【经济学人】模范移民 | 2016.11.26 | 总第745期

IN THE early 20th century just a few hundred people emigrated from India to America each year and there were only about 5,000 folk of Indian heritage living in the United States. That was more than enough for some xenophobes. A government commission in 1910 concluded that Indians were “the most undesirable of all Asiatics” and that the citizens of America’s west coast were “unanimous in their desire for exclusion”.

在20世纪初期，每年只有几百人从印度移民去美国，那时只有5000印度人留在美国生活。这个数据对于一些仇外者来说已经很多了。一个政府委员会在1910年推断印度人是“整个亚细亚中最不受欢迎的人”，而美国西海岸的公民则是“一致渴望驱逐”。

• heritage 遗产，传统

• xenophobes 仇外

• unanimous 全体一致的，无异议的

Today Indian-born Americans number 2m and they are probably the most successful minority group in the country. Compared with all other big foreign-born groups, they are younger, richer and more likely to be married and supremely well educated. On the west coast they are a mighty force in Silicon Valley; well-off Indians cluster around New York, too. “The Other One Percent” is the first major study of how this transformation happened. Filled with crunchy analysis, it exudes authority on a hugely neglected subject.

今天印度籍美国人的人数有2百万，他们可能是这个国家最成功的少数群体。比起所有其他大的外籍群体，他们更年轻，富有，更可能已婚且受过良好的教育。在西海岸他们是硅谷的强大的生力军。富有的印度人也聚集在纽约。“另外的百分之一”首次研究了这种转变发生的原因。整本书站在肯定的角度对这个被忽视的话题进行了专业的分析。

• well-off 富裕的

• transformation 转化，转换，改革

美国西海岸

India’s diaspora is vast, with 20m-30m people spread across the world from the Caribbean to Kenya. In colonial times many moved as labourers after Britain abolished slavery in 1833, to build the east African railway, for example. In the 1970s a second wave of workers went to the Gulf during the oil boom. Perhaps the least well known flow of Indians abroad is the one to America. It picked up after 1965, when American immigration rules were relaxed, and surged after 1990. Three-quarters of the Indian-born population in America today arrived in the last 25 years.

印度的移民人口是相当巨大的，2000-3000万印度人分散到了世界各地，从加勒比到肯尼亚都有他们的身影。自从1833年英国废除了奴隶制后，英殖民时期的印度人以工人身份移民到了国外，比如有的去修筑东非的铁路。在20世纪70年，第二波印度工人在石油繁荣期去了墨西哥湾。也许外界所听甚少的便是去美国的印度移民。这一波始于美国移民政策放宽的1965年，并在1990年达到了高潮。现在四分之三的印裔美国人都是在过去的25年间来到美国的。

• Diaspora n.(u) 移民社群

• Abolish vt. 消灭，撤销

• Oil boom n.(u) 石油繁盛期(1970-1980)

• Surge vi. 汹涌，起大浪

Like all immigrant groups, Indians have found niches in America’s vast economy. Half of all motels are owned by Indians, mainly Gujaratis. Punjabis dominate the franchises for 7-Eleven stores and Subway sandwiches in Los Angeles. The surge in Indians moving to America is also intimately linked to the rise of the technology industry. In the 1980s India loosened its rules on private colleges, leading to a large expansion in the pool of engineering and science graduates. Fear of the “Y2K” bug in the late 1990s served as a catalyst for them to engage with the global economy, with armies of Indian engineers working remotely from the subcontinent, or travelling to America on workers’ visas, to make sure computers did not fail at the stroke of midnight on December 31st 1999.

与其他移民族群一样，印度人也在美国这个巨大的经济体中找到了合适的位置。半数的汽车旅店是由印度人建立的，其中大部分是古吉拉特人。而旁遮普人垄断了7-11便利店的经营权以及洛杉矶的路边三明治售卖。印度移民美国高潮也是与科技进步息息相关的。20世纪80年印度放宽了私立大学的准入限定，工程师和科学系毕业生大量增加。20世纪90年代末对于千禧年危机的恐慌促使他们加入了全球经济之中，大量的印度工程师在印度次大陆远端工作，亦或是持有工作签证前往美国，这一切都是为了在1999年12月31日的零点所有的计算机都不会宕机。

• Niche n.(c) 合适的位置，壁龛，商机

• Motel n.(c) 汽车旅店

• Gujarati n.(u) 古吉拉特人(语)

• Punjabi n.(u) 旁遮普人(语)

• Franchise n.(c) 特许权，经销权，选择权，参政权

• Intimately adv. 亲密地，熟悉地

• Y2K 千禧年危机

• Catalyst n.(c) 催化剂，触发因素

Today a quarter or more of the Indian-born workforce is employed in the tech industry. In Silicon Valley neighbourhoods such as Fremont and Cupertino, people of Indian origin make up a fifth of the population. Some 10-20% of all tech start-ups have Indian founders; Indians have ascended to the heights of the biggest firms, too. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s boss, was born in Hyderabad. Sundar Pichai, who runs Google, the main division of the firm Alphabet, hails from Tamil Nadu.

