VOA慢速英语2018 VOA研究称信仰基督教的美国人白人人数创新低

Study: Record Low Numbers of White, Christian¹ Americans

The number of Americans who identify as white and Christian now represents less than 50 percent of the United States population.

认定为白人和基督教徒的美国人数量目前不到美国人口的50%。

A new study says immigrants have driven the decrease along with a growing number of Americans who reject organized religion.

一项新的研究表明，移民造成了美国白人基督教徒的减少，以及越来越多美国人拒绝有组织宗教。

The Public Religion Research Institute, or PRRI, did the study. It questioned more than 100,000 people between January 2016 and January 2017.

美国公共宗教研究所（简称PRRI）进行了这项研究。该研究所在2016年1月到2017年1月之间调查了10万多人。

It found that Christianity overall remains² a large majority. Nearly 70 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christian. However, white Christians³ -- once dominant⁴ -- now make up only 43 percent of the national population.

该研究所发现，基督教总体上仍然占绝大多数。近70%的美国人自认为基督教徒。然而，一度占据主导地位的白人基督教徒目前只占到全国人口的43%。

Forty years ago, about 80 percent of Americans were white Christians.

40年前，大约80%的美国人都是基督教徒。

Today, about 25 percent of Americans do not identify with a single religion, the study found. About 17 percent of Americans now identify as white evangelical Christians, compared to 23 percent 10 years ago.

该研究发现，如今有大约25%的美国人不信仰特定宗教。大约17%的美国人目前认定为白人福音派基督教徒，而十年前为23%。

In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump⁵, a Republican, received 80 percent of the votes of white evangelicals.

在2016年的总统选举中，共和党人川普获得了白人福音派80%的选票。

The PRRI study found that more than one-third of all Republicans say they are white evangelicals. And nearly 75 percent of Republicans identify themselves as white Christians.

美国公共宗教研究所的研究发现，1/3以上的共和党人自称白人福音派，近75%的共和党人自认为白人基督教徒。

By comparison, about eight percent of Democrats⁶ call themselves white evangelicals. Almost 30 percent of Democrats identify as white Christians. And 40 percent of Democrats say they have no religious affiliation⁷.

相比之下，大约8%的民主党人自称白人福音派，近30%的民主党人自认为白人基督教徒，还有40%的民主党人自称没有宗教信仰。

The latest PRRI study also provided state-by-state details. It found that New York is the state with the greatest religious diversity. The southern state of Mississippi has the least religious diversity.

美国公共宗教研究所这项最新研究还逐个州提供了细节数据。研究发现，纽约州的宗教多样性最好，南部的密西西比州的宗教多样性最差。

The northeastern U.S. has long been where most of American Catholics live, and the northeastern state of Rhode Island remains the most Catholic state in the country.

美国东北部长期以来一直是美国天主教徒生活的地方。东北部的罗德岛州仍然是美国最信奉天主教的地方。

However, the Catholic population in the country is shifting, PRRI reports. A majority of Catholics in the U.S. now live in the south or west. The change comes from an increase in Latin American immigrants settling in those areas.

然而，美国公共宗教研究所报告称，该国的天主教人口正在转移。美国大部分天主教徒现在生活在南部和西部。这种变化源自于越来越多拉美移民在这些地区定居。

I’m Ashley Thompson.

Words in This Story

dominant - adj. most common

evangelical - adj. ?of or relating to a Christian sect⁸ or group that stresses the authority of the Bible, the importance of believing that Jesus Christ saved you personally from sin or hell, and the preaching of these beliefs to other people?

affiliation - n. ? the state of being closely associated with or connected to an organization, company, etc.?

shift - v. to change or to cause (something) to change to a different opinion, belief, etc.

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

4 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

5 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

6 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 affiliation   

n.联系，联合

参考例句：

• There is no affiliation between our organization and theirs,even though our names are similar.尽管两个组织的名称相似，但我们之间并没有关系。
• The kidnappers had no affiliation with any militant group.这些绑架者与任何军事组织都没有紧密联系。

8 sect   

n.派别，宗教，学派，派系

参考例句：

• When he was sixteen he joined a religious sect.他16岁的时候加入了一个宗教教派。
• Each religious sect in the town had its own church.该城每一个宗教教派都有自己的教堂。