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A former refugee has become the first Cambodian American mayor in the United States.
一名前难民成为美国首位柬埔寨裔美国市长。
Sokhary Chau was chosen Monday by a majority of city councilors in Lowell, Massachusetts, to serve in the city's top position.
周一，马萨诸塞州洛厄尔市的大多数市议员选举索卡里·周担任该市的最高职位。
He also became the city's first Asian American mayor.
他也成为该市第一位亚裔美国市长。
The 49-year-old Chau is a federal government employee who works for the U.S. Social Security Administration.
现年49岁的周是一名联邦政府雇员，为美国社会保障管理局工作。
After being officially sworn in, Chau said, "God bless America, right? I was a refugee, now I'm mayor of a major city in Massachusetts."
在正式宣誓就职后，周说：“上帝保佑美国，对吧？我曾经是难民，现在我是马萨诸塞州一个主要城市的市长。”
He added, "I don't know if that could happen anywhere else in the world. I'm still trying to absorb it."
他还说，“我不知道这是否会发生在世界其他地方。我还在努力消化。”
He also spoke about his family's efforts to escape Cambodia under the extreme rule of the communist Khmer Rouge.
他还提到了他的家人为逃离共产党红色高棉的极端统治下的柬埔寨所作的努力。
Chau said his father, who was a captain in the Cambodian army, was executed by the Khmer Rouge in 1975 during the country's civil war.
周说，他的父亲曾是柬埔寨军队的一名上尉，在1975年柬埔寨内战期间被红色高棉处决。
He said that his mother, who died last year, was able to keep her seven children alive for four years, surviving "landmines, jungles, hunger, sickness and uncertainty" in order to get them safely to the U.S.
他说，他的母亲去年去世，为了把她的七个孩子安全送到美国，她竭尽全力让他们活了四年，在“地雷、丛林、饥饿、疾病和不确定因素”中幸存下来。
While living in refugee camps, Chau said his family imagined America as a nation with "streets paved with gold."
周说，当他们住在难民营时，他的家人把美国想象成一个“满街都是黄金”的国家。
While this was not true, he said the U.S. is a land that makes democracy possible through a system of "checks and balances."
虽然事实并非如此，但他说，美国是一个通过“三权分立”制度使民主成为可能的国家。
Chau said America also represents values such as fairness and equality.
周说，美国也代表着公平和平等等价值观。
Lowell, Massachusetts was an early center of America's cloth industry.
马萨诸塞州洛厄尔市是美国早期的纺织工业中心。
Many immigrants from Europe and Latin America came to the city over generations.
许多来自欧洲和拉丁美洲的数代移民来到这座城市。
Today, the city's population of 115,000 is nearly 25 percent Asian.
如今，这座城市的11.5万人口中，近25%是亚洲人。
Lowell is also home to the nation's second-largest Cambodian community after Long Beach, California.
洛厄尔市也是美国的第二大柬埔寨社区的所在地，仅次于加利福尼亚州长滩市。
Chau is among a growing list of Cambodian American officeholders in Massachusetts.
周是马萨诸塞州越来越多的柬埔寨裔美国官员之一。
The state has at least two other city councilors, a school committee member and two state lawmakers.
该州至少还有另外两名市议员，一名学校委员会成员和两名州议员。
All of them are from Lowell.
他们都来自洛厄尔市。
"As a proud Cambodian American, I am standing on the shoulders of many immigrants who came before me to build this city," Chau said.
周说：“作为一名自豪的柬埔寨裔美国人，我站在许多移民的肩膀上，他们在我之前建造了这座城市。”
Chau's family first settled in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when he was nine years old.
周的家人在他9岁的时候第一次在宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡市定居。
They received assistance from the Catholic Church and this experience led the family to become Christians.
他们得到了天主教会的帮助，这段经历使这家人成为基督徒。
His family arrived in Lowell in the mid-1980s and some of Chau's older brothers and sisters got jobs in local factories.
他的家人在20世纪80年代中期来到洛厄尔市，周的一些哥哥姐姐在当地的工厂找到了工作。
Chau decided to continue his studies and later earned a scholarship to attend school in nearby Andover.
周决定继续他的学业，后来获得了奖学金，在附近的安多弗上学。
Later, he was accepted to Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he received another scholarship.
后来，他被明尼苏达州圣保罗市的玛卡莱斯特学院录取，在那里他获得了另一项奖学金。
He studied economics and political science.
他学的是经济学和政治学。
Before running for office, Chau worked mostly in the financial services industry.
在竞选公职之前，周主要在金融服务业工作。
His election comes after Michelle Wu was sworn in as the mayor of Boston last November.
他的当选是在米歇尔·吴去年11月宣誓就任波士顿市长之后。
Wu's parents immigrated to the U.S. from Taiwan.
吴的父母是从中国台湾移民到美国的。
She is Boston's first woman and first person of color elected to the office.
她是波士顿第一位女性市长，也是第一位当选波士顿市长的有色人种。
I'm Bryan Lynn.
布莱恩·林恩为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
