考研英语阅读英文原刊《经济学人》：英国和它的移民们

　　Britain and immigration

　　英国和他的移民们

　　Keep open the gates

　　打开大门

　　The Conservatives should not risk Britain's future prosperity on a flawed bid to cut immigration

　　保守党不应该将英国未来的繁荣错误的投注在削减移民上。

　　WHEN David Cameron declared his intention last year to hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union, this newspaper gave a cautious cheer. Although we felt there was a risk the Conservative prime minister was bending too far to the Eurosceptics in his party,who happily ignore the enormous economic cost Britain would incur by leaving the union, the issue had become so divisive that we believed Britons should get a say on the subject. We were also encouraged that Mr Cameron made a rousing case for Britain's EU membership, which he vowed to fortify and improve by campaigning for badly needed EU-wide reforms ahead of the promised vote. He needs to restate that commitment, because the recent talk from Number 10 about curbing immigration from the EU risks giving the opposite impression: of a weak and unprincipled ruling party that is prepared to gamble Britain's national interest on a policy shaped by populists.

　　当去年戴维卡梅伦宣布英国加入欧盟的公民全投意图时，本表发表了谨慎的乐观态度。虽然我们觉得仍然有风险，在党内保守党首相还不算是欧洲怀疑论者，他愉快地忽视了英国脱离联邦会导致的巨大经济成本，这个问题已经意见不一，我们认为英国人对于这件事应该得到一个说法。我们也鼓励卡梅伦先生对英国的欧盟成员国做了一个激动人心的示范，他发誓要在承诺的投票前以竞选的方式加强和改进迫切需要的欧盟改革。他需要重申此承诺，因为最近来自10 号关于控制移民以及欧盟风险的话题产生了反面印象：一个弱势的，没有原则的执政党准备把英国的国家利益押注在民粹主义形成的政策上。

　　Britain's contradictory feelings towards immigration reflect the peculiarities of its history. On the one hand, the country's success is rooted in openness—in exploration, conquest and trade. Most Britons are not racist, which makes their country especially appealing to the millions of immigrants who have created much of its wealth. On the other hand, Britain is a bristling island nation, with a deep-seated fear of invasion. Its people worry inordinately about the economic and cultural side-effects of immigration—and are prone to scaremongers, a role which the increasingly formidable UK Independence Party (UKIP) is now filling. Its two main causes are leaving the European Union and reducing immigration.

　　英国对移民矛盾感情反映了其历史特点。一方面，这个国家的成功的基石是开放，探索，征服和贸易。大多数英国人都不是种族主义者，这让他们的国家特别吸引数以百万为英国创造巨大财富的移民。另一方面，英国是一个岛国，对入侵有着根深蒂固的恐惧。人们极其担心那些移民在经济和文化反面的副作用并且很容易受到蛊惑。日益强大的英国独立党现在正填充。这就是将要离开欧盟和减少移民的两个主要原因。

　　Mr Cameron has lost one by-election to UKIP and faces the prospect of losing another in a few weeks and seeing his base eroded in a general election next spring, so it is hardly surprising that he has moved to the right. But the jump has been large and rapid. Last year, when he unveiled his EU reform strategy, Mr Cameron did not mention immigration as an area of concern. His target was red tape, not the liberal migration regime that is one of the union's main strengths. Since then the Tories have said they want to restrict benefits to immigrants and make citizens from future EU member countries wait longer before they are allowed to work in Britain. Now Mr Cameron is talking about “fixing” immigration to Britain from the EU, while his advisers have floated the idea of an “emergency brake” on immigration beyond a certain level from even existing EU members. All will be revealed in a speech soon.