US Government Presents New Orientation Guide for Immigrants

By Stephanie Ho

The U.S. Citizenship¹ and Immigration Services has developed a guide to provide newly arrived immigrants with basic information about American life, history and civics. The new guide is already available in English, but will also be translated into 10 other languages, to reach immigrants whose first language is not English.

According to Alfonso Aguilar, the chief of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services's Office of Citizenship, the United States is in the midst of the largest immigration wave in its history. One sign of this, Mr. Aguilar says, is the number of so-called green cards the United States is issuing. A green card is an identity card issued by the U.S. government to non-citizens who are legal permanent residents of the United States.

"Our nation is facing a great influx³ of immigrants," said Alfonso Aguilar. "In the past three years alone, we've averaged about a million green cards a year. These are people who are coming here legally, who the country accepts to come in and live and work permanently⁴."

Mr. Aguilar says in the past, U.S. immigration officials did not make efforts to reach out to immigrants. Now, he says, he hopes new immigrants will see the guidebook as soon as possible.

"This is also historic, because for many decades, when lawful⁵ permanent residents were granted their status and received their green cards, they were basically not provided with any information," he said. "They were just given their green card and received a very bureaucratic⁶ letter, telling them here's your green card, welcome to the United States. Good luck. We want to do better."

The new booklet includes basic information that U.S. officials hope will be useful for immigrants, including information about the banking⁷ system, public schools, health care and social security. Mr. Aguilar says it is also aimed at introducing lawful permanent residents to what he describes as common American civic² values. "We are a nation of diversity," said Alfonso Aguilar. "We recognize and value that. The languages, the religion, the traditions and customs that people from different places bring to America. But, in order to retain and maintain the political cohesion⁸ and unity⁹ of the nation, because of this great demographic change, we want to make sure that we promote a common civic identity for all lawful permanent residents and, especially, those who become new citizens."

Mr. Aguilar compares the current group of immigrants in the United States to those who came at the turn of last century.

"In the past, 100 years ago, they came mostly from Europe," he said. "After the immigration reform of the mid-1960s, most of our immigrants are coming from Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa, and may have different customs."

These changes are reflected in the diversity of the 10 additional languages that have been chosen. They include Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, Arabic, French, Portuguese¹⁰ and Haitian Creole.
 
The new guide is currently available in English, and can only be downloaded from the Citizenship and Immigration Services's web site. Mr. Aguilar says he expects the other language versions to be available within several months.
注释：
citizenship 公民的身份
immigration 外来的移民
civics 公民
available 可用到的
immigration wave 移民潮
influx 流入
booklet 小册子
diversity 多样性
demographic 人口统计学的
download 下载

1 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

2 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

3 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

4 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

5 lawful   

adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的

参考例句：

• It is not lawful to park in front of a hydrant.在消火栓前停车是不合法的。
• We don't recognised him to be the lawful heir.我们不承认他为合法继承人。

6 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

7 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

8 cohesion   

n.团结，凝结力

参考例句：

• I had to bring some cohesion into the company.我得使整个公司恢复凝聚力。
• The power of culture is deeply rooted in the vitality,creativity and cohesion of a nation. 文化的力量，深深熔铸在民族的生命力、创造力和凝聚力之中。

9 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

10 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。