VOA常速英语:休斯敦清真寺向洪水灾民敞开大门

Passing the time in shelters hasn’t been easy for flood victims who don’t know when they can go home.
对于洪灾难民来说，在避难所消磨时光并不容易，因为他们根本不知道什么时候才能回家。

19-year-old Sara Al Azaat from Saudi Arabia has only been in Houston for four months.
来自沙特阿拉伯的莎拉·阿扎特今年19岁，她在休斯顿才刚刚待了4个月。

“We’ve never had any experience before like that... with any kind of storm from where I came from.We didn’t take it that seriously.”
“我们从来没有经历过这样的事情……以前在沙特的时候也没有见过这样的风暴。所以当灾难来临的时候其实并没有当回事。”

“And when the flood happened, it was ‘a life-changing experience’. ”
“可当洪水真的袭来，我们的人生彻底被改变了。”

Al Azaat, whose mother is an Indonesian and whose father is a Syrian, is here with her family and her cousins.As the children play, all the adults are anxious to get home and don’t know when the mandatory evacuation will be lifted.
阿扎特的母亲是印度尼西亚人，父亲是叙利亚人，如今她和家人还有表兄妹们一起待在这里。看着孩子们在一边玩，这些大人们却都焦盼着回家，可他们也不知道强制撤离令何时才能解除。

But here, they are safe and surrounded by kindness.
而待在这里，他们不仅安全，还能感受到周围满满的善意。

“We were really amazed.A lot of people who came here to get the temporary shelter in fact people came and took them to their homes.So we were really touched by that.”
“我们真的很惊讶。很多人来到这边寻求临时庇护，但事实上有些好心人直接就把难民带回自己家里去了。对此我们真的是很感动。”

People from the community on the west side of town who did not receive any flood damage have been coming to this shelter to donate items, such as sheets and blankets, and even toys.And for some of them, it’s the first time inside a mosque.
城市西部社区没有受到洪水灾害的人们也纷纷来到这个庇护所捐赠物品，比如床单和毯子，甚至还有玩具。而对于其中一些人来说，这是他们第一次来清真寺。

“I have never been inside a mosque. I was a bit apprehensive about which door to go into.And a young lady met me in the parking lot and led me.”
“我从来没有来到过清真寺。一开始我还担心应该从哪个门进去。还好在停车场碰到了一个女孩子，是她带我进来的。”

“People of all faiths, they have come together, they’re working just purely on the basis of humanity, nothing else.Just human beings helping each other, and then we learn from different people because everyone has different backgrounds,different thought processes and we’ve learned a lot through this.”
“各种信仰的人们聚到一起，在人道主义的基础上共同努力。除此之外，别无其他想法。就是人与人之间纯粹的互相帮助。我们会从别人身上学到很多东西，因为大家都有着不同的背景和思维过程，所以真的能从中学到不少。”Coming here dispelled certain assumptions for Mandell.
来到这里之后，曼德尔的许多设想都被推翻了。

“They’re a lot more warmer than I expected on the males.The females I’ve always expected kindness and warmness, but sometimes I, you know, tend to shy away from Muslim men because I don’t know the traditions and what I should do correctly.”
“这里的男人都比我想象的要友好的多了。我一直都觉得女人们肯定会既和善又热心，但有时候往往会回避穆斯林男子，因为我不了解这边的传统，也不知道应该怎么做。”

It was also a learning experience for Choudry.
对于乔杜里来说，这也是一次学习的机会。

“They are human, you know, they’re our friends and they want to help the humanity without any discrimination without any fear,nothing, they just want to help people.”
“他们都是人，是我们的朋友，他们不带任何偏见，也丝毫没有恐惧，一心只想要帮助我们，就这样，他们只是想要帮助其他人而已。”

Al Azaat says her experience at this shelter is nothing like the anti-Muslim rhetoric she sees on the news.
艾萨特表示，她在庇护所里的经历一点都不像自己在新闻上看到的那样，满是反穆斯林的腔调。

“People from not the Islamic faith coming and donating, it was… it made me have a different perspective about the U.S..”
“很多非伊斯兰教徒过来这边，给我们捐款。这真的……让我对美国又产生了新的看法。”

“That’s like, really really really nice of you, like, you know, as the non-Muslims who come here and donate for us.”
“你们真的真的太好了，虽然你们不是穆斯林，但却还是来为我们捐赠东西。”

The volunteers say breaking down barriers and working together will make the community stronger as they rebuild the city after the flood.
志愿者们表示，在城市灾后重建的过程中，只有冲破所有阻碍，一起朝着一个方向努力，才能够让社区更加强大。

Elizabeth Lee, VOA news, Houston.
VOA新闻，伊丽莎白·李于休斯顿为您播报。