新视野大学英语读写教程听力 第二册 unit9b_new

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[00:00.00]喜欢hxen.net，就把hxen.net复制到QQ个人资料中！Borderline Ridiculousness
[00:04.39]The hardest thing about getting into Britain
[00:08.93]is walking the excessive distances around Heathrow Airport.
[00:15.19]No one has ever searched my baggage
[00:20.02]or asked anything more than where I planned to stay and for how long
[00:27.47]Likewise in other European countries I've visited
[00:32.62]but not so in America
[00:36.58]When I go there not only must I make a declaration of all purchases
[00:43.96]and gifts acquired abroad,
[00:47.92]I am obliged to list every country I visited.
[00:53.06]What business is that of the Finance Department?
[00:58.03]The information probably goes into some computer,
[01:03.18]never to be removed; and while I have nothing to hide,
[01:08.94]the thought is unsettling.
[01:13.12]This is the preferential treatment I enjoy as an American citizen
[01:19.88]Foreign nationals have another, longer form to complete
[01:25.86]before being granted a U.S. entrance visa.
[01:31.30]The questions include:
[01:34.93]"Have you ever been a controlled substance (drug) salesman,
[01:41.99]or a sex slave or pimp?"
[01:46.45]"Do you seek to enter the United States to
[01:51.38]engage in export control violations
[01:57.54]destructive or terrorist activities or any illegal purpose?"
[02:05.21]"Are you a member or representative of a terrorist organization?"
[02:12.44]"Have you ever ordered, caused, assisted,
[02:17.99]or otherwise participated in the torture of any person because of race,
[02:26.27]religion, national origin, or political opinion under the control,
[02:34.04]direct or indirect, of the Nazi Government of Germany,
[02:40.60]or of the government of any area occupied by,
[02:47.15]or allied with the Nazi Government of Germany,
[02:52.69]or have you ever participated in genocide?"
[02:58.27]An untruthful answer gives authorities another arrow
[03:04.14]for their attorney's quiver.
[03:07.88]If they can't get you for pushing drugs,
[03:12.85]maybe they can deport you for denying you pushed them before.
[03:18.83]But what self-respecting terrorist would agree
[03:23.98]he belongs to a "terrorist organization"?
[03:28.62]The vagueness of the language suggests its purpose
[03:33.98]is as much rhetorical as legal.
[03:38.74]It tells the rest of the world that troublesome visitors are unwelcome
[03:46.19]The rhetorical intent is clearest in the question about Nazis.
[03:52.74]It sounds legal and precise,
[03:57.28]but examine it and it turns out to be ridiculously broad.
[04:03.65]Consider that Franco's Spain was an ally of Hitler's Germany.
[04:10.38]Many, if not most, of its government employees
[04:15.74]can be said somehow to have "participated in the torture" of persons
[04:23.02]on account of "political opinion".
[04:26.98]How, then, should a former Spanish official reply to the question?
[04:33.71]And why such a particular fuss about Nazis,
[04:39.47]now that most of them are dead?
[04:43.10]My mother is a U.S. immigrant, and my father is the son of one.
[04:50.23]So it is with personal disappointment that I observe the current tendency
[04:57.18]to keep out new arrivals.
[04:59.92]I am myself a stranger in a strange land — Italy.
[05:06.29]Because I am married to an Italian citizen,
[05:11.44]establishing residency was easy.
[05:15.90]I dropped in at our local police station
[05:20.54]and in less than two hours received my "resident permit",
[05:26.41]good for two years.
[05:30.08]If my wife and I choose to live in the U.S.,however,
[05:35.34]she must apply for a visa ahead of time.
[05:40.88]This is supposed to take two months,
[05:45.35]but an attorney assures me it can easily take six.
[05:50.89]As it happens, we don't plan to live in America.
[05:56.11]It was challenging enough going there on vacation.
[06:00.94]Shortly after our wedding,
[06:04.32]we decided to spend a couple of months in the States.
[06:09.86]Luckily I mentioned this to an embassy official first.
[06:15.44]"The immigration officer might not let her in without a green card," he warned
[06:22.18]"Couldn't she just enter on the 90-day tourist document,