評論
打印
America's Modern Immigrants Problems
美國現代的移民問題
The percentage of immigrants (including those unlawfully present) in the United States has been creeping upward for years. At 12.6 percent, it is now higher than at any point since the mid 1920s.
美國移民的比例（包括目前非法的）已持續數年猛增。達到了12.6%，是20世紀20年代以來最高的比例。
We are not about to go back to the days when Congress openly worried about interior races polluting America's bloodstream. But once again we are wondering whether we have too many of the wrong sort of newcomers. Their loudest critics argue that the new wave of immigrants cannot, and indeed do not want to, fit in as previous generations did.
我們并非要回到國會公開地表示憂慮劣等民族會影響美國的血統的年代。但是，我們再次擔憂，我們對待這些新來者犯了很多錯誤。他們最響亮的評論家指出，新一代移民不能，事實上也不想，像他們的前輩那樣適應美國。
We now know that these racist views were wrong. In time, Italians, Romanians and members of other so-called inferior races became exemplary Amerians and contributed greatly, in ways too numerous to detail, to the building of this magnificent nation. There is no reason why these new immigrants should not have the same success.
我們現在知道這些種族分子的觀點是錯誤的。在過去，意大利人、羅馬尼亞人和其他被成為劣等名族的成員構成了美國人，他們在難以計數的方面為這個偉大國家的建立做出了巨大貢獻。沒有理由認為這些新移民不應該取得相同的成功。
Although children of Mexican immigrants do better, in terms of educational and professional attainment, than their parents, UCLA sociologist Edward Telles has found that the gains don't continue. Indeed, the fourth generation is marginally worse off than the third. James Jackson, of the University of Michigan, has found a similar tend among black Caribbean immigrants.
盡管墨西哥移民的后代在教育、職業上比他們父母親做得更好，加州大學洛杉磯分校社會學家愛德華·特列斯發現優勢沒有繼續。事實上，第四代移民被遍及化了，比第三代移民更糟。密歇根大學詹姆斯·杰克遜發現加勒比黑人移民也有相似的趨勢。
Tells fears that Mexican-Americans may be fated to follow in the footsteps of American blacks that large parts of the community may become mired in a seemingly state of poverty and underachievement. Like African-Americans, Mexican-Americans are increasingly relegated to segregated, substandard schools, and their dropout rate is the highest for any ethnic group in the country.
特列斯擔心墨西哥裔美國人命中注定要跟隨美國黑人的腳步，他們大部分人陷入了似乎貧窮和無所成就的境地。像非洲裔美國人一樣，墨西哥裔美國人日益增多地陷入了分離的、低等的學校，他們的輟學率是美國所有族裔中最高的。
We have learned much about the foolish idea of excluding people on the presumption of ethnic racial inferiority. But what we have not yet learned is how to make the process of Americanization work for all.
我們已經了解基于民族或種族的劣等而將某些人排除在外是多么愚蠢的想法。但是我們還沒有學會的是怎樣實現美國化的進程。
I am not talking about requiring people to learn English or to adopt American ways; those things happen pretty much on their own. But as arguments about immigration hear up the campaign trail, we also ought to ask some broader question about assimilation, about how to ensure that people, once outsiders, don't forever remain marginalized within these shores.
我并不是要求人們去學英語或采取美國人的的方式；這樣的事只要是靠他們自己。但是隨著移民的爭論在競選活動中討論得越來越熱烈，我們也應該問些關于融入社會更寬泛的問題，如何確保曾經的門外漢不會永遠在美國被邊緣化。
That is a much larger question than what should happen with undocumented workers, or how best to secure the border, and it is one that affects not only newcomers but groups that have been here for generations. It will have more impact on our future than where we decide to set the admissions bar for the latest ware of would-be Americans. And it would be nice if we finally got the answer right.
這個問題比如何對待非法移民用工，或如何更好地保衛海岸等問題更寬廣，這個問題不僅影響了新移民，也包括上幾代的移民。這個問題對我們未來的影響比我們決定為將來的美國移民潮設置準入門檻的影響更大。如果我們找到正確答案就好辦了。
