Sumi, a third-generation Japanese American whose activism included registering blacks to vote in Mississippi and Georgia and organizing protests against the Vietnam War. “It was the very first time it occurred to me that an Asian American woman could be a leader,” said Chu, who began volunteering with various causes, 16)transferred to 17)UCLA and gave up computers for 18)clinical psychology.
该课程的其中一位客座讲者是帕特·苏米,她是第三代日裔美国人,她参与的社会活动包括为密西西比州和乔治亚州的黑人争取选举投票权,组织反对越战的抗议活动等。“那是我第一次意识到,一位亚裔美国女性也可以成为一名领袖。” 赵美心说。之后,她开始志愿参与各种各样的活动,并转学到美国加州大学洛杉矶分校,放弃了计算机专业而转学临床心理学。
It was while she was a student at UCLA that Chu met her future husband, attorney Mike Eng. The couple married in 1978. Chu, who holds a 19)doctorate in psychology, continued teaching at 20)Los Angeles City College, then at 21)East Los Angeles College, and Eng practiced immigration law. By the early 1980s, the couple had settled in Monterey Park, which was experiencing an 22)influx of immigrants from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, sparking a 23)backlash among some longtime residents who sought a ban on Chinese-language 24)storefront signs. When a divided City Council voted in 1986 to support a resolution 25)endorsing English as the nation’s official language, Chu, by then on the school board, and Eng helped form the Coalition for Harmony in Monterey Park(CHMP).
在加州大学洛杉矶分校读书时,赵美心认识了她现在的丈夫——律师伍国庆。他们于1978年结婚。拥有心理学博士学位的赵美心先后在洛杉矶城市学院、东洛杉矶学院任教,而伍国庆则从事与移民法有关的工作。在20世纪80年代早期,夫妇俩在蒙特利公园市定居。当时,来自中国内地、台湾和香港的移民大量涌向这里,引发一些久居此地的本地居民的不满,要求店铺外面的标识牌匾禁用中文。1986年,尽管市议会内对此有意见分歧,但最终的投票结果还是支持一项决议——把英语定为该国的官方语言。此时赵美心正在当地的教育董事会工作,而伍国庆则帮助成立了蒙特利公园市的“和谐联盟”。
“Judy and Mike were always trying to find ways to bring people together,” said Jose Calderon, another member of CHMP who is now an associate professor at 26)Pitzer College. They started “harmony days” to celebrate the city’s various cultures, and they led a 27)petition drive that moved the council to 28)rescind its divisive resolution. Chu was elected to the council in 1988 and, in 2001, won an Assembly seat.
“朱迪和迈克一直在努力想办法把人们团结起来。”“和谐联盟”的一位成员,现任匹泽学院副教授的乔斯·卡尔德隆说。他们夫妇创设了“和谐日”来庆祝这个城市的多元文化,他们还领导了一次请愿活动,提议市议会废除其制造分裂的决议。1988年,赵美心经选举进入市议会。2001年,她赢得了州议员席位。
Marilyn Calderon, who served on Chu’s legislative staff in the Assembly, said her former boss always encouraged her employees to aim high and insisted they remember they were there to help people who needed them. “She’s a hard, hard worker.” Calderon said.
玛丽莲·卡尔德隆是赵美心在州议会法律部门的下属。她说,她的前上司(即赵美心)总是鼓励下属们要志存高远,并且强调他们在议会工作是为了帮助那些需要他们的人。“她是一个非常勤奋、努力的人。”卡尔德隆说。 
Chu, who sworn in Washington, D.C. on Thursday (July 16 th), said she plans to come home every weekend. She said that she and Eng will continue their practice of once-weekly “date nights” of dinner out or a movie—their way of coping with careers that put them in different cities.
周四(7月16日),赵美心在华盛顿宣誓就职。她说,她计划每周末回家。(编者注:美西地区的联邦众议员几乎是“空中飞人”,周一至周五在华盛顿的国会大厦办公,周末回到选区服务。)她和丈夫会继续他们每周一次的“约会之夜”——出去吃饭或看电影——这是他们应对因工作而不在同一城市生活这一情形的方式。
