It has taken 90 years since she was born in a poor
house in County Limerick for a woman considered America’s oldest illegal
immigrant to get her Irish passport.It will be a few more months before
Josephine Stout will finally be declared a US citizen, entitling(赋于…权力) her to a pension and
other benefits.
Despite
having lived in America for most of her life since she arrived in 1923, the
great-grandmother was declared an undocumented alien(华侨)in 1999, when she tried to claim state aid to help
raise her seven grandchildren, who were left orphaned when her daughter was
killed by a robber over$20.
Even
though she has never considered herself Irish, noting “I don’t even have an
accent,” she didn’t officially exist as an American when officials in Chicago
insisted that she prove her citizenship in order to qualify for benefits. But
she had no birth certificate or passport when she arrived on an immigrant ship
from Ireland from Ireland with her parents, who had 12 other children.
She
never gave the matter much thought until 1999, when she was in her late 70s and
needed assistance to raise her grandchildren. For 12 years, Mrs. Stout managed
to support the family by doing various jobs. But her life was hard and marked
by tragedy. Her husband died in 1996, and her son Thomas died in a car accident
with his girlfriend in 1985. Her only surviving child, Rosemary, died of cancer
in 2009.
A Catholic
charity referred her case to Chicago Irish Immigrant Support(CIIS), which
alerted the Irish Consulate(领事馆). Through them, they
tracked down her birth certificate, the website irishcentral.com reported. The
document, in turn, allowed her to receive her Irish passport, and eventually
her American green card in September 2011, which was dated back to November 1,
1923.
1.What will happen to a person if he has no green card
in the US?
A. he cannot get any chance to get education
B. he can’t have a pension and other benefits
C. his citizenship will be taken away
D. he has to take illegal part-time job
2.Josephine couldn’t be a legal immigrant because
______.
A. she was named an undocumented alien
B. she arrived in American in a secret way
C. She couldn’t find her proper certificates
D. She has too many brothers and sisters
3.We can imply from the 4th paragraph that
______.
A. Josephine lived a lonely life for many years
B. Thomas was always driving carelessly
C. Josephine was a strong-willed woman
D. Mrs. Stout, Josephine’s friend, helped her a lot.
4.Please arrange the following events in the correct
order according to the text.
a. Josephine’s birth certificate was found.
b. Josephine received her green card.
c. The Catholic charity contacted CIIS.
d. The birth certificate was shown on a website.
e. Josephine was offered her Irish passport.
A. a-b-c-d-e B.
c-d-e-a-b C. a-d-c-b-e D.
c-a-d-e-b
