Lesson19
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*○ 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%
