首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
My heart sank when the man at the immigration counter gestured to the back room. I’m an American born and raised,and this was Mi
My heart sank when the man at the immigration counter gestured to the back room. I’m an American born and raised,and this was Mi
admin
2010-01-16
38
问题
My heart sank 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.
"Please wait in here, Ms. Abujaber," 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.
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."
"How long will it take?"
"Hard to say...a few minutes," he said. "We’ll call you when we’re ready for you."
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?"
Just a few more minutes, they assured me.
After an hour and a half, I pulled my cell phone 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."
"I’m just a university professor," I said. My voice came out in a squeak.
"Of course you are. And we take people like you out of here in leg irons every day."
I put my phone away.
My husband and I were getting hungry and tired. Whole families had been brought into the waiting room, and the place was packed with excitable children, exhausted parents, even a flight attendant.
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?
After two hours in detention, I was approached by one of the officers. "You’re free to go," he said. No explanation or apologies. For a moment, neither of us moved, we were still in shock. Then we leaped to our feet.
"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."
"Will they respond?" I asked.
"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."
"What can I do to keep it from happening again?"
He smiled the empty smile we’d seen all day. "Absolutely nothing."
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 pen name 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 identi-ty-just like the town you’re born in and the place where you’re raised.
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.
选项
A、she and her husband returned from Jamaica
B、her name was similar to a terrorist’s
C、she had been held in Montreal
D、she had spoken at a book event
答案
B
解析
事实细节题。第三段给出原因:柜台后的官员叫我出来说,“小姐,你的名字看起来像我们通缉名单上的人的名字。我们必须联系华盛顿确认。”故[B]为正确答案。[A]、[C]和[D]均为第二段提到的细节,但并非他们被扣留的原因。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/S3nK777K
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
(1)Cambridgehastakenthetopspotinthisyear’sGuardianUniversityGuideleaguetable,breakingitsarchrivalOxford’ss
A、About500hoursoftraining.B、Anactualassociate’sdegree.C、Aprofessionalqualificationcertificate.D、Asetofperfectfa
SuggestopediaIntroduction•basis:how【T1】________worksandhowwelearnmosteffectively•ori
CommunicatingwithStrangersI.Theconceptofthestrangerandthedefinitionofstrangeness:A.Strangenessandfamiliarity
GymCrazeI.ThegymcrazebecomesChinese【T1】__________.A.asignof【T2】_______________.B.gym-goersinclude:-unive
A、Computers.B、Mobilephones.C、Farmingtechnology.D、A,BandCD细节题:选项A、B和C在对话中都出现过,但题目要求找出Hannah对“technology”一词的理解。对话中有这样一段话:
A、Theyarefamilymembers.B、Theyareclassmates.C、Theyarebrothers.D、Theyarelovers.B信息题。本题询问关系。在对话的开头Sue说:Ihavetofinis
Duringthe1980s,unemploymentandunderemploymentinsomecountrieswasashighas90percent.Somecountriesdidnot【C1】______
Teddycametomy______withachequeof$200topaymyroomrate,afterIphonedhimthatmywallethadbeenstolen.
AreviewofthetreatmentoffemalecharactersinChinesefictionrevealsthatChinesesocialattitudeshaveundergonedramatic
随机试题
TheUSgovernmenthasstartedawebsite,Admongo,tohelpchildrenthinkcriticallyabouttheadvertisingaimedatthem.Itclai
卵巢库肯勃瘤原发部位是
男性,75岁,心悸、气短3年,查体:心界向两侧扩大,心率145次/分,心尖部可闻及收缩期杂音及舒张中晚期杂音,颈静脉怒张,肝肿大。下列治疗首选
哮喘患者,气短息弱,白汗畏风,面色恍白,咳嗽痰稀,舌淡苔白,脉弱。其诊断是
下列税务代理情形中,委托方可以单方终止代理行为的是()。
下列各财务管理目标中,能够克服短期行为的有()。
张某与李某有仇。某日,李某看见张某拿着木棒向他走来,李某以为张某要报复,遂向张某抢先出手,将张某打伤。李某的行为是正当防卫行为。()
Boll______.Whatistheauthorofthepassagetryingtotellthereaders?
朴素的
A、Hertestpaperwasunexpectedlylost.B、Hertestmarkwasn’tasbadasshethought.C、Shefeelsgreataboutthemarkonherpa
最新回复
(
0
)