2021年经济学人 移民入籍语言测试令人头秃(1)

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Johnson Stress tests

约翰逊语言专栏——压力测试

How to design language tests for citizenship—and how not to

如何设计入籍语言测试？要规避哪些方面？

“Perfect Swedish is overrated. But comprehensible Swedish is deeply underrated,” says Ulf Kristersson, the leader of Sweden’s centre-right Moderate party, which supports a language requirement to become a Swedish citizen. The left has come round, too: the Social Democrat-led government plans to introduce a language test. Sweden would thereby¹ leave the small club of European countries that do not make passing such a test a condition of naturalisation.

瑞典中右翼温和联合党领导人尤尔法·克里斯特松表示，“在对瑞典语水平进行评定时，评为完美则评价过高了，但评为可获理解又评价过低了。”温和联合党支持对申请成为瑞典公民的人提出语言要求。左派也改变了看法：社会民主党领导的政府计划推出一项语言测试。为此，瑞典将脱离那些不把通过语言测试作为入籍的条件的小群体欧洲国家。

To learn the language of the country you live in is the key to a full life there. But many experts in language policy oppose testing for citizenship—because they suspect a less compassionate² motive³ in some who propose them. “Becoming a Danish citizen is something one has to become worthy⁴ of,” said Inger Stojberg in 2015, when she was the immigration and integration⁵ minister in Denmark’s centre-right government—implying that the unworthy had been slipping through. Her thinly camouflaged⁶ goal was not to improve immigrants’ Danish, but to naturalise fewer of them.

学习你所居住的国家的语言是在当地过上充实生活的关键。但许多语言政策专家反对公民资格语言测试，因为他们怀疑，某些人提出这种考试的动机缺乏同理心。2015年，英格·斯托伊贝格表示，“申请者想要成为丹麦公民，必须变得有价值，”当时她是丹麦中右翼政府移民与融合部部长，这句话的言外之意是，无价值的人无法申请成为丹麦公民。她隐藏的目的很浅显，此举不是要提高移民的丹麦语水平，而是要减少移民入籍。

And so the Danish government, which already had language requirements, tightened⁷ them significantly. To prove they had reached the specified⁸ level in a recent test, applicants⁹ had to skim 16 pages of readings on the “People’s Enlightenment”, a movement originating in the 19th century to give ordinary Danes self-improving institutions such as evening classes, libraries and scouting¹⁰. Applicants must answer questions like: “In principle the People’s Enlightenment is for adults, but children can take part in classes intended for families. But what are the requirements for children to take these classes?” Though not exactly Kierkegaard, the material is well above the level needed to get by.

因此，已经提出入籍语言要求的丹麦政府又大幅提高了要求。在最近的一次语言测试中，申请者为了证明自己达到了规定的水平，他们必须略读16页有关“人民启蒙运动”的阅读材料，这项运动起源于19世纪，旨在让普通丹麦人通过夜校、图书馆和儿童培训等机构自我提高。申请者必须回答一些问题，比如：“原则上，人民启蒙运动的受众是成人，但儿童也可以参加为家庭开设的课程。那儿童参与这些课程的要求是什么呢？”虽然没有像哲学家克尔凯郭尔的想法那样深奥，但这些问题远远高于入籍所需的水平。

The trend in the West is clearly towards such tests. America and Britain typically require English for citizenship—in 2019 Donald Trump¹¹ proposed adding requirements for certain visas as well. But the problem seems especially acute from a small-country perspective. Many European countries are linguistic¹² communities. Europe is a crowded continent where neighbours often distinguish themselves primarily by how they speak. Centuries of nation-building from the top down strengthened the association of one language with one people in one state, at least in the ideal case. English already threatens the role of small languages. If Denmark, say, does not require even Danish citizens to speak Danish, what is the language for?

显然，西方国家正走向采取入籍语言测试的趋势。想要申请获得美国和英国的公民身份的申请者通常需要掌握英语，2019年，唐纳德·特朗普也提议增加了对某些国家的签证要求。但从小国的角度来看，这个问题似乎格外尖锐。许多欧洲国家是语言共同体。欧洲是一个国家稠密的大陆，邻国往往主要通过说话方式来区分国籍。几个世纪以来，自上而下的国家建设加强了一国中一种语言与一个民族的联系，至少在理想情况下是这样的。英语已经威胁到了小语种的地位。比如说，如果丹麦甚至不要求丹麦公民说丹麦语，那这门语言还有何用？

1 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

2 compassionate   

adj.有同情心的，表示同情的

参考例句：

• She is a compassionate person.她是一个有同情心的人。
• The compassionate judge gave the young offender a light sentence.慈悲的法官从轻判处了那个年轻罪犯。

3 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

4 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

5 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

6 camouflaged   

v.隐蔽( camouflage的过去式和过去分词 )；掩盖；伪装，掩饰

参考例句：

• We camouflaged in the bushes and no one saw us. 我们隐藏在灌木丛中没有被人发现。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They camouflaged in bushes. 他们隐蔽在灌木丛中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 tightened   

收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧

参考例句：

• The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。

8 specified   

adj.特定的

参考例句：

• The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。

9 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

10 scouting   

守候活动，童子军的活动

参考例句：

• I have people scouting the hills already. 我已经让人搜过那些山了。
• Perhaps also from the Gospel it passed into the tradition of scouting. 也许又从《福音书》传入守望的传统。 来自演讲部分

11 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

12 linguistic   

adj.语言的，语言学的

参考例句：

• She is pursuing her linguistic researches.她在从事语言学的研究。
• The ability to write is a supreme test of linguistic competence.写作能力是对语言能力的最高形式的测试。