高中英语 voa常速听力2012年09月合辑文本california-immigrants-become-politically-active素材.docVIP

VOA常速英语听力2012年09月合辑（文本）：California-Immigrants-Become-Politically-Active LOS ANGELES — American cities attract immigrants from around the world, and they bring changes to their new neighborhoods. Newcomers from Asia and Latin America have brought an international flavor to the San Gabriel Valley, east of Los Angeles, where they now make up most of the population, and some residents have been prompted to become politically active. City officials in Rosemead in the San Gabriel Valley were trying to close a poultry store. It sells freshly slaughtered chickens and other birds, with their heads and feet on, the way that many Asian immigrants like them. Some neighbors and local officials thought the shop had a foul smell. But Dana Phu, who owns the shop with her husband, said this is part of Chinese culture, along with incense sticks and ceremonial paper used for funeral offerings, which they also sell. Phu is ethnically Chinese and comes from Vietnam. 揑ts a lot of Asians - and our business, our services - are servicing those people.? She mobilized friends and supporters and filed a lawsuit against the city council. They reached a settlement and are now in talks to work out the problems. Immigrants came to this part of California for the business opportunities, good schools and affordable housing. Some moved from the crowded Los Angeles neighborhood, Chinatown, wanting a better life in the suburbs. Lily Chen is a former mayor of Monterey Park, an early destination for Asians in the San Gabriel Valley. Its population now is more than two-thirds Asian-American. In 1984, she became the first Chinese American to lead an American city. She noted the surge of Asian immigrants that began in the 1980s. 揊rom Hong Kong, from Taiwan, later some of them from Vietnam. And now of course we have more Chinese population moving from China,?said Chen. Los Angeles also is a magnet for Latin American immigrants, and many have also settled in this valley, making up about a quarter of the p