如今，有1/4甚至更多在印度出生的劳动力在技术工厂工作。在硅谷的邻居里，如弗里蒙特和丘柏蒂诺这两家公司里，印度出身的人占到了1/5。10%-20%的新兴的科技企业都是印度人创办的；印度人也经营大型公司。微软的老总萨提亚-纳德拉出生于海德拉巴。谷歌是字母表公司的主要部分，它的经营者桑达尔-皮查伊，来自泰米尔纳德邦。

Satya Nadella

The authors of “The Other One Percent” have been careful to avoid the trap of explaining Indians’ success in America through their particular culture. Instead they argue it is “at its core a selection story”. Indians cannot walk across a border to America. Because of the filters of caste, class and a fiercely competitive education system, only those with above average financial and human capital get the chance to move to America. Most have travelled either as students or holders of H1-B working visas, which require a university degree, and then acquire residency. This visa system acts as a further filter.

《剩下的百分之一》的作者在解释印度人在美国成功时的原因时很小心，避免陷入以特殊的印度文化来解释的窘境。而是认为这是一个优胜劣汰的故事。印度人不能徒步跨越国界去往美国。由于种族、阶级的划分和残酷的教育体系的竞争，只有那些经济实力在平均水平之上的人中之龙才有机会移民美国。大部分的人是作为学生游学或者是持有H1-B工作签证和大学毕业证的人，只有他们才能获得居留许可。这样的签证体系更像是一种深层次的筛选。

Despite the light that the authors’ data-driven approach casts on this little-known story, there are some disadvantages. One is that it leaves little scope for exploring the dark side of India’s diaspora. Readers keen to peek at the underbelly should buy “The Billionaire’s Apprentice”, by Anita Raghavan, which was published in 2013. It is a brilliant account of the insider-trading ring that led to the downfall of Rajat Gupta, the former boss of McKinsey, a consulting firm. Fittingly he was pursued by a much-admired prosecutor of Indian descent.

尽管作者以数据驱动的方法讲述了这个这个鲜为人知的故事，但是却不尽如人意。这本书几乎没有为探索印度人大移居的阴暗面留下任何空间。渴望知道印度人大移居阴暗面的读者应该去买Anita Raghavan在2003年出版的《亿万富翁的学徒》这本书讲述了一个及其成功的内部交易圈。这一事件导致了McKinsey(一个咨询公司）的前任老板Anita Raghavan的垮台。巧的是他是被一位备受赞誉的印度检察官抓捕的。

• Underbelly：n. 下腹部；薄弱部分；易受攻击的部位、区域等

• Fittingly：adv. 适切地，适合地

The Billionaire’s Apprentice

But the authors do touch on the most fascinating question of all: how this gilded corner of the diaspora influences India itself. Diplomatic relations between the two giant democracies have long been testy. But in other realms the bond has grown closer. The stars at the pinnacle of American society are celebrated back in India alongside rather un-American figures such as spin-bowling masters and Bollywood maidens. The American-educated children of India’s governing elite probably helped push India to open up its economy in 1991. The tens of billions of dollars of income earned in America by India’s big technology firms is crucial for its balance of payments. And a new generation of entrepreneurs who have led a boom in e-commerce in India in the last five years are almost all American educated, or have worked for American technology firms.

但作者涉及的最有趣的问题是:镀金的移民如何影响印度本身的。这两个民主大国之间的外交关系一直是紧张的。但在其他领域变得越来越紧密。在美国社会顶峰的明星庆祝回到印度,而并非美国正式人物如旋转保龄球大师和宝莱坞少女。在1991年，印度受过美国教育的管理精英们可能推动印度开放其经济。印度大型技术公司在美国赚取的数百亿美元收入对于国际收支平衡来说是至关重要的。期待您的翻译，您可以将翻译留言到文章底部，第二天会有详细解析哦。

• Diplomatic ：adj. 外交的；外交上的；老练的

• Pinnacle ：n. 高峰；小尖塔；尖峰；极点 vt. 造小尖塔；置于尖顶上；置于高处

• Entrepreneurs :n. 企业家；承包人；主办者

If, under its new president, America clamps down on immigration, the mutually beneficial movement of Indians will surely slow—they were the largest group of new immigrants in 2014, exceeding even arrivals from China and Mexico. That will be a loss, both to America and to India. In this new era of populism, “The Other One Percent” is a rigorous, fact-based analysis of how cross-border flows of brainy and ambitious people make the world a better place. Politicians and policymakers in both America and in India should make sure they read it.

如果在新一任总统的领导下，美国实行镇压移民者（的政策），印度人这种互利互惠的迁移将会放缓——2014年，他们是最大规模的移民群体，甚至超过了中国和墨西哥的移民人数。对美国与印度双方来说，这将是个损失。《剩下的百分之一》是一本严谨的书，忠于分析事实。它讲述了聪明同时富有野心跨国的印度移民是如何让世界变得更美好的。在美国与印度的政治家与政策制定者都应该阅读此书。

• clamps：n.夹子;夹钳;夹具( clamp的名词复数 );车轮锁 v.夹紧，夹住( clamp的第三人称单数 );紧紧抓住;紧夹住;被抓住

• mutually：adv.互相地，互助;对

• era：n.纪元，年代;历史时期，时代;重大事件

• populism：n.平民主义，平民论

• rigorous：adj.严格的;严密的;缜密的;枯燥的

• cross-border：adj.跨国的，跨越边界的;国境线交叉的

翻译 ▍栏目四第三组

审核 ▍薄荷凉

编辑 ▍澜意

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