2016考研英語最新時文泛讀：移民與難民

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今天的時文泛讀來自2015年9月4日的《經濟學人》，講到目前全球普遍關注的難民在歐洲的情況。老師特別指出：文中涉及這應幾個關鍵術語：移民Migrants;難民Refugees和經濟移民economic migrants，這些概念背后的含義是準備2016考研的同學們需要熟知的。來看一下具體內容：

This year, hundreds of thousands of people, mostly from Africa and the Middle East, have tried to make their way to Europe, for a variety of reasons. Some are fleeing wars; some are fleeing threats to themselves and their families specifically; some are hoping to work for far higher wages in Europe than they could get in the countries they have left. And some have heard, no doubt, that in Europe, healthcare and small incomes are given even to people not in work. So what do we call them? “Migrants” seems to be the answer.今年以來，數十萬主要是來自非洲和中東的民眾一直都在試圖進入歐洲。原因多種多樣。有的人是在逃離戰爭;有的人是正在逃離針對他們自己或者家庭的威脅;有的人是正在希望為了歐洲那種遠遠高于在已經離開的國家所能夠拿到的工資而工作。同時，有的人顯然是聽說，在歐洲，醫療保險和小筆收入甚至能夠分給沒有工作的人。那么，我們怎么稱呼他們?“Migrants (移民)”似乎是答案。

But there are many problems with this word. “Migration” is what people do voluntarily, in order to seek their fortunes. Traditionally “migrants” have been called either “immigrants” (if they are coming to the country you live in) or “emigrants” (if they're leaving the one you live in). “Migrant”, at least, has the virtue of being relatively perspective-neutral.但是，這個詞語帶來許多問題。“Migration 遷徙”是人的自愿行為，為的是尋求財富。傳統上來說，“migrants”或是被稱為“immigrants 移入之人”(倘若他們來到你的國家)，或是被稱為“emigrants 遷出之人”(如果他們正在離開你住的地方)。“Migrant”至少具有視角相對中立的的特點。

But then again, it implies making a considered decision to seek a new life. It does not conjure hastily grabbing whatever you can carry and fleeing the imminent threat of violence. “Refugee” is a passive word. But a bigger problem is that a “refugee”, legally defined, cannot be sent home. Under established international refugee law, it is illegal to send someone back to face such well-founded fear of persecution. 但又出現了問題，migrant 這個詞語具有“做出一個深思熟慮的決定，以尋求一種新生活”的含義。“Refugee 難民”是一個被動性的詞語(這種被動性來自一種在法語中表述過去分詞的后綴ee，盡管在英語中不是所有以ee結尾的單詞都代表被動的對象)。但是，一個更大的問題是，合法的“refugee”不能被遣返。根據現有的國際難民法律，將一個人遣返讓其面對這種理由充分的恐遭迫害的行為是非法的。

Mixed up in the whole messy flow are people who really are voluntarily moving to work in Europe, where incomes, healthcare and housing are far better than they places they have left. These people are often called, “economic migrants”. To move where wages are higher is economically efficient, and to do so for one's family is also noble, but since many people do not have the right to move to Europe on this ground, they claim another one—like asylum. In America, such migrants typically just slip across the border and work without papers; their supporters seize on that lack of papers and call them “undocumented”, while their opponents call them “illegal immigrants”, then hasten to shorten this to “illegals”.自愿流動到收入、醫療保險和住房都要比他們已經離開的地方好很多的歐洲工作的人則被夾雜在了擁擠不堪的人流中。這些人經常稱為“economic migrants 經濟移民 ”。向工資更高的地方的流動行為，從經濟上說，是有效率的，而且為了家庭去做這種事也是高尚的。但是，由于許多人沒有流動到歐洲的權利，他們宣稱的是另一種權利——比如避難。在美國，這類移民通常只是偷越邊境和無證務工;他們的支持者抓住了他們沒有證件這一點，稱他們為“undocumented”(無證者)，而他們的反對者則把他們稱為“illegal immigrants”(非法移民)，或者干脆簡稱為 “illegals”。

現在大家應該能搞清楚這樣幾個概念：Migrants;Refugees;economic migrants，其文化背景含義是有所不同的。“migrants”可能是對所有正身處遷徙旅途的人的最佳通用詞語。但是，它在時效性方面是有所欠缺的。無論是經濟移民還是尋求避難的人，他們首先都是“人”，應該被尊重和保護。