亚裔移民让美国移民面孔发生变化(上)

No Country on earth is in the same league as the U.S. when it comes to the quantity of immigrants who have come here and the quality of their contributions. But lately, in our generally sour mood, Americans have been questioning the benefits of immigration. Many worry that today's immigrants differ from those of the past: less ambitious, less skilled, less willing and able to assimilate.

就一个国家所吸引移民的数量、以及这些移民所做出贡献的质量而言，这世上没有哪个国家能和美国相提并论。不过近来，美国人开始质疑移民能给这个国家带来多少好处，这其中蔓延着一股酸溜溜的情绪。许多人担心今天的移民同过去不再一样：不再那么雄心勃勃，掌握的技能水平较低，融入美国本土文化的意愿和能力都比较低。

The conventional picture is of an unstoppable wave of unskilled, mostly Spanish-speaking workers-many illegal-coming across the Mexican border. People who see immigration this way fear that, instead of America assimilating the immigrants, the immigrants will assimilate us. But this picture is both out of date and factually wrong.

提到移民，人们脑子里过去常有的印象是：一群没有技能、大多说西班牙语的劳工──很多人是非法移民──源源不断地越过美国和墨西哥边境进入美国。认为移民是以这种方式进入美国的人们担心，这样一来，美国无法将移民融入本土文化，相反，美国人将会被移民所同化。然而，这样的印象其实已经过时了，而且从事实上看也并不正确。

A report released this month by the Pew Research Center shows just how much the face of immigration has changed in the past few years. Since 2008, more newcomers to the U.S. have been Asian than Hispanic (in 2010, it was 36% of the total, versus 31%). Today's typical immigrant is not only more likely to speak English and have a college education, but also to have come to the U.S. legally, with a job already in place.

皮尤研究中心(Pew Research Center)上个月发布了一份报告，对过去几年里美国移民面孔发生了多大的变化进行了调查。自2008年以来，进入美国的新移民中，来自亚洲的移民一直多于拉美裔移民（2010年来自亚洲的移民占36%，拉美裔移民则为31%）。如今的新移民一般而言不仅很有可能会说英文，接受过大学教育，而且很可能是在已经有工作的前提下，合法进入美国的。

What's responsible for the change? The reasons include a rapidly falling birthrate in Mexico, dramatic economic growth there and the collapse of the U.S. residential construction industry-a traditional market for low-skilled, non-English speaking immigrants whose documentation was often subject to question.

为何会出现这样的变化？其中的原因包括：墨西哥的出生率迅速下降，同时那里的经济在飞速增长，而美国的住宅建筑业却大举收缩──住宅建筑业过去接纳了大量低技能、不会英语且身份通常有问题的移民。

A great deal of mythology has grown up around American immigration. Images of Irish and Italians forced by starvation to emigrate, Jews fleeing Russian persecution-this was all real, but just part of the story. Waves of educated and professional middle-class people also arrived-men like Albert Gallatin fleeing the radicalism of the French Revolution, disappointed liberals abandoning Europe after the failure of the revolutions of 1848, and of course the generations of educated exiles from the terrible totalitarianisms of the 20th century.

一直以来，关于美国移民的传奇故事层出不穷。爱尔兰人和意大利人因饥饿而被迫离开家园，犹太人逃离俄罗斯的迫害──这些都曾经真实发生过，但并非所有的故事都是如此。受过良好教育、职业技能较高的中产阶级也一波接一波地来到美国──比如说，像阿伯特•加拉廷(Albert Gallatin)这样的人为躲避激进的法国革命而逃至美国；在1848年欧洲革命失败后，失望的自由主义者们弃走欧洲；当然还有一代又一代在20世纪可怕的极权统治下被迫流亡的知识分子们。

America needs and benefits from both kinds of immigration. Like all waves, the Asian influx mixes the skilled and the unskilled. But overall it resembles earlier waves of educated and already urbanized immigrants more than the desperate and often unskilled rural groups from Europe and Latin America.

这两类移民都是美国所需要的，而且都给这个国家做出了贡献。如同所有移民人群一样，亚洲移民中也包括了高技能和低技能这两类人。不过总体而言，同那些无路可走、通常技能较低、来自农村的欧洲和拉美移民相比，如今亚洲移民的特征与那些受教育程度高且已经城市化的早期移民更为相似。

The Pew study found that the new Asian immigrants identify themselves, surprisingly, as 22% Protestant and 19% Catholic, but whatever their religion, most of them have in spades what Max Weber called the Protestant work ethic. Arguably, in America's long history of immigration, the group that the new immigrants resemble most is the original cohort of Puritans who settled New England.

皮尤研究中心的报告发现，来自亚洲的新移民中，自称是新教徒的人占到22%，自称为天主教徒的人占19%，比例之高让人有些意外，不过无论他们信仰什么宗教，他们中的大多数人都笃信马克思•韦伯(Max Weber)所谓的新教工作伦理(Protestant work ethic)。可以说，从美国漫长的移民历史来看，和如今这批新移民的特征最为接近的应该是定居在新英格兰地区的那批早期清教徒。

Like them, the Asians tend to be better-educated than most of the people in their countries of origin. Steeped in the culture of enterprise and capitalism, they're more likely than native-born Americans to have a bachelor of arts degree. While family sponsorship is still the most important entry route for Asians (as for all immigrants), this group is three times more likely than other recent immigrants to come to the U.S. on visas arranged through employers.

如同当年的清教徒一样，这些亚洲移民的受教育程度往往比他们原来所在国家中的大多数人都要高。在进取精神和资本主义文化的熏陶下，他们比在美国本土出生的人更有可能拥有大学本科学位。虽然同所有移民一样，家庭关系仍是亚洲移民进入美国的主要途径，但同近来进入美国的其他地区移民相比，亚洲移民通过雇主协助申请工作签证进入美国的比率要高出三倍。

In many cases, they're not coming to the U.S. because of the economic conditions back home. After all, places like China, Korea and India have experienced jumps in prosperity and an explosion in opportunity for the skilled and the hardworking. But most of the new immigrants like it here and want to stay (only 12% wish they had stayed home).

很多情况下，他们来到美国并不是因为他们在原先所在国家时经济状况不佳。毕竟，对于那些掌握较高技能且工作勤奋的人来说，若是生活在像是中国、韩国和印度这样的地方，则都经历过财富与机遇的迅速增长。然而，大多数新移民喜欢他们在美国的生活，而且希望留下来（只有12%的人后悔他们离开了家乡）。

More Asian-Americans (69%) than other Americans (58%) believe that you will get ahead with hard work. Also, 93% say that their ethnic group is 'hardworking.'

相信努力工作能够带来回报的亚裔美国人（比例为69%）要多于其他美国人（比例为58%）。而且，93%的人认为他们所属的民族是“勤奋”的民族。

There also seems to be some truth in the "Tiger Mom" syndrome described by author Amy Chua. While 39% of Asian-Americans say their group puts "too much" pressure on kids to succeed in school, 60% of Asian-Americans think that other Americans don't push their kids hard enough.

此外，《虎妈战歌》一书的作者蔡美儿(Amy Chua)在她书中所描述的虎妈症候群似乎也不无道理。尽管有39%的亚裔美国人表示，亚裔美国人为子女能够在学校获得成功而对子女施加了“太多”压力，但认为其他美国人在孩子身上所施加压力不足的亚裔美国人比例则是60%。