VOA新闻杂志2023--Why Immigrants Are More Hopeful Than US-born Americans

Why Immigrants Are More Hopeful Than US-born Americans

Immigrants in America are more hopeful about the future than citizens who were born in the United States.

That is what a recent opinion study of 3,358 immigrant adults found.

The study, or survey, aimed to find out what the immigrant adults thought about a number of issues.

Shannon Schumacher is a researcher at KFF, a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco that works with health policy. It was formerly¹ known as the Kaiser Family Foundation.

She described what the immigrants told her this way: "They said, ‘You know, I face challenges here in the U.S., but it's far better than where I came from. And I have this belief that things will be better for my children.'"

Schumacher added, "Whether that's their education, their safety, their economic opportunities...they think that they're better off and their children are better off."

The survey was a partnership² between KFF and the Los Angeles Times newspaper. The organizations carried out the study between April 10 and June 12, 2023.

The immigrants answered questions by telephone, mail, and online. The questions could be answered in any of the 10 most commonly spoken languages in the United States. They include English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Portuguese³, Haitian-Creole, Arabic, French and Tagalog.

Schumacher said it is the most complete survey of immigrants in the U.S. today.

"The survey can really help inform the public more about immigrants and really bring their voices to the forefront," she said. Schumacher added, "We don't actually hear about immigrants often in their own voices."

Immigrants make up 16 percent of adults in the U.S. They come from many different countries and are from many classes of people. Their belief in a better future remains⁴ although they face many difficulties.

Most of the immigrants in the survey have jobs. About half said they have experienced discrimination in the workplace. Three in 10 said they had been paid less for doing the same job or have had fewer opportunities to get a better job or increased pay, compared to their U.S.-born coworkers.

Health care can be another problem. One in five immigrants delayed or did not get health care in the past few years. Often the reason is lack of money or health insurance. And if they see a medical worker, the experience is not always good.

Schumacher said: "About one in four immigrants say they've been treated unfairly in a health care setting, such as being talked down to." She added that they might not have a health care provider explain things in a way they can understand. They also might not have had someone explain issues in their language.

The survey said that Black and Hispanic immigrants face the most discrimination.

Researchers worked with activist⁵ groups within the different immigrant communities to find people to talk to. The researchers said the English word "discrimination" was a problem because it does not always mean the same thing in different cultures and languages.

"People aren't sure what that means," Schumacher said. She added that they might use different words, "or they say something that maybe we as researchers would say, ‘Oh, that's discrimination,' but they call it bullying⁷ or someone just being mean."

To deal with possible miscommunication, researchers asked direct questions to identify experiences that they defined⁸ as discrimination. They did this even if the survey subject did not call the experience "discrimination." For example, the researcher might ask: "Have you ever been not paid for all the hours you've worked?" "Have you been harassed⁹ or threatened or been told to go back to your country?"

Words in This Story

challenge – n. a difficult task or problem

opportunity – n. an amount of time or a situation in which something can be done

forefront – n. the most important part or position

insurance – n. an agreement in which a person pays a company regularly so that the company will pay for part of, for example, a health care cost later on

talk down to –v. (phrasal) to speak as though you are talking to a young child when you are not talking to a young child

bully⁶ – v. to try to force people to do things by making threats

 

harassed – v. to annoy or bother (someone) in a repeated way over a period of time

1 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

2 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

3 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

6 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

7 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 defined   

adj 定义的; 清晰的

参考例句：

• These categories are not well defined. 这些类别划分得不太明确。
• The powers of a judge are defined by law. 法官的权限是由法律规定的。

9 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们