2017年高考英语浙江卷(6月) - 阅读理解C

FLORENCE, Italy—Svetlana Cojochru feels hurt. The Moldovan has lived here seven years as a caregiver to Italian kids and the elderly, but in order to stay she’s had to prove her language skills by taking a test which requires her to write a postcard to an imaginary friend and answer a fictional job ad.
意大利佛罗伦萨——Svetlana Cojochru感到伤心。这位摩尔多瓦人在这里生活了七年，作为一名家庭护理员照顾意大利的孩子和老人，不过要想留下来，她必须通过考试来证明自己的语言技能，考试要求她给一位想象中的朋友写一张明信片，并回答一个虚构的招聘广告。

Italy is the latest Western European country trying to control a growing immigrant population by demanding language skills in exchange for work permits, or in some cases, citizenship.
意大利是最新一个想通过要求语言技能来换取工作许可或公民身份（某些情况下）来控制不断增长的移民人口数量的西欧国家。

Some immigrant advocates worry that as hard financial times make it more difficult for natives to keep jobs, such measures will become more a vehicle for intolerance than integration. Others say it’s only natural that newcomers learn the language of their host nation, seeing it as a condition to ensure they can contribute to society.
一些移民支持者担心，艰难的金融时期使当地人更难保住工作，这些措施将更多地成为难以容忍而非融合的工具。其他人说，新移民学习东道国的语言是很自然的，他们认为这是确保他们能够为社会做出贡献的一个条件。

Other European countries laid down a similar requirement for immigrants, and some terms are even tougher. The governments argue that this will help foreigners better join the society and promote understanding across cultures.
其他欧洲国家也对移民提出了类似的要求，有些条款甚至更为严格。政府认为，这将有助于外国人更好地融入社会，促进不同文化之间的理解。

Italy, which has a much weaker tradition of immigration, has witnessed a sharp increase in immigration in recent years. In 1990, immigrants numbered some 1.14 million out of Italy’s then 56.7 million people, or about 2 percent. At the start of this year, foreigners living in Italy amounted to 4.56 million of a total population of 60.6 million, or 7.5 percent, with immigrants’ children accounting for an even larger percentage of births in Italy.
意大利的移民传统要弱得多，近年来移民数量急剧增加。1990年，意大利当时的5670万人口中约有114万移民，约占2%。今年年初，居住在意大利的外国人占6060万总人口的456万，即7.5%，其中移民子女在意大利出生人口中所占比例更大。

Cojochru, the Moldovan caregiver, hoped obtaining permanent residence would help her bring her two children to Italy; they live with her sister in Moldova, where salaries are among the lowest in Europe. She was skeptical that the language requirement would encourage integration.
摩尔多瓦护理员Cojochru希望获得永久居留权，帮助她把两个孩子带到意大利；他们和她的姐姐住在摩尔多瓦，那里的工资是欧洲最低的。她对语言要求是否会鼓励融合持怀疑态度。

Italians always “see me as a foreigner,” an outsider, even though she’s stayed in the country for years and can speak the local language fluently, she said.
她说，意大利人总是“把我看作一个外国人”，一个局外人，尽管她在这个国家呆了多年，能流利地说当地语言。