2016考研英语最新时文泛读：移民与难民

考研英语来源：经济学人 2015-09-17　

今天的时文泛读来自2015年9月4日的《经济学人》，讲到目前全球普遍关注的难民在欧洲的情况。老师特别指出：文中涉及这应几个关键术语：移民Migrants;难民Refugees和经济移民economic migrants，这些概念背后的含义是准备2016考研的同学们需要熟知的。来看一下具体内容：

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.今年以来，数十万主要是来自非洲和中东的民众一直都在试图进入欧洲。原因多种多样。有的人是在逃离战争;有的人是正在逃离针对他们自己或者家庭的威胁;有的人是正在希望为了欧洲那种远远高于在已经离开的国家所能够拿到的工资而工作。同时，有的人显然是听说，在欧洲，医疗保险和小笔收入甚至能够分给没有工作的人。那么，我们怎么称呼他们?“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，这个词语带来许多问题。“Migration 迁徙”是人的自愿行为，为的是寻求财富。传统上来说，“migrants”或是被称为“immigrants 移入之人”(倘若他们来到你的国家)，或是被称为“emigrants 迁出之人”(如果他们正在离开你住的地方)。“Migrant”至少具有视角相对中立的的特点。

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. 但又出现了问题，migrant 这个词语具有“做出一个深思熟虑的决定，以寻求一种新生活”的含义。“Refugee 难民”是一个被动性的词语(这种被动性来自一种在法语中表述过去分词的后缀ee，尽管在英语中不是所有以ee结尾的单词都代表被动的对象)。但是，一个更大的问题是，合法的“refugee”不能被遣返。根据现有的国际难民法律，将一个人遣返让其面对这种理由充分的恐遭迫害的行为是非法的。

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”.自愿流动到收入、医疗保险和住房都要比他们已经离开的地方好很多的欧洲工作的人则被夹杂在了拥挤不堪的人流中。这些人经常称为“economic migrants 经济移民 ”。向工资更高的地方的流动行为，从经济上说，是有效率的，而且为了家庭去做这种事也是高尚的。但是，由于许多人没有流动到欧洲的权利，他们宣称的是另一种权利——比如避难。在美国，这类移民通常只是偷越边境和无证务工;他们的支持者抓住了他们没有证件这一点，称他们为“undocumented”(无证者)，而他们的反对者则把他们称为“illegal immigrants”(非法移民)，或者干脆简称为 “illegals”。

现在大家应该能搞清楚这样几个概念：Migrants;Refugees;economic migrants，其文化背景含义是有所不同的。“migrants”可能是对所有正身处迁徙旅途的人的最佳通用词语。但是，它在时效性方面是有所欠缺的。无论是经济移民还是寻求避难的人，他们首先都是“人”，应该被尊重和保护。