美食、祈祷和恋爱评价 《美食祈祷和恋爱》Chapter 83 (193):尤弟来到纽约

《美食祈祷和恋爱》Chapter 83 (193):尤弟来到纽约  

The first time the cruise ship sailed into New York Harbor
Yudhi stayed up all night
perched on the highest deck
watching the City skyline appear over the horizon
heart ham-mering with excitement. Hours later
he got off the ship in New York and hailed a yellow cab
just like in the movies. When the recent African immigrant driving the taxi asked where he'd like to go
Yudhi said
"Anywhere
man—just drive me around. I want to see everything." A few months later the ship came to New York City again
and this time Yudhi disembarked for good. His contract was up with the cruise line and he wanted to live in America now.
He ended up in suburban New Jersey
of all places
living for a while with an Indonesian man he'd met on the ship. He got a job in a sandwich shop at the mall—again
ten-to-elve-hour days of immigrant-style labor
this time working with Mexicans
not Filipinos. He learned better Spanish those first few months than English. In his rare moments of free time
Yudhi would ride the bus into Manhattan and just wander the streets
still so speechlessly infatuated with the city—a town he describes today as "the place which is the most full of love in the en-tire world." Somehow (again—that smile) he met up in New York City with a crowd of young musicians from all over the world and he took to playing guitar with them
jamming all night with talented kids from Jamaica
Africa
France
Japan . . . And at one of those gigs
he met Ann—a pretty blonde from Connecticut who played bass. They fell in love. They got married. They found an apartment in Brooklyn and they were surrounded by groovy friends who all went on road trips together down to the Florida Keys. Life was just unbelievably happy. His English was quickly impeccable. He was thinking about going to college.
On September 11
Yudhi watched the towers fall from his rooftop in Brooklyn. Like every-one else he was paralyzed with grief at what had happened—how could somebody inflict such an appalling atrocity on the city that is the most full of love of anywhere in the world? I don't know how much attention Yudhi was paying when the U.S. Congress subsequently passed the Patriot Act in response to the terrorist threat—legislation which included draconian new immigration laws
many of which were directed against Islamic nations such as Indone-sia. One of these provisions demanded that all Indonesian citizens living in America register with the Department of Homeland Security. The telephones started ringing as Yudhi and his young Indonesian immigrant friends tried to figure out what to do—many of them had over-stayed their visas and were afraid that registering would get them deported. On the other hand
they were afraid to not register
thereby behaving like criminals. Presumably the fundamentalist Islamic terrorists roaming around America ignored this registration law
but Yudhi decided that he did want to register. He was married to an American and he wanted to update his immigration status and bee a legal citizen. He didn't want to live in hiding.
9月11日，尤弟从布鲁克林的公寓屋顶目睹双子大楼倒塌。他和每个人一样，对所发生的事感到哀伤，不知所措——怎么会有人对全世界最充满爱的城市下此毒手？我不知道尤弟对国会随后通过的爱国法案——立法制定严厉的新移民法，多条法规针对印尼之类的伊斯兰国家——留意多少。其中一条规定要求说，定居于美国的印尼公民皆须向国土安全部（DepartmentofHomel and Security）登记。尤弟和他年轻的印尼朋友们开始互通电话想方设法——其中许多人签证过期，担心前去登记将被驱逐出境。但是如果不去登记，又怕被视为罪犯。而游荡在美国各地的基本教义派恐怖分子，则看样子对这条登记法规视而不见，不过尤弟却决定去登记。他娶了美国人，想提供自己最新的移民身份，成为合法公民。他不想过隐姓埋名的日子。