VOA常速英语:活久见？32个孩子在动物园领取美国公民证

Not every trip to the zoo comes with a certificate of US citizenship.But that’s exactly what happens for 32 impeccably dressed, 5 to 13-year-olds from 25 different countries in New York City’s Bronx Zoo. And depending on who you ask, that special feat takes on a different significance.

I feel excited and good, because I never even noticed that here we have a lot of things that we can do.

“A little bit easier to travel places? That’s what my dad said, too.”

The children ceremony completes with the oath with the “Oath of Allegiance” is purely symbolic.But for the parents, it represents something great.

“This is really the last step for the family.The parents have already become citizens, and getting the children a citizenship certificate is really the last step.So we hope that this sort of ends the process for them and begins their experience as a new American family.”

Including the Volkov family from Russia, whose 7-year-old son has known the US since he was a toddler.

“He’s happy because he can feel he has 100 percent opportunity for all — for school, college, work. He is 100 percent citizen.”

For parents, access to jobs and good education including scholarships are among the most important benefits of citizenship for their children.But for the newest Americans, it’s about self-indulgence.

I’m going to celebrate by turning on my TV and putting on a movie.”

Ramon Taylor, VOA news, New York.