Lesson19

*○  Lesson  19  Asian Americans                                                                                                                                             
   In the  last census  conducted  by  the U.S. government in 1990, one fact caught many people  by surprise; the  percentage  of Asian  Americans  had grown faster than    
 any other  segment  of the  population. European  Americans had, as expected, continued their  slow decline in percentage   of  the total U.S. population, though they      
 were still dominant at about 76%.  Black Americans  had stabilized  at about 12% of  the population. Hispanics had  continued their fast growth and were, at 9%, aimed at   
 toppling  Black   Americans as the country's  largest  minority group. The growth in Asian  Americans, however,  surged from  only 2% of the  total U.S. population in      
 the  1980 census  to  3% in 1990. By  the year 2000  at least 4% of Americans will be of  Asian ancestry. This  relatively huge  increase has caught  many demographers     
 by  surprise. Clearly  a  new force  is developing in U.S. demography, but few  people  seem  to appreciate its   implications .  The  Asian Americans are here  and are    
 here  to stay, but exactly who are they, and what  does their rapid  increase mean for  the country as a whole ?                                                            
                                                                                                                                                                             
 census [ˈsensəs] n.人口普查  conduct [ˈkɑnˌdʌkt] v.传导；指挥；带领；表现 n.指挥；带领；指导                                                                                
 percentage  [pərˈsentɪdʒ] n.百分比；百分率  segment  [ˈseɡmənt] n.段；部分；片；弓形                                                                                        
 population  [ˌpɑpjəˈleɪʃ(ə)n] n.人口； expected  [ɪkˈspektəd]  adj.预料的                                                                                                   
 decline  [dɪˈklaɪn] v.下降；衰退；  dominant  [ˈdɑmɪnənt]  n.优势种；adj.首要的 占优势的；                                                                                  
 stabilize  [ˈsteɪb(ə)lˌaɪz] v.稳定；使稳定    Hispanic  [hɪˈspænɪk]  adj.西班牙的；西班牙和葡萄牙的；拉丁美洲的    网络西班牙裔；拉丁美洲移民；西班牙人                     
 aim  [eɪm]  v.针对；旨在；把…指向；把…掷向 n.目标；瞄准；目的；宗旨                                                                                                         
 topple [ˈtɑp(ə)l] v.倒下；打倒；推翻；颠覆   minority  [maɪˈnɔrəti] n.少数民族；少数人                                                                                      
 surge  [sɜrdʒ] n.大浪 高涨   ancestry [ˈænˌsestri] n.祖先；网络世系；血统；家世                                                                                             
 relatively [ˈrelətɪvli] adv.相当程度上；相当  demographer  [dɪ'mɒɡrəfə(r)]  n.人口统计学家                                                                                  
 force  [fɔrs] n.力；力量；武力；部队v.强迫；用                                                                                                                              
 demography [dɪˈmɑɡrəfi] n.人口学；人口统计    网络人口结构；宏观人口统计；人口组成                                                                                          
 appreciate [əˈpriʃiˌeɪt] v.欣赏；感谢；感激；升值 网络赏识；鉴赏；增值                                                                                                      
 implication  [ˌɪmplɪˈkeɪʃ(ə)n]  n.含意；推断；牵连 含义；影响；                                                                                                             
 rapid [ˈræpɪd] n.急流；滩；湍流 adj.瞬间的；短时间内发生的；迅速的；快速的   

    As  a multi-ethnic  nation, it should not be surprising that  Asian  Americans are becoming  an increasingly large  and important  sector  of the "rainbow nation"  some   
 Americans  prefer to  think  of their  country as.  Indeed  the only surprise   about  this segment growing so fast   is why  it has not  occurred   sooner. After all,     
 Asia is home  to 60% of all the people  in the world. However , Asia  is also a vast land, encompassing East,  Southeast , South ,  and West Asia, each region              
 significantly  different  from  its  neighbors. Further, there is  no sense of unity within Asia, as there is , say ,among European or Latin American countries . Indeed ,  
 the term "Asian Americans" is    more  a fiction  of the European mind, since people  from this area unfailingly  refer to   themselves as Chinese, Japanese, Filipino , etc . rather  than   as Asian-Americans.                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                                             
  multiethnic [ˈmʌltaɪˌeθnɪk] adj.多民族的          

  For more than   100 years, three primary groups of Asians  emigrated to the  United States: Japanese,Chinese,and Filipino. However, since the end of the  Vietnam War, other groups from  Asia  have  become increasingly  prominent, especially those  from Vietnam, Korea,  and India. In addition,  Iranians  and Israelis from Southwestern Asia have also  entered  the U.S. in large  numbers.

 The patterns of Asian immigration  have changed  greatly  over  the past 30 years. In 1970, 96% of Asian Americans were  Chinese , Japanese, or Filipino; as of  1997, this percentage  had dropped to 55%! In that year, 24% of Asian Americans  claimed Chinese ancestry, 21% Filipino, and 10% Japanese.  The "newcomers" among Asian Americans  include  the Indians at 13 %, Vietnamese at 11%, and Koreans also at 11%.

  What  real numbers are we talking about? There were  estimated to be nearly 9,600,000 Asian Americans  in the U.S. in  1997. With such  a high  growth rate, there  will be  more than  10 million of them this year and perhaps 32 million in 2050(about 8%