【英语趣味课堂】意大利的移民-Immigration in Italy

Todd: Hey, Yuri, I thought we would talk a little bit about immigration because you're from Italy, and I'm from the U.S. and both of our countries have issues with immigration. Can you talk a little bit about the immigration issues now in Italy?

 

Yuri: Yes, immigration in Italy is a recent problem because until maybe the 80's the population was mostly Italian. Later we got a lot of people from Africa and from Eastern Europe, and people started getting a bit dodgy with that.

 

Todd: Right, so people were't happy that non-Italians were coming into the country basically¹?

 

Yuri: Right, some people think that it is bad for the economy, and some people think it's bad for Italy itself.

 

Todd: For the culture?

 

Yuri: For the culture itself.

 

Todd: So basically you said people came in you said to the economy for jobs to do … ? Were they coming in to do jobs that Italians didn't want to do?

 

Yuri: Basically we have two different kinds of immigration. Lately, a lot of people, they are from country with the war problems, so they try to come into Italy with boats. They are illegal. So, and what people think is that they shouldn't even try to come in.

 

Todd: Right.

 

Yuri: Other people think that, as Italian we are a real population. We immigrate² all over the planet³. Everybody should be welcome and get the favor back.

 

Todd: Right, so basically, the population in Italy is divided. Some people are for the immigration and some are against.

 

Yuri: Exactly, yes.

 

Todd: What are your feeling about immigration?

 

Yuri: Well, I myself have lived in different foreign countries. I always been welcomed. I never had problems with it, and I think that if people, they come to Italy, they're honest people, they want to work, please. No problem at all.

 

Todd: Is the Italian government trying to do anything to stop immigration or slow immigration, or are they trying to encourage it?

 

Yuri: It depends what government goes. Sometimes if it's a left government, they try to help. The right one, they try to stop.

 

Todd: So if somebody is caught trying to come into Italy on say a boat, are they expelled⁴ from the country?

 

Yuri: No, they get to refugees⁶ camps, and then since they are usually smart they come without papers, they are very difficult to track down, and they try to help them at the police. They don't beat them up or anything. No violence. The problem is the people that actually bring them in, they make a lot of money on them. That's the bigger problem. Also, they are connected with the mafia as well.

 

Todd: Yeah, the smuggling⁷. The human traffickers. Yeah, the U.S. has the same problem. Anyway, thanks a lot. It sounds like it's very similar to the U.S.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

dodgy

 

People started getting a bit dodgy with that.

 

We use “dodgy” to describe a person who is dishonest or a situation that is risky⁸ or dangerous. “Dodgy” is always negative. Here are two examples:

 

The dance club is in a dodgy part of town.

Our former police chief was a corrupt⁹ and dodgy man.

refugee⁵ camps

 

 

They get to refugees camps and they come without papers.

 

A refugee camp is a place for people who have left their own country, often because of war or hardship. A refugee camp is usually temporary and the conditions are bad. Notice the following:

 

The refugee camp across the border is crowded and dirty.

Doctors treated the sick and injured at the refugee camp.

track down

 

 

They are very difficult to track down.

 

Track down means to look for something or somebody that is difficult to find. Here are two sample sentences using “track down”:

 

It took the police one week to track down the thief.

On my last visit, I tracked down my old friend from high school.

beat up

 

They don't beat them up or anything. No violence.

 

To beat someone up means to hit them again and again to cause injury. Someone is beaten up in a fight. Notice the samples:

In primary school, the older kids sometimes beat up the younger kids.

Some of the refugees were badly beaten up.

human traffickers

 

They are brought by smugglers or human traffickers.

 

A human trafficker is a dodgy person who takes people without proper travel papers to foreign countries. The people brought by a human trafficker are usually poor and work for little money in the new country. Here are two examples:

 

Human trafficking is a major problem in developing countries.

The UN has made great progress in reducing human trafficking.

1 basically   

adv.基本上，从根本上说

参考例句：

• His heart is basically sound.他的心脏基本上健康。
• Basically I agree with your plan.我基本上同意你的计划。

2 immigrate   

v.（从外国）移来，移居入境

参考例句：

• 10,000 people are expected to immigrate in the next two years.接下来的两年里预计有10，000人会移民至此。
• Only few plants can immigrate to the island.只有很少的植物能够移植到这座岛上。

3 planet   

n.行星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun. 海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. 然而, 垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。

4 expelled   

驱逐( expel的过去式和过去分词 )； 赶走； 把…除名； 排出

参考例句：

• She was expelled from school at 15. 她15岁时被学校开除了。
• After the outbreak of fighting,all foreign journalists were expelled. 战斗开始后，所有的外国记者都被驱逐出境。

5 refugee   

n.难民，流亡者

参考例句：

• The refugee was condemned to a life of wandering.这个难民注定要过流浪的生活。
• The refugee is suffering for want of food and medical supplies.难民苦于缺少食物和医药用品。

6 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

7 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

8 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

9 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。