New from the Economist!令人又愛又恨的移民潮















好久沒有整理好文章提供給大家閱讀了!
這篇討論移民潮的文章
來自於經濟學人雜誌the Economist
同學不要因為聽到經濟兩字就想逃跑
其實我個人認為經濟學人的文章比時代雜誌TIME的好多了
理由如下:
1. 言簡意賅(好文章不應該像老阿嬤的裹腳布)
2. 正統英文使用( 對於寫作非常有幫助)
3. 多嚴肅議題(非常適合準備托福的同學)

大家平日要多看硬性的文章
對於托福寫作與閱讀才有幫助
這一篇我幫大家挑過了
不但是最新的,而且作者文筆生動
希望大家多看多模仿
所謂天下文章一大抄
大文豪也是從抄襲開始
我不是要同學抄襲
而是建議多看多閱讀
記下優美的句型
經年累月的閱讀與寫筆記
你的英文沒有不好的道理
套句我上課常講的一句話
學習英文會出現瓶頸只有一個原因,那就是懶惰

這篇文章提到了一個關鍵字
就是diaspora(重音在第二音節)
指的是人種的集體遷徙(詳解請參閱下面文章註釋)

另外也附帶提到下面幾個跟移民有關
但很多人經常搞不清楚的字

Emigrate - 移出的意思。通常Emigrant用在當某人移出,或搬出去到別的國家。
例: 以我們台灣人為主,我們以Emigrant形容移民到國外的人(僑民)。
Chinese emigrants to Brazil居住於巴西的僑民.
Immigrate - 移入的意思。我們會稱呼在台灣工作的外勞或移民到台灣的人為immigrant.
He is an immigrant from Vietnam.來自越南的移民

Migrate - 不時從一個地方移到另一個地方。這個一個人,或一群人飄無定所。
(這個單字請參考文章內使用的句型)

現在讓我廢話少說
大家抽空一起欣賞這篇文章吧!

from the Economist

The world economy

The magic of diasporas

Immigrant networks are a rare bright spark in the world economy. Rich countries should welcome them


