洛杉矶抗议者抨击美国贫富差距

Protests by the Occupy Wall Street movement are continuing in the financial district of New York and other American cities. Community leaders say the anger reflects the gap between rich and poor in the United States.

占领华尔街运动的抗议者持续占领纽约的金融区和美国其他城市。洛杉矶的社区领袖说，他们的愤怒反映了美国的贫富差距问题。

Oakland erupted over the past week as police fired tear gas at protesters downtown, and 3,000 demonstrators forced the temporary closure of the city's port.

加州的奥克兰在上星期爆发了冲突，警方向市中心的抗议者发射催泪瓦斯，而三千示威人潮迫使奥克兰港暂时关闭。

Hundreds of protesters are camped outside Los Angeles city hall, complaining that the top one percent of the population is getting the income gains and the other 99 percent has been left out.

数百名抗议者在洛杉矶市府外扎营，抱怨财富集中在顶端1%的美国人，其余99%美国人被排除在外。

A husband and wife, both lawyers, joined the protesters this week. Jerry Manpearl said the income gap is too great.

一对律师夫妻这星期加入了抗议行列。杰瑞.曼普尔说，贫富差距太大了。

“[If] you destroy the middle class, you destroy the working class, you destroy this county,” he said.

曼普尔说：“如果你摧毁中产阶级，你是在摧毁工作阶级，摧毁这个国家。”

His wife, Jan Goodman, said the rich are not spending enough money to boost the economy.

曼普尔的妻子珍.古德曼说，富人消费太少不足以刺激经济。

“There's not enough boats and yachts and houses to buy. They save it,” she said.

她说：“没有足够的船、游艇和房子可买。”

Los Angeles religious leaders complain that the banks aren't lending either. A number of leaders from various faiths rallied outside the Bank of America regional headquarters on Tuesday, complaining that the bank has foreclosed on the homes of too many families with delinquent mortgages, and has done too little to invest in the inner city.

洛杉矶的宗教领袖抱怨，银行的借贷也不够。一群不同宗教的领袖星期二在美国银行的地区总部外头抗议，他们批评银行没收拖欠贷款家庭的房屋，也不在城里进行投资。

Shakeel Syed of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California sees a widening gap between rich and poor.

南加州伊斯兰会议顾问的沙基尔.席德认为贫富差距在扩大。

“When we visit certain neighborhoods in the city of Los Angeles, you will see every second house being foreclosed, and the homes that are not foreclosed, the families are unable to meet the very basic needs," said Syed. "And then you cross town, and you see Ferraris and Corvettes and Lamborghinis parked in the driveways. There seems to be a major ethical disparity in this scenario.”

席德说：“我们走在洛杉矶各区，每秒钟你都会看到房屋止赎，那些房屋没被止赎的家庭根本无法满足最基本生活需求。你穿过市区却看到法拉利、克尔维特、蓝博基尼停在车道上。族裔不平等看起来十分的严重。”

Protesters are urging Los Angeles officials to take the city's investments out of the major banks. Some religious congregations are already doing that.

抗议者敦促洛杉矶官员停止投资大银行。一些教会已经这么作了。And others notified Bank of America of their plans to divest this week.

有些人这星期通知美国银行他们要关闭在该银行的帐户。

Bank of America dropped a plan to impose fees on automated teller machines after customers protested the idea. The bank says it is working to help homeowners keep their houses, has made billions of dollars in new loans to small businesses, and is investing in low-income communities.

美国银行原来计划收取自动取款机使用费，但在顾客抗议后放弃了这个计划。美国银行说，他们正努力帮助屋主保住房子，已经投下数十亿美元提供小型企业新的贷款，现在也正在低收入社区进行投资。

Catholic priest George Wanser isn't convinced. He works in an immigrant parish in San Jose, California, where struggling families live near high tech millionaires. He said families live together several to a house to pay the mortgage.

天主教神父乔治.万瑟并不相信。他在加州圣何塞一个移民教区服务，区内这些努力生存的家庭就住在高科技业百万富翁附近。他说，几个家人住在一起挣钱偿还贷款。

“In my area, there are four, five, sometimes six adults bringing home a salary to help pay for their mortgages. They're good people, they're hardworking, they're immigrants and they're responsible. It's a shame, what's happened,” said Wanser.

万瑟说：“在我的教区，四、五个人，有时候是六个人一起挣钱来偿还贷款。他们是好人、努力工作，他们是移民、他们很负责任。美国现在这种情况很丢脸。”

These protesters say they are part of a movement that is growing.

这些抗议者说，他们参与的是一个日渐壮大的运动。