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The failure of Asian Americans to become leaders in the white-collar workplace does not qualify as one of the burning social issues of our time. But it is a part of the bitter undercurrent of Asian American life that so many Asian graduates of elite universities find that meritocracy as they have understood it comes to an abrupt end after graduation. If between 15 and 20 percent of every Ivy League class is Asian, and if the Ivy Leagues are incubators for the country's leaders, it would stand to reason that Asians would make up some corresponding portion of the leadership class.
在白領工作場所亞裔美籍人不能成為領導的原因并不是我們這個時代的熱門社會話題之譜。但是太多精英學校的亞裔美籍畢業生發現他們漸漸明白靠本領就搞定的法則在從學校畢業后就戛然而止了，這已經成為在亞裔美籍人的生活中苦澀暗流的一部分。如果每個常春藤聯盟班級上15%到20%的學生是亞洲人，假設常春藤聯盟是各行各業的領袖的搖籃，那么理所當然，亞洲人在領導層就應該占到相應的比例。
And yet the numbers tell a different story. According to a recent study, Asian Americans represent roughly 5 percent of the population but only 0.3 percent of corporate officers, less than 1 percent of corporate board members, and around 2 percent of college presidents. There are nine Asian American CEOs in the Fortune 500. In specific fields where Asian Americans are heavily represented, there is a similar asymmetry. A third of all software engineers in Silicon Valley are Asian, and yet they make up only 6 percent of board members and about 10 percent of corporate officers of the Bay Area" twenty-five largest companies. One succinct evocation of the situation appeared in the comments section of a website: "If you're East Asian, you need to attend a top-tier university to land a good high-paying gig. Even if you land that good high-paying gig, the white guy with the pedigree from a mediocre state university will somehow move ahead of you in the ranks simply because he's white."
但是數字卻顯示的是另一番景象。最新的一份調査研究顯示，亞裔美籍人數大約占美國人口的5%，但是僅有0.3%是公司主管，不到1%的人是公司董事會成員，大約2%任職大學校長。財富500強排行榜上只有9位亞裔美籍CEO。在那種亞裔美國人舉足輕重的特定領域，這種分布也是呈現相似的不對稱性。硅谷里三分之一的軟件工程師是亞洲人，而在舊金山灣區最大的25家公司內，亞洲人只占到董事會成員的6%，公司高級職員的10%。某網站上的評論中有這樣一條是對這種形勢的簡練概括：“如染你是東亞人，你需要進人一所一流大學以便謀到高薪的職位。即使你謀到髙薪職位，那些來自中等州立大學但出身髙貴的白人職員在等級上也肯定會超過你，僅僅就因為他是白人。”
Part of the insidious nature of the "bamboo ceiling" is that it does not seem to be caused by overt racism. A survey of Asian Pacific American employees of Fortune 500 companies found that 80 percent reported they were judged not as Asians but as individuals. But only 51 percent reported the existence of Asians in key positions.
“竹天花板”防不勝防的一面在于，它似乎并不是由公然的種族歧視引起的。通過調査財富500強企業中的亞太裔美國雇員發現，80%的人聲稱美國公司并未將他們視為亞洲人，而是視為獨立的個體。然而只有51%的人承認亞裔在美國公司內擔任要職。
