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The latest census data revealed that people who are—like Markle—of mixed heritage
最新的人口普查數據顯示，和馬克爾一樣的混血人群
are the fastest-growing demographic group, with the number al-most doubling between 2001 and 2011.
的數量在2001年至2011年間幾乎翻了一番，成為了增長最快的人口群體。
Which brings us to the wedding.
這就又回到了婚禮的問題上。
The historian Eric Hobsbawm, analyzing the "secular magic of monarchy,"
歷史學家埃里克·霍布斯鮑姆分析了“王室的世俗魔力”之后認為，
suggested that while it's tempting to ask what role a royal wedding plays in a time of social change,
雖然人們很想問皇室婚禮在社會變革時期能有什么作用，
it is often because of that change that the weddings have such significance.
然而，正是由于那些變化，婚禮才顯得如此重要。
It is the perfect stage for a drama that brings together Britain's love affair with its tradition,
它發揮了一個完美的舞臺的作用，將哈利王子代表的英國對傳統的情愫
in the figure of Prince Harry, and the symbol of its future, in the character of a brown woman.
與棕色皮膚的新娘梅根象征的英國的未來撮合到了一起。
Rather than reject the monarchy,
這對夫婦非但沒有拒絕王室，
the couple have participated in its greatest contemporary act of renewal,
還參與了這一王室當代最盛大的復興活動，
by marrying with a huge amount of pomp and circumstance in a ritual seen by millions.
在數百萬人的親眼見證下，舉行了盛大的婚禮。
To be biracial—or mixed race, as it is more commonly known in the U.K.
混血兒，或者說混合種族的身份，后一種說法在英國更為常見，
—was not always a talked-about phenomenon.
在英國并非人們經常會談論的現象。
Growing up in Britain in the 1980s and '90s with, like Markle,
作為上世紀八九十年代在英國長大，而且和馬克爾一樣，
a mother of African heritage, I was acutely aware of my visible otherness,
有一位有非洲血統的母親的我，就敏銳地意識到了自己明顯和他人不一樣，
especially in a society that is highly racialized but also deeply uncomfortable talking about race.
在這個高度種族化，談論種族都會讓人深感不安的社會里尤其如此。
Britain is a cluster of islands populated by immigration.
英國本身就是一個由移民居住的群島組成的國家。
But the diaspora stretches back so many thousands of years that few Brits imagine it this way.
但很少有英國人這么認為，因為那段大移居的歷史發生在遙遠的幾千年前。
Most are unaware that groups now considered indigenous, like the Angles and Saxons,
大多數人都不知道，在公元后的第一個千年間，現在被認為是英國土著的人群，
were themselves migrants in the first millennium A.D.
比如盎格魯人和撒克遜人，自己也是移民。
Their presence is predated by people of color,
他們出現之前，這片土地上就已經有有色人種生活了，
including Africans who have lived in Britain since at least the Roman times.
非洲人在英國的歷史至少可以追溯到羅馬時代。
Many contemporary black British people trace their family history to the British Empire,
當下一些黑人的家族史也可以追溯到大英帝國時期，
and especially the period of mass immigration shortly after World War II.
尤其是二戰后不久的大規模移民時期。
The changing face of Britain's communities during the 20th century
20世紀英國社會面貌的變化
was an integral part of its postwar renewal,
是英國戰后重建不可分割的內容，
and yet it created a hostile backlash that still reverberates today.
然而，這一變化引發的敵意至今仍在影響著我們的社會。
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