VOA双语新闻 US Copes With Growing Population（在线收听）

The U.S. population is increasing at nearly one percent a year, making the United States the world's fastest growing industrial nation.

美国人口正以每年将近1%的速度增长，这使美国成为世界人口增长最快的工业化国家。

Sixty percent of the growth is natural. Forty percent comes from immigration.

美国人口成长的60%属于自然生育，其余的40%则来自移民。

Demographer William Frey of the Brookings Institution says immigrants are moving to cities like New York, Miami, Houston, Dallas and Los Angeles.

布鲁金斯研究所的人口学家佛瑞指出，移民正在迁入纽约、迈阿密、休斯顿、达拉斯和洛杉矶这样的大城市。

"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 stew that's going on, so you can't really exist there unless you have an open mind about different backgrounds and different cultures. "

佛瑞说：“这些城市真的是民族大熔炉，因为这不是大部份由白人组成、只有两三个少数民族的地方。在这个巨大的种族和民族熔炉中包含了许多的少数民族。因此，除非你对不同背景和不同文化有开放的观念，否则你无法在那些城市里生存。”

In Los Angeles, there are concentrations of immigrants in Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Koreatown and other ethnic enclaves.

在洛杉矶， 移民集中在中国城、小东京、韩国城以及其他民族聚集区内。

A shopkeeper from China has Spanish-speaking customers and friends in neighboring shops from other countries.

一名来者中国的店主有些说西班牙语的顾客，他和朋友在临近的店铺里都是来者其它的国家。

"Down here, the owner is Chinese, and over there, a lot of Koreans, and Mexican people," the shopkeeper said.

这个店主说道："进到这里，店主是中国人，然后在那边有很国韩国人和墨西哥人。"

Throughout the American Southwest, immigrants from Latin America are changing the culture, and they form an important part of the workforce. Hispanics account for half of U.S. population growth. Some critics of immigration worry about strains on the health care system and the schools.

在美国西南部各地，来自拉丁美洲的移民正在改写美国的文化，他们也是美国劳动力大军的重要组成部份。拉美裔占了美国人口成长的一半。批评移民制度的人士对医疗保健制度和学校受到的压力感到担心。

Ira Mehlman is a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. He says the children of recent immigrants have problems in public schools, where classes are taught in English.

美国移民改革联盟发言人麦尔曼说，新移民的孩子在公立学校学习有问题，这些学校都是用英文来教学的。

"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.

麦尔曼说：“ 一半的洛杉矶学区是非英语居民地区，也就是说，美国的第二大教育单位无法使一整代孩子全部受到教育。”

Harry Pachon of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute says there have always been strains when population grows, but the country assimilated earlier waves of immigration.

托马斯里韦拉政策中心的帕琼说，人口增长总会加重负担，但是美国把早先的移民潮都融合、同化了。

"We rail against the immigrants and we forget that two or three generations ago, our grandparents or our parents were immigrants themselves," he noted.

帕琼说：“我们抱怨移民，我们却忘了两三代以前我们的祖父母辈或者我们的父母就是移民。”

Population growth is a global phenomenon, and others worry about strains on the natural environment.

人口增长是全球现象，但是有人担心，人口增长给自然环境带来负担。

Dan Silver of the Endangered Habitats League says unchecked population growth is changing the natural landscape that we share with other species.

濒危栖息地联盟的西佛尔表示，无限制的人口增长正在改变人类和其他物种所享有的天然景观。

"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."

西佛尔说：“人口问题是双重的。首先是人口数目的绝对增加，这对加州这样的地方是非常严重的。此外是每个新人所消耗的资源和土地数量，这对于目前的发展模式是极其重要的。”

He says in many parts of America, the problem is urban sprawl, as cities expand in vast suburban housing tracts. He says with proper urban planning, more people can live together in a denser environment, preserving their natural surroundings.

西佛尔说，美国很多地方都出现了都市漫无计划扩展的问题，城市延伸到巨大的郊区住房地带。他说，只要有适当的都市计划就可以让更多的人住在稠密的环境里，这样可以保存他们周遭的自然环境。

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.

西佛尔担心有关单位还没有做好足够的计划，一些人口专家也有同感。人口专家说，像洛杉矶这样的城市因为移民而加重了负担，与此同时，整个美国却因为移民而得到好处。

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.

在第二次世界大战后出生的一代美国人，也就是所谓的婴儿潮那代人准备要退休了。一些人口专家说，移民能保持经济生气蓬勃。

Dowell Myers teaches policy and planning at the University of Southern California. "Because after all, we're growing here the future middle class taxpayers and we're growing the future workers," he said. " When these Baby Boomers want to retire, a lot of the replacements - we estimate about two-thirds - are going to be the children of immigrants."

麦尔斯在南加州大学教政策和规划。他说："因为毕竟我们正在这成长成为未来的中产阶级纳税人，我们正成长成为未来的工人。当婴儿潮那代人想要退休时，就得有很多接班的人。我们估计有2/3接班的人将是来自于移民家庭的孩子。"

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。

"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 versa, it's paramount that we have people from different cultures helping us make decisions in our workplaces and in our schools."

佛瑞说：“当我们变成更加全球化的社会、更加全球化的经济时，我们在本地所生产的东西以及生产的方式都会被世界其他地方的人们所购买和消费，反过来说也是如此。最重要的是，我们有来自不同文化的人，他们能帮助我们在我们的工作场所和学校中做出决定。”

The U.S. population is expected to reach 400 million in 40 years. Population analysts 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.

预期美国人口将在40年里达到四亿。人口分析家说，美国面临许多挑战，要确保明天的儿童享受他们需要的教育和医疗保健等各种服务，要保持经济的健康发展，要为后代子孙保护好环境。人口专家说，这些都需要认真的规划。