民族特性

　　人们常说美国是个大熔炉，能熔化移民到美国的各个种族和民族。据本文作者介绍，英国简直也是一个种族和民族的熔炉，现在的新生儿，每五个中至少有一个是黑人和白人的混血儿（俗称chocolate baby"巧克力宝宝"）。种族主义并未销声匿迹，而是随着经济形势的好坏时起时落。作者预计50年后英国少数民族的特性大部分将会丧失。作为一个"对自己的文化根源深感自豪的民族社区"，英国华人能保持自己的民族身份吗？

　　I find it easiest to look forwards by looking back, to the "Great Labour Migration"1 of 1948-55, seenat the time as a matter of2 black guests coming to a white host. It's a quasi-imperial3 perception that4 has shifted since the 1970s, but the social problems and deficiencies it engendered dog5 us still.

　　It's highly questionable whether Britain is an open society even now. Against6 the upward trend in the 1980s of ethnic minorities breaking into the professions and the media must be set objective evidence of a very racist society7. Since the Stephen Lawrence affair8 the government has at least been talking about the existence of racism, but it's always the case that racism diminishes in times of prosperity. When the economic going gets tough9, people want someone to take their feelings out on10.

　　The social landscape11 seems to me at a surreal crossroads. Britain fosters images of itself as homogeneous12 ？to be white is no longer the central defining feature？but there remain various kinds of "Britishness". So I can envisage the future in two very different ways.

　　The first is broadly the way Britain is at the moment: a mosaic of communities13 ？Bangladeshi, Afro-Caribbean, Chinese or Jewish holding fast to a strong social identity, but lumbered also with14 a whole raft of15 benefits and disadvantages, most of them defined in economic terms16. It's possible that will still be the pattern in 50 years time, but not very likely.

　　Instead17, I expect the old duality of a "host community" and "immigrants" whose bad luck it is to be excluded and disadvantaged to have vanished18. Some ethnic communities may make a point of19 survival, but only those who are most proud of their cultural roots.

　　The alternative20 is a pick-and-mix social landscape. At the moment ethnic minorities are moving in different directions at different rates, with personal and social engagement across ethnic boundaries increasing all the time. One crude indicator is the level of mixed-race marriage: one in five Bangladeshi and Pakistani men born in Britain now has a white wife, and one in five babies born in Britain has one Afro-Caribbean and one white parent.

　　This implies a Britain in which people will21 construct multiple identities defined by all sorts of factors: class, ethnicity, gender, religion, profession, culture and economic position. It22 won't be clear-cut. Not all ethnic minorities, or members of an ethnic minority, will be moving in the same direction or identifying the same issues at the heart of their identities. It's about deciding who you are, but also about how other people define you.

　　That's what will be at the heart of the next 50 years: enduring communities linked by blood through time versus23 flexible, constantly shifting identities. Identity won't be about where you have come from； it will be a set of values you can take anywhere that is compatible with24 full participation in whichever society you live in.

　　（From CAM: Cambridge Alumni Magazine, No. 28, 1999）

　　民族特性

　　我发觉展望未来的最简便方法是回顾过去。1948-55年的"劳工大迁移"在当时被视为黑皮肤客人来到白皮肤主人家。这种带有帝国意识的看法自20世纪70年代以来已有转变，不过它产生的诸多社会问题和缺陷依然跟随着我们。

　　即便到现在英国是不是个开放社会仍令人怀疑。鉴于少数民族打入专业性职业和媒体在20世纪80年代已呈上升趋势，必须拿出客观证据才能说社会上有严重的种族歧视。斯蒂文。劳伦斯事件后，政府至少一直在谈论种族主义的存在，但情况总是:每逢经济繁荣，种族主义问题便减少；每逢经济不景气，人们就想拿什么人撒气。

　　在我看来，社会形势正处于一个超现实的十字路口。英国总让人觉得它是个单一民族国家――尽管白皮肤不再是英国人的核心定义性特征，但仍存在各种"英国人特性".因此我可以把未来设想成两种截然不同的局面。

　　一种大体是英国目前的样子:马赛克式的多元社区――孟加拉人、非洲裔加勒比人、华人或犹太人，各自保持其牢靠的社会身份，但也受一大堆好处和坏处的拖累，这些利弊大多是经济方面的。五十年后可能仍是这种格局，但可能性不太大。

　　相反，我预计"主流社区"和"外来移民"（其厄运就是受排挤和吃亏）那种老的二元结构到时候将会消失。一些少数民族社区可能会力求生存，但只会是那些对自己的文化根源深感自豪的社区。

　　可能性较大的是出现一种拼凑式的社会局面。少数民族目前正以不同速度朝不同方向发展，个人及社会跨越民族界线的交往一直在增加。一个显而易见的标志就是异族通婚的程度:英国出生的孟加拉裔和巴基斯坦裔男子现在有五分之一娶了白人妻子，英国出生的婴儿有五分之一父母一方是非洲裔加勒比人另一方是白种人。

　　这就意味着在英国人们将构建由阶级、民族、性别、宗教、职业、文化和经济地位等各种因素界定的多重身份，结果不会一清二楚。并非所有少数民族（或少数民族的成员）都将朝同一方向发展，或认定同一些问题构成他们身份的核心。这关系到决定自己是谁，也关系到别人如何界定自己。

　　这就是今后五十年的核心问题:一方面是靠长期血缘关系而延续的各个社区，一方面是灵活而不断转变的各种身份。身份将不是你来自哪里的问题；而是一套你可以带到任何地方的价值观，不论你生活在哪个社会，它都不妨碍你完全加入。

　　（选自《剑桥校友杂志》1999年第28期）

　　1. Great Labour Migration:英国在二战之后由于缺乏劳动力，从海外，特别是加勒比地区、孟加拉和巴基斯坦，招募了大量劳工，史称"劳工大迁移".

　　2. a matter of:这里'一件……事'的意思不必译出。

　　3. quasi-imperial perception: '准帝国观念'也就是"带有帝国意识的看法".

　　4. It's …… that……:这里如按定语从句来译，中文读起来不自然。

　　5. dog:动词，意思是'尾随，缠'.

　　6. against:这里的意思是'在……的背景下'，可以译成"鉴于".

　　7. Against …… society:这是一个倒装句，正常语序是Objective evidence …… must be set against the upward trend ……。作者显然不认为英国存在严重的种族主义，因此这句话得译成"鉴于……，必须拿出客观证据才能说社会上有严重的种族歧视。"

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