实战口语情景对话 第874期:Immigration in America 美国的移民

Yuri: So, Todd, what about the situation with immigration in the United States? Is it similar to Italy or different?
尤里：托德，美国的移民情况怎么样？和意大利相似还是不同？

Todd: Actually, from what you're saying it sounds really similar. The U.S. has a lot of immigration, and it's very controversial now in America, probably because the economy is going bad but we get a lot of people from Latin America or Central America and they either cross the border through Mexico, the Mexican border, or they come by boat similar to Italy. So yeah, it's kind of a big problem.
托德：实际上，从你介绍的情况来看，听起来非常相似。美国有很多移民，这在美国是个备受争议的问题，可能是因为现在经济状况不好，可是我们还是接收了拉丁美洲和中美洲的大量移民，这些移民要么从墨西哥穿越边境进入美国，要么和前往意大利的移民一样，用偷渡的方法。所以这是一个大问题。

Yuri: I have a question, please. I understand that a lot of the population, they are actually from South America or Central America. Do people now start to teach Spanish at schools?
尤里：我想问个问题。我知道美国境内有很多来自南美和中美的人。那他们是在学校里教授西班牙语吗？

Todd: Actually, the language is very controversial. We are taught Spanish actually, but they do a very bad job. Most people can't speak Spanish. But most of the immigrants actually, I think that come to the U.S., do a really good job of learning English. The first generation struggles, but always the second generation, their children, become bilingual rather quickly, so even though we try to learn Spanish, I think the fact is in reality people that come to America, just learn English really quickly.
托德：其实，语言是个备受争议的问题。他们的确有教我们西班牙语，但是他们教的很差。大多数人经过学习以后不能说西班牙语。但是我认为，大部分来到美国的移民在学习英语方面做得很好。第一代移民可能在英语方面有困难，但是他们的孩子都会说两种语言，所以虽然我们有努力学习西班牙语，但我认为现实是他们来到美国，只是更快地掌握了英语。

Yuri: One more question please. When a foreigner comes to the United States and finds a job. He get a job, he has the same amount of money he can earn as an American or not?
尤里：我还有一个问题。外国人在美国找工作。他找到工作后，他的工资是和美国人一样吗？

Todd: Ooh, that's interesting. I don't think you can discriminate pay for a lower paying job whether you're an American or not. I think most Employers probably pay the same wage, but what happens is is only people that are new to the country often will take certain jobs. So, for example maybe you know work as janitors or work in fast food companies or maybe farm work, sometimes construction. The pay is not that great, so they offer a really low wage so only people that just arrive to America or immigrants will apply for the job. So it is kind of a problem because some people think if there weren't so many people coming into the country, then people that were born in the country would apply for the those jobs and be paid more, so it's a very controversial thing. But in reality, in terms of history economically, the country was built on foreign labor coming in so, you know, that's just a fact. The country was developed by having immigrants come into the country so economically it's very important I think.
托德：哦，这个问题很有趣。我认为低薪工作在薪资方面不能存在歧视情况，无论雇员是否是美国人。我认为大部分雇员的薪资是一样的，但是有些特定的工作是只有刚到美国的人会做的工作。比如像门卫、快餐店服务员、建筑工等工作。这些工作的薪资不太高，雇主给的薪水很低，所以只有刚到美国的移民会申请这类工作。这已经成为了问题，因为有些人认为，如果没有这么多移民来到美国，那美国当地人就会申请这类工作，可能他们的薪水就会高一些，所以这也是一个存在争议的问题。但是实际上，从历史上的经济情况来看，美国是由外国劳动力建造起来的，这是事实。美国是由移民发展起来的，所以从经济角度来看，我认为这非常重要。

Yuri: Alright, thank you very much Todd.
尤里：好，非常谢谢你，托德。