2019年经济学人 母语——强迫移民学英语可能适得其反(2)

 

Ms Fouka compared German-American populations in border counties of Ohio and Indiana with their neighbours in adjacent states (who experienced no language ban). She found that those affected¹ by the ban were more likely to marry another German and give their children German names, and less likely to enlist² during the second worldwar. Forced assimilation backfired at every level, from the personal to the political. 

弗卡女士将俄亥俄州和印第安纳州边境县的德裔美国人与相邻州的德裔美国人(这些州没有语言禁令)进行了比较。她发现，受禁令影响的人更有可能与德国人结婚，并给孩子起德国名字，而在二战期间参军的可能性较小。强迫同化在各个层面都适得其反，从个人层面到政治层面。

Unless the intentionwas not assimilation at all. Sometimes language laws are mostly symbolic³. For instance, numerous American states have declared English to be their official tongue (at a federal level, the country doesn’t have one). This seems intended to send a message—“We speak English here”—without doing much to change reality on the ground. Sometimes, though, laws seem designed to make life as hard as possible for immigrants.

除非目的根本不是同化。有时候，语言法则主要是象征性的。例如，美国许多州已经宣布英语为他们的官方语言(在联邦一级，美国没有官方语言)。这似乎意在传递一个信息——“我们在这里说英语”——而没有做太多改变现实。然而，有时法律似乎是为了让移民的生活尽可能艰难。

Take Proposition 227 of 1998, whereby Californian voters eliminated almost all of the state’s bilingual education programmes. Bilingual teachingwas always intended as a bridge to English, but in a polarising campaign itwas portrayed⁴ as allowing kids to avoid English altogether. (A few years earlier, another vote had stripped illegal immigrants of state benefits.) A later analysis provided scant⁵ evidence that Proposition 227 made much difference to English-learning. But the Republican-led anti-immigration backlash of the1990s led to a counter-backlash: California Latinos, though often religious and socially conservative, have been solidly Democratic since.

以1998年227号提案为例，加州选民取消了该州几乎所有的双语教育项目。双语教学一直被认为是通向英语的桥梁，但在一场两极分化的运动中，双语教学被描绘成让孩子们完全避免使用英语。（几年前，另一项投票剥夺了非法移民的州福利。）后来的分析没有提供足够的证据证明227号提案对英语学习有很大的影响。但上世纪90年代共和党领导的反移民运动引发了应对措施：加州的拉丁裔虽然常常是宗教和社会保守派，但自那以后一直坚定地支持民主党。

1 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

2 enlist   

vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍

参考例句：

• They come here to enlist men for the army.他们来这儿是为了召兵。
• The conference will make further efforts to enlist the support of the international community for their just struggle. 会议必将进一步动员国际社会，支持他们的正义斗争。

3 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

4 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 scant   

adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略

参考例句：

• Don't scant the butter when you make a cake.做糕饼时不要吝惜奶油。
• Many mothers pay scant attention to their own needs when their children are small.孩子们小的时候，许多母亲都忽视自己的需求。