Extra credit

It's tough to be an American

(1) MY heart plummeted when the man at the immigration counter gestured to the back room. I'm an American born and raised, and this was Miami, where I live, but they weren't quite ready to let me in yet.

(2) "Please wait in here, Ms Abu-Jaber," the immigration officer said. My husband, with his very American last name, accompanied me. He was getting used to this. The same thing had happened recently in Canada when I'd flown to Montreal to speak at a book event. That time they held me for 45 minutes. Today we were returning from a literary festival in Jamaica, and I was startled that I was being sent "in back" once again.

(3) The officer behind the counter called me up and said, "Miss, your name looks like the name of someone who's on our wanted list." We're going to have to check you out with Washington." "

(4) "How long will it take?"

(5) "Hard to say ... a few minutes," he said. "We'll call you when we're ready for you."

(6) After an hour, Washington still hadn't decided anything about me. "Isn't this computerized?" I asked at the counter. "Can't you just look me up?"

(7) Just a few more minutes, they assured me.

(8) After an hour and a half, I pulled my cellphone out to call the friends I was supposed to meet that evening. An officer rushed over. "No phones!" he said. "For all we know you could be calling a terrorist cell and giving them information." "

(9) "I'm just a university professor," I said. My voice came out in a squeak.

(10) "Of course you are. And we take people like you out of here in leg irons every day." "

(11) I put my phone away.

(12) My husband and I were getting hungry and tired. Whole families had been brought into the waiting room, and the place was packed with hyper children, exhausted parents, even a flight attendant.

(13) I wanted to scream, to jump on a chair and shout: "I'm an American citizen; a novelist; I probably teach English literature to your children." Or would that all be counted against me'

(14) After two hours in detention, I was approached by one of the officers. "You're free to go," he said. No explanations or apologies. For a moment, neither of us moved, we were still in shock. Then we leaped to our feet.

(15) "Oh, one more thing." He handed me a tattered photocopy with an address on it. "If you weren't happy with your treatment, you can write to this agency."

(16) "Will they respond?" I asked.

(17) "I don't know - I don't know of anyone who's ever written to them before." Then he added, "By the way, this will probably keep happening each time you travel internationally."

(18) "What can I do to keep it from happening again?"

(19) He smiled the empty smile we'd seen all day. "Absolutely nothing."

(20) After telling several friends about our ordeal, probably the most frequent advice I've heard in response is to change my name. Twenty years ago, my own graduate school writing professor advised me to write under a nom de plume so that publishers wouldn't stick me in what he called "the ethnic ghetto" - a separate, secondary shelf in the bookstore. But a name is an integral part of anyone's personal and professional identity - just like the town you're born in and the place you're raised.

(21) Like my father, I'll keep the name, but my airport experience has given me a whole new perspective on what diversity and tolerance are supposed to mean. I had no idea that being an American would ever be this hard.

WASHINGTON POST, August 22

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Vocabulary

1. plummet: v. fall steeply or rapidly 陡直掉下，快速落下

The explosion sent the plane plummeting towards the sea.

2. want: v. to seek in order to capture 缉拿，追捕

3. squeak: n. short high-pitched cry 短促而尖利的叫声

4. hyper: adj. short form for "hyperactive": (especially of a child) abnormally and excessively active (尤指儿童)活跃得反常的，多动的

5. attendant: n. person whose job is to provide a service in a public place 服务员

6. detention: n. a place where suspected criminals are held for further investigation 拘留，滞留

7. leap: v. move quickly in the specified direction 迅速向某方向运动

8. tattered: adj. ragged or torn 破烂的

9. photocopy: n. photographic copy of written or printed work 影印本

10. ordeal: n. difficult or painful experience as a test to a person's character or powers of endurance 苦难经历，严峻考验

Her divorce was a horrible ordeal. It took them a year to divide the property, but her ex-husband finally got to keep the house and the children.

11. nom de plume: n. (French) pen name (法语) 笔名

I like the story written by nom de plume "crazy cat" very much.

12. ghetto: n. a separate, limited category, artificially cut off from others 被隔离开的有限范围

Until the last 50 years, in many European cities, Jews lived segregated into their own neighbourhood ghettos.

13. integral: adj. included as a necessary part of a whole 整体中的一部分

Making sense

1. Miss, your name looks like the name of someone who's on our wanted list. (paragraph 3)

The women's surname, Abu-Jaber, is a very Islamic, Middle Eastern sounding name. This is because her father was from Jordan, an Arab country bordering Iraq. The nation's religion is 92 per cent Sunni, the type of Islam supported by Saddam Hussein. During the Iraq war and after the 9.11 attacks, US officials have dramatically tightened international security. Anyone, who appears Middle Eastern or has an Arab surname will be under scrutiny. Here, maybe there's really someone on the wanted list with a similar name to that of the author, but also, maybe the police only want to make sure the author is not suspected.

2. We're going to have to check you out with Washington. (paragraph 3)

Before releasing you, we will have to call our boss to ensure that you are not the person we are looking for. "Washington" stands for "Washington DC", the capital of the US, where the international security department is located. Often, in American TV and movies people will say "Washington" to refer to the government or the headquarters of a government department. And "check out" here means to do a short test to make sure everything is OK.

3. For all we know you could be calling a terrorist cell and giving them information. (paragraph 8)

"For all we know" means "judging from the information we have". So, since you have such a suspicious name and we haven't made sure if you're innocent, you could be calling a terrorist on your cell (short for cellphone) and giving them information.

4. And we take people like you out of here in leg irons every day. (paragraph 10)

The security officer says, in a boosting way, that his team frequently arrests suspected terrorists by pulling them out of the waiting room (out of here). The officer is making a threat as well as showing off his authority. He is exaggerating. Most likely, he neither arrests people "every day" or places them in "leg irons" (脚镣). Leg irons are old-fashioned and considered barbaric because of their association with slavery and the Middle Ages.

5. Or would that all be counted against me? (paragraph 13)

The author, in her frustration, wants to jump up and yell that she is innocent. But, she worries that she will actually draw unwanted attention to herself. She thinks maybe her claims of innocence will actually make her look more guilty (or "count against" her). The phrase "count against" originally refers to score keeping in a game, where a penalty can reduce the number of points you've earned.

Test yourself

Fill in the blanks with the words in the "vocabulary" section. Make changes if necessary.

1. Some think that a rewarding career is a/an ________ part of a happy life.

2. The police did not have enough evidence to arrest the suspect, so they held him in _______ while further investigating the case.

3. Immediately after being told his father had an accident, he ______ into his car and headed for the hospital.

4. The news of ________ stock prices worried and shocked speculators.

5. The bicycle thief turned out to be the suspect _______ by the police for murder.

Answers: 1. integral 2. detention 3. leaped/leapt 4. plummeting 5. wanted