Nov 19th 2011 | from the print edition

THIS is not a good time to be foreign. Anti-immigrant parties反移民黨派 are gaining ground in Europe. Britain has been fretting煩惱 this week over lapses錯誤 in its border controls.  In America Barack Obama has failed to deliver the immigration reform移民改革 he promised, and Republican presidential candidates共和黨總統候選人 would rather electrify the border fence with Mexico美墨邊境的鐵籬導電(以阻止非法移民進入) than educate the children of illegal aliens. America educates foreign scientists in its universities and then expels驅趕 them, a policy the mayor of New York calls “national suicide國家的自殺”.
This illiberal與自由相違背/小家子氣的 turn in attitudes to migration is no surprise. It is the result of cyclical economic gloom週期性的經濟萎靡 combined with a secular rise世俗主義 in pressure on rich countries’ borders.(這一句的意思是因為經濟長期蕭條,人們會出現世俗性的自私保護心態,因此會對移民產生敵意)
 But governments now weighing up衡量 whether or not to try to slam the door關閉大門 should consider another factor: the growing economic importance of diasporas, and the contribution they can make to a country’s economic growth.
註解diaspora此字來自希臘文,原意是散布。中文的現解為大批自祖國遷徙至新的棲居地的人潮。這個大量殖民詞彙經常出現在殖民論述研究當中。是一個可以學習的好單字
Old networks, new communications
Diaspora networks—of Huguenots胡格諾教徒(16-17世紀法國Calvin喀爾文派的新教徒), Scots蘇格蘭人, Jews猶太人 and many others—have always been a potent economic force強大的經濟力量, but the cheapness and ease of modern travel has made them larger and more numerous than ever before. There are now 215m first-generation migrants around the world: that’s 3% of the world’s population. If they were a nation, it would be a little larger than Brazil. There are more Chinese people living outside China than there are French people in France. 居住在中國以外的中國人數量,遠比居住在法國的法國人數量要來得多。Some 22m Indians are scattered all over the globe. Small concentrations of ethnic and linguistic groups have always been found in surprising places—Lebanese in west Africa, Japanese in Brazil and Welsh英國威爾斯人 in Patagonia巴塔哥尼亞(位於南美洲南邊), for instance—but they have been joined by newer ones, such as west Africans in southern China.
These networks of kinship血緣關係 and language make it easier to do business across borders. They speed the flow of information: a Chinese trader in Indonesia who spots a gap嗅到了一個商機 in the market for cheap umbrellas will alert his cousin in Shenzhen中國深who knows someone who runs an umbrella factory. Kinship ties foster trust血緣關係能凝聚信任, so they can seal the deal做成買賣 and get the umbrellas to Jakarta雅加達 before the rainy season ends. Trust matters, especially in emerging markets新興市場 where the rule of law is weak. So does a knowledge of the local culture. That is why so much foreign direct investment in China still passes through the Chinese diaspora. And modern communications make these networks an even more powerful tool of business.
Diasporas also help spread ideas. Many of the emerging world’s brightest minds are educated at Western universities. An increasing number go home, taking with them both knowledge and contacts. Indian computer scientists in Bangalore邦加羅爾(印度南部一城) bounce ideas constantly off their Indian friends in Silicon Valley. China’s technology industry is dominated by “sea turtles海龜族” (Chinese who have lived abroad and returned)指的是去美國求學居住過一段時間之後,又回到祖國的中國人.
Diasporas spread money, too. Migrants into rich countries not only send cash to their families; they also help companies in their host country operate in their home country. A Harvard Business School study shows that American companies that employ lots of ethnic Chinese people find it much easier to set up in China without a joint venture with a local firm.
Such arguments are unlikely to make much headway against hostility towards immigrants in rich countries. Fury against foreigners is usually based on two notions: that because so many migrants claim welfare they are a drain on the public purse耗盡政府的資源與金錢; and that because they are prepared to work harder for less pay they will depress the wages of those at the bottom of the pile剝削社會底層人民的薪資(因為新移民所要求的工資比原來該國的工人更少,所以不但會搶走工作機會,也會將工資壓得更低)
The first is usually not true (in Britain, for instance, immigrants claim benefits less than indigenous原住民 people do), and the second is hard to establish either way. Some studies do indeed suggest that competition from unskilled immigrants depresses the wages of unskilled locals. But others find this effect to be small or non-existent.
Nor is it possible to establish the impact of migration on overall growth. The sums are simply too difficult. Yet there are good reasons for believing that it is likely to be positive. Migrants tend to be hard-working and innovative. That spurs驅策 productivity and company formation. A recent study carried out by Duke University showed that, while immigrants make up an eighth of America’s population, they founded a quarter of the country’s technology and engineering firms. And, by linking the West with emerging markets, diasporas help rich countries to plug into切入 fast-growing economies.
Rich countries are thus likely to benefit from looser immigration policy寬鬆的移民政策; and fears that poor countries will suffer as a result of a “brain drain人才外流/智囊枯竭” are overblown過於誇張. (這一段的意思是,富有的國家應該要歡迎新移民,不要擔心這些比較窮困的國家,會因為人才投效富國,而會造成人才枯竭。因為有些富國的政客主張如果歡迎他國人才移民,會造成那些貧困國家變得更糟,因為人才外流,其實作者認為這種主張太過誇大)The prospect of working abroad spurs more people to acquire valuable skills, and not all subsequently emigrate不是只有那些後來想要移民到其他國家的人才會積極學習技能,因為只要有心出國工作的人,都會積極學習有價值的技能(所以移民他國的風潮,其實也能帶動國內的技能學習風氣). Skilled migrants send money home, and they often return to set up new businesses. 這些移民在他國工作賺了錢之後,通常會將錢匯回自己的祖國,而且通常也會回國繼續拓展事業(所以移民潮其實是種經濟上的雙贏策略)One study found that unless they lose more than 20% of their university graduates, the brain drain makes poor countries richer.所以研究就顯示,人才外移有時對窮國更有助益,(除非出走潮大於百分之二十才會出現負面影響)

Indian takeaways印度外賣人才
Government as well as business gains from the spread of ideas through diasporas. Foreign-educated Indians, including the prime minister, Manmohan Singh (Oxford and Cambridge) and his sidekick Montek Ahluwalia (Oxford), played a big role in bringing economic reform to India in the early 1990s. Some 500,000 Chinese people have studied abroad and returned, mostly in the past decade; they dominate the think-tanks智庫 that advise the government, and are moving up the ranks of往上升遷 the Communist Party. Cheng Li of the Brookings Institution, an American think-tank, predicts that they will be 15-17% of its Central Committee next year, up from 6% in 2002. Few sea turtles call openly for democracy. But they have seen how it works in practice, and they know that many countries that practise it are richer, cleaner and more stable than China.
As for the old world, its desire to close its borders is understandable but dangerous. Migration brings youth to ageing countries, and allows ideas to circulate in millions of mobile minds. That is good both for those who arrive with suitcases and dreams and for those who should welcome them.
from the print edition | Leaders

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