Cesar Chavez Migrant Hero

Cesar Chavez, Migrant Hero. Written by Terry L. Scott.

西泽·查韦斯，移民工人英雄 特里·L·斯科特 著

harvested by hand. You probably know that the fruits, nuts, and vegetables you eat were once crops that grew in fields. But did you ever stop to wonder how those crops are harvested? Some are harvested by machines, but many, fruits in particular, are too delicate. Research shows that nearly half of all U .S. fruit is still harvested by hand. Most of those hands belong to migrant workers, who travel from farm to farm, picking fresh food so that we can eat it. It's hard work that can pay little, and migrant workers aren't always treated well by the farmers who hire them. One man spent his life trying to help migrant workers. His name was Cesar Chavez.

都是手工采摘的。 你肯定知道，我们吃的水果、坚果和蔬菜，原本都是长在田野里的作物。 可你有没有好奇过，这些作物是怎么收割采摘的呢？ 有些由机器收割，但很多作物，尤其是水果，都太过娇嫩（不能用机器）。 研究显示，美国近一半的水果至今仍然是手工采摘的。 这些采摘工作大多出自移民工人之手，他们辗转于各个农场，采摘新鲜食材供我们食用。 这份工作辛苦薪资又少，雇佣他们的农场主常常不能好好对待移民工人。 有一个人，终其一生都在努力帮助移民工人。 他的名字叫西泽·查韦斯。

A Migrant's Life Cesar Estrada Chavez was born to a Mexican -American family in 1927 near Yuma, Arizona. As a child, he lived on a small farm. Cesar loved life on the farm, but dishonest man cheated the Chavez family. In 1937, they lost their land. The family joined the many other poor families who traveled west during the Great Depression, looking for jobs as migrant farm workers.

移民的生活 西泽·埃斯特拉达·查韦斯1927年出生于亚利桑那州尤马附近的一个墨裔美国家庭。 小时候，他住在一个小农场里。 西泽热爱农场生活，可一个坏人骗了查韦斯一家。 1937年，他们失去了自己的土地。 查韦斯一家和大萧条时期其他许多贫困家庭一样，向西迁徙，找活干，成为了移民农场工人。

Life on the road was very different for the Chavez family from life on their farm in Arizona. Many farmers in California wanted people to work for little pay. Then the farmers could keep more money from the food they sold. As a result, life for migrant farm workers was often terrible. Workers toiled in the hot sun for hours, but sometimes had to pay for any water they drank in the fields. The workers spent much of the little money they made on temporary housing, usually run -down shacks that were hot in summer, cold in winter. The shacks often came with holes and insects, but no bathrooms or any way to cook. Sometimes, instead of mattresses to sleep on, owners gave the workers straw.

对查韦斯一家来说，漂泊在路上的生活和从前在亚利桑那农场的生活截然不同。 加州很多农场主只想出极低的薪水招人干活。 这样农场主卖出农产品后，就能留下更多钱。 因此，移民农场工人的生活往往十分困苦。 工人们在烈日下辛苦劳作数小时，可有时候连在田里喝的水都要自己掏钱买。 工人们本就赚得很少，大部分钱还要花在临时住处上，这些住处通常是破破烂烂的棚屋，冬冷夏热。 棚屋常常破洞、到处是虫子，既没有卫生间，也没有做饭的地方。 有时候，雇主连睡觉的床垫都不给，只给工人稻草当床。

For several years, the Chavez family moved around California, finding work wherever they could. By the time Cesar graduated from the 8th grade, he had gone to more than 30 schools. He was often teased because he didn't have decent clothes or shoes and because he spoke English with a Spanish accent. Cesar and his siblings worked in the fields with their parents on weekends and during the summer. It was hard work, yet migrant workers were often cheated out of their already low wages. One time, Cesar's whole family worked for seven weeks, seven days a week. At the end of the harvest, they found that their boss had left without paying them, and there was nothing they could do. Even though they harvested tons of fruit and vegetables, they barely earned enough to feed themselves, let alone enough to save and get ahead.

好几年里，查韦斯一家都在加州四处辗转，哪儿能找到活就去哪儿。 等到西泽八年级毕业时，他已经换过三十多所学校了。 他常常被人取笑，因为他没有像样的衣服鞋子，说英语还带着西班牙口音。 周末和暑假，西泽和兄弟姐妹们会跟着父母一起去田里干活。 这份工作本就辛苦，可移民工人本就微薄的薪水，还常常被克扣骗走。 有一次，西泽全家整整干了七周，一周七天都没休息。 收割结束后，他们发现老板没结工资就跑了，他们却一点办法都没有。 哪怕他们收割了成吨的蔬菜水果，赚的钱也只够勉强填饱肚子，根本攒不下钱，更别说改善生活出人头地了。

The best hope for most migrants was, and is, the education of their children, but education for migrant children was hard to come by. Many migrant children grew up in the fields and started working as young as age eight. Cesar himself left school after the eighth grade to work in the fields full -time to help support his family. Without a good education, the children often kept doing migrant work when they grew up, and the cycle continued.

过去到现在，大多数移民最大的希望都是孩子能接受教育，可移民子女很难获得受教育的机会。 很多移民孩子从小在田里长大，才八岁就开始干活了。 西泽自己八年级毕业后就离开学校，全职去田里干活帮家里养家。 没有良好的教育，这些孩子长大后往往还是做移民工人，这样的循环一直持续下去。