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19. Asian Americans
亞裔美國人
In the last census conducted by the U.S. government in 1990, one fact caught many people by surprise:
上次美國政府于1990年所做的戶口普查中，有一項事實讓許多人感到很驚訝：
the percentage of Asian Americans had grown faster than any other segment of the population.
亞裔美國人的成長百分比要比其它任何一個人口組成部分來得快速。
European Americans had, as expected, continued their slow decline in percentage of the total U.S. population, though they were still dominant at about 76%.
歐裔美國人一如所料在美國人口總數所占的百分比繼續遲緩下降，雖然他們還占大約76%的絕大多數。
Black Americans had stabilized at about 12% of the population.
美國黑人繼續維持約12%的人口比率。
Hispanics had continued their fast growth and were, at 9%, aimed at toppling Black Americans as the country's largest minority group.
拉丁美洲人持續快速成長，約占9%的人口比率，目標是壓倒黑人成為美國人數最多的少數民族團體。
The growth in Asian Americans, however, surged from only 2% of the total U.S. population in the 1980 census to 3% in 1990.
然而，亞裔美國人成長百分比從1980年普查時只占美國總人口2%，到1990年時沖到了3%。
In the year 2000 at least 4% of Americans will be of Asian ancestry.
到了2000年時至少會有4%的美國人具有亞裔血統。
This relatively huge increase has caught many demographers by surprise.
這種頗為可觀的增加量使得許多人口統計學家感到很驚訝。
Clearly a new force is developing in U.S. demography, but few people seem to appreciate its implications.
顯然在美國的人口結構中有一股新的勢力正在發展，但似乎很少有人了解到它的含意。
The Asian Americans are here and are here to stay, but exactly who are they, and what does their rapid increase mean for the country as a whole?
亞裔美國人來了，并且定居下來，但他們究竟是誰？他們的迅速增加對整個美國而言意味著什么？
As a multi-ethnic nation, it should not be surprising that Asian Americans are becoming an increasingly large and important sector of the "rainbow nation" some Americans prefer to think of their country as.
作為一個多元民族的國家，亞裔美國人日益壯大成為這“彩虹國家”（有些美國人較喜歡這稱呼）的重要一環應該是沒什么好驚訝的。
Indeed, the only surprise about this segment growing so fast is why it has not occurred sooner.
的確，這一部分人口快速成長惟一令人驚訝的是為何它沒有早點發生。
After all, Asia is home to 60% of all the people in the world.
畢竟，全世界有60%的人口住在亞洲。
However, Asia is also a vast land, encompassing East, Southeast, South, and West Asia, each region significantly different from its neighbors.
而亞洲疆域亦很廣大，包括了東亞、東南亞、南亞和西亞，各區域彼此之間差異相當大。
Further, there is no sense of unity within Asia, as there is, say, among European or Latin American countries.
再者，亞洲各國缺乏整體意識，不像好比說歐洲或拉丁美洲國家之間一樣。
Indeed, the term "Asian Americans" is more a fiction of the European mind, since people from this area unfailingly refer to themselves as Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, etc. , rather than as Asian-Americans.
的確，“亞裔美國人”的稱呼大體上是歐洲人想出來的，因為來自亞洲地區的人們總是稱自己為中國人、日本人、菲律賓人等等，而不是亞裔美國人。
For more than 100 years, three primary groups of Asians emigrated to the United States: Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino.
過去100多年來，移民到美國的亞洲人主要有三個族群：日本人、中國人和菲律賓人。
However, since the end of the Vietnam War, other groups from Asia have become increasingly prominent, especially those from Vietnam, Korea, and India.
不過，自從越戰結束后，其它亞洲族群亦不斷激增，特別是來自越南、韓國和印度的人。
In addition, Iranians and Israelis from Southwestern Asia have also entered the U.S. in large numbers.
此外，來自亞洲西南部的伊朗人和以色列人也大量涌入美國。
The patterns of Asian immigration have changed greatly over the past 30 years.
過去30年來，亞洲移民的型態改變甚巨。
In 1970,96% of Asian Americans were Chinese, Japanese, or Filipino; as of 1997, this percentage had dropped to 55%!
1970年時，96%的亞裔美國人是中國人、日本人或菲律賓人；到了1997年時，這個比率下降到55%！
In that year, 24% of Asian Americans claimed Chinese ancestry, 21% Filipino, and 10% Japanese.
同年有24%的亞裔美國人申報為中國血統、21%為菲律賓血統和10%的日本血統。
The "newcomers" among Asian Americans include the Indians at 13%, Vietnamese at 11%, and Koreans also at 11%.
“新來的亞裔美國人”則包括13%的印度人，11%的越南人和同樣是11%的韓國人。
What real numbers are we talking about?
我們所說的實際數目為何？
There were estimated to be nearly 9,600,000 Asian Americans in the U.S. in 1997.
據估計美國的亞裔美國人于1997年時有將近960萬人。
With such a high growth rate, there will be more than 10 million of them this year and perhaps 32 million in 2050 (about 8% of the total U.S. population at that time) .
以這么高的成長比率計算，今年他們的人數將超過1000萬，2050年時可能達到3200萬（屆時約占美國總人口數的8%）。
Where do Asian Americans live?
亞裔美國人住在哪里？
Currently, an astounding 40% of this regional group lives in California.
目前，這區域的族群有高達40%居住在加州。
Other states with relatively large Asian American populations include New York, Hawaii, Texas, New Jersey, Washington (the state) , and Illinois (which contains Chicago) .
其它擁有相當數量亞裔美國人口的州包括紐約州、夏威夷州、德州、新澤西州、華盛頓州和伊利諾伊州（包含芝加哥）等。
Overall, the West is home to 54% of all Asian Americans, the Northeast 19%, the South 16%, and the Midwest 11%.
整體來看，有54%的亞裔美國人住在西部，19%在東北部，16%在南部和11%在中西部。
What about future trends?
未來趨勢又是如何？
As Asian nations continue to prosper, it is likely that they will contribute more to U.S. immigration, especially from Southeast Asia and India.
由于亞洲國家持續繁榮，很可能會有更多亞洲人移民到美國，尤其是來自東南亞和印度。
All of these groups continue to have above-average birth rates.
所有這些族群出生率將繼續維持在平均以上。
On the other hand, Chinese and Japanese Americans have very low birth rates; consequently, the percentage of these ethnic groups among the total will continue to fall.
另一方面，華裔和日裔美國人出生率則非常低；因此，這些族群占總人數的比率將繼續下降。
All in all, America can look forward to an increasingly large number of Asians enriching their new home with their diligence, investment, and diverse cultural contributions.
總而言之，美國將可期待人數日益龐大的亞洲人以其勤奮、投資和多元的文化貢獻來豐富他們的新家園。
