2006年VOA标准英语-US Copes With Growing Population, Approach
时间:2019-01-07 作者:英语课 分类:2006年VOA标准英语(三月)
By Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles
08 March 2006
watch US Population report
Census 1 officials say the U.S. population will reach 300 million in October, and that the 300th million American may well be a Latino living in the Southwest. Mike O'Sullivan reports from Los Angeles, the growing population brings promise, and challenges, for U.S. urban centers.
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The U.S. population is increasing at nearly one percent a year, making the United States the world's fastest growing industrial nation.
Sixty percent of the growth is natural. Forty percent comes from immigration.
Demographer 2 William Frey of the Brookings Institution says immigrants are moving to cities like New York, Miami, Houston, Dallas and Los Angeles.
William Frey
"These are really melting pot cities in the sense that it's not a just a mostly white place with a couple of minority groups," he explained, "but many minority groups are part of this big race and ethnic 3 stew 4 that's going on, so you can't really exist there unless you have an open mind about different backgrounds and different cultures. "
In Los Angeles, there are concentrations of immigrants in Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Koreatown and other ethnic enclaves.
A shopkeeper from China has Spanish-speaking customers and friends in neighboring shops from other countries.
Chinatown neighborhood of Los Angeles
"Down here, the owner is Chinese, and over there, a lot of Koreans, and Mexican people," the shopkeeper said.
Throughout the American Southwest, immigrants from Latin America are changing the culture, and they form an important part of the workforce 5. Hispanics account for half of U.S. population growth. Some critics of immigration worry about strains on the health care system and the schools.
Ira Mehlman is a spokesman for the Federation 6 for American Immigration Reform. He says the children of recent immigrants have problems in public schools, where classes are taught in English.
"Half of the school district in Los Angeles is non-English-speaking, which means that you have the nation's second largest educational institution that can't educate an entire generation of kids," he said.
Harry 7 Pachon of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute says there have always been strains when population grows, but the country assimilated earlier waves of immigration.
Latino immigrants working in a Los Angeles grocery store
"We rail against the immigrants and we forget that two or three generations ago, our grandparents or our parents were immigrants themselves," he noted 8.
Population growth is a global phenomenon, and others worry about strains on the natural environment.
Dan Silver of the Endangered Habitats League says unchecked population growth is changing the natural landscape that we share with other species.
Dan Silver
"Our issues with population are twofold," he explained. "First, it's the absolute increase in the number of people, which is very severe in places like California, plus the amount of resources and the amount of land that each new person consumes, and that's extremely important in the pattern of development that's occurring."
He says in many parts of America, the problem is urban sprawl 9, as cities expand in vast suburban 10 housing tracts 11. He says with proper urban planning, more people can live together in a denser 12 environment, preserving their natural surroundings.
He worries that not enough planning is being done. So do some population experts, who say cities like Los Angeles suffer strains from immigration, while the country as a whole benefits from it.
A generation of Americans born after World War II, the so-called Baby Boomers, is ready to retire, and some population experts say immigrants can keep the economy vibrant 13.
Dowell Myers teaches policy and planning at the University of Southern California. "Because after all, we're growing here the future middle class taxpayers 14 and we're growing the future workers," he said. " When these Baby Boomers want to retire, a lot of the replacements 15 - we estimate about two-thirds - are going to be the children of immigrants."
Demographer William Frey says immigrants with young families will help keep the United States competitive.
"As we become much more globalized society, globalized economy, where what we produce here, how we produce it here, has to be bought and consumed by people in other parts of the world," he said, "and vice 16 versa, it's paramount 17 that we have people from different cultures helping 18 us make decisions in our workplaces and in our schools."
Evening view of downtown Los Angeles
The U.S. population is expected to reach 400 million in 40 years. Population analysts 19 say the country faces challenges, to ensure tomorrow's children have the services they need, from education to health care, that the economy stays healthy, and that we preserve the environment for future generations. They say that will take careful planning.
- A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
- The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。
- Professor Antonio Golini is a demographer at the University of Rome. 罗马大学安东尼奥教授是位人口统计学家。 来自互联网
- Demographer William Frey says immigrants with young families will help keep the United States competitive. 人口统计学家佛瑞表示这些年轻的家庭会帮助美国保持竞争力。 来自互联网
- This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏,这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
- The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。
- The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
- There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。
- A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
- A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。
- It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
- Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。
- Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天,人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
- Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。
- The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
- Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
- In our garden,bushes are allowed to sprawl as they will.在我们园子里,灌木丛爱怎么蔓延就怎么蔓延。
- He is lying in a sprawl on the bed.他伸开四肢躺在床上。
- Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
- There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。
- vast tracts of forest 大片大片的森林
- There are tracts of desert in Australia. 澳大利亚有大片沙漠。
- The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民,对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
- As Tito entered the neighbourhood of San Martino, he found the throng rather denser. 蒂托走近圣马丁教堂附近一带时,发现人群相当密集。
- He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
- She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。
- Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
- She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。
- They infiltrated behind the lines so as to annoy the emery replacements. 他们渗透敌后以便骚扰敌军的调度。 来自辞典例句
- For oil replacements, cheap suddenly looks less of a problem. 对于石油的替代品来说,价格变得无足轻重了。 来自互联网
- He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
- They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
- My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国,摧毁奴隶制度。
- Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。
- The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
- By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。