英语

Return of the Huddled Masses
再次涌来的移民潮
Huddled masses：该词来自于写在自由女神像上的文章中，指一帮 挤在一起的穷人。
[1] To polarize American opinion, there is nothing quite like the subject of immigration. On one side are people who think that the current relatively relaxed policy risks ruining the country. On the other are those who see immigration as the key to America’s revitalization. In an election year, the argument between ruiners and revitalisers is going to be sharp.
没有什么话题比移民更让美国人产生分歧。一波人认为如今相 对来说宽松的移民政策正在冒摧毁美国的险。另一波人却看到了移 民是美国复苏的中坚力量。在总统竞选期间，摧毁论者和复苏论者 的争论就更加激烈了。
[2] The argument cuts right across party lines. California’s Republican governor, Pete Wilson, is filing a series of lawsuits against the federal government for the costs to his state (some $3 billion a year, he estimates) of providing services to illegal immigrants. Florida’s Democratic governor, Lawton Chiles, has sued the federal government for $1.5 billion. Other states may follow.
加州是每年进入美国的30万非法移民的理想目的地。仅仅洛杉 矶估计就有100万移民。威尔逊谴责联邦政府让这些移民进入美国 并且强迫州政府为他们的教育，医疗，有时监禁（14%的加州囚犯 是非法移民）买单。为了支付每个州的监禁费用，上个月克林顿总 统要求国会拨款3.5亿美元。威尔逊预言称这只是一个经费不足的 第一步。
争论触及各个政党的利益。加州州长共和党人皮特·威尔பைடு நூலகம்正 在提交一系列对联邦政府的诉讼，要求联邦政府支付加州用于境内 非法移民每年30亿的服务财政支出。佛罗里达州长民主党人劳 顿·奇利斯已经起诉联邦政府索要15亿美元。其他州也许会纷纷效 仿。
[3] California is the most popular destination for the 300,000 or so illegal immigrants who settle in the United States each year; 1m are now reckoned to live in Los Angeles alone. Mr. Wilson blames the federal government for letting these people in and then compelling state governments to pay for their education, their health care and, sometimes, their incarceration(14% of California’s prison population are illegal immigrants). To help pay for such prison costs, President Bill Clinton last month asked Congress for $350m, to be spread across all states. Mr. Wilson, predictably, calls this an inadequate first step.
问题就在这：过去的移民好，现在的移民坏。每次移民潮都受 到广泛的质疑或完全的敌对。1982年，一篇形容东欧人的文章说： “无知，无技术，懒惰，沉迷于恶习”。大批农民工的到来给美国 劳工带来了失业的危险。
这些论点是不足以把所有美国人转变成为移民的支持者。最近 的一个民意测验显示至少60%的受访者表示美国应该限制移民人口。 即使在最好的时候，美国人也不乐意移民人口的增加：自从1955年 来的9个调查显示不超过13%的人支持移民增加。确实，大部分人说 移民有利于美国，但仅仅发生在过去。
[7] There’s the rub: past immigration good, present immigration bad. Each new wave of immigration has been greeted by wide-spread suspicion or outright hostility. “Ignorant, unskilled, inert, accustomed to the beastliest conditions,” thundered an article about east Europeans in 1892… “The arrival on our shores of such masses of degraded peasantry brings the greatest danger that American labour has ever known.”
[5] Yet immigration has plainly brought huge benefits to America in the past: newcomers have injected energy, ambition and fresh ideas. They are still doing so. Joel Kotkin of the Centre for the New West points to California’s economic revival. It has been immigrant-driven, he says. Small, flexible firms and the self-employed — areas in which immigrants excel — have led the way. Six out of the 15 chief executives of the top manufacturers in Orange County are foreign-born. Two out of five engineering students at the University of California at Los Angeles are Asians (hence UCLA’s nickname, the University of Caucasians Lost among Asians). 然而移民曾经明显的为美国带来了巨大的利益：新来者为美国 注入了新能量，新理想和新想法。他们现在依然如此。当新西中心 的乔尔·科特金谈及加州经济复苏时说：加州经济的复苏是移民驱 动的。小而灵活的公司和行业领导了经济的复苏，而移民却是这些 行业的佼佼者。奥兰治县顶级制造商中6/15的高管是移民。位于洛 杉矶的加利福尼亚大学中2/5的工科学生是亚洲人（因此，加利福 尼亚大学的绰号是迷失在黄种人中的白人大学）。
[6] Such arguments are not enough to turn all Americans into enthusiasts for immigration. In recent polls, at least 60% of respondents have said America should be letting fewer people in. Even in the best of times, Americans are not keen to see immigration rise: in nine surveys taken since 1955, no more than 13% have ever said they favoured an increase. True, a majority says immigration has been good for America — but only the sort that happened in the past.
[4] Some critics of immigration policy make little distinction between legal and illegal newcomers. However the immigrants come, there are too many of them. Critics speculate grimly about an overcrowded, Balkanised America with, eventually, most of its people of non-European origin. 许多移民政策的批评者对合法移民和非法移民不加区分。不管 怎么来的，就是有太多的移民了。批评者令人不快的思索到最终美 国人口中的非欧洲血统人口将占大多数，那时美国将面临过分拥挤 和分裂的窘况。
对于每一项宣称移民增加了州政府财政负担的研究，支持移民 政策的人们总可以找出证据证明情况是相反的。是否移民夺走了当 地居民的工作是一个同样令人争议的话题，尤其是在经济处于好转 时。一项新的研究报告发现没有证据证明增加的移民导致较高的失 业率。如果有的话，情况相反：20世纪80年代，在美国的十个州中， 移民密度最小州的失业率是移民密度最大州 的3倍。