種族多元化的英國

黃薇薇

Influenced and even deceived by the presentation on mass media， people may hold the perspective that most British people are descendants of Anglo-Saxon， simply the white people， while American is a melting pot of different races， cultures and ethnicities.2 Compared with portraits3 of black people in American movies and dramas， it is indeed relatively less frequent to see black people in British TV programs and movies. The issue of multi-ethnicity in the UK is seldom considered as a hot public topic. However， evidence and reality can be drawn to support the fact that UK， like America， has already become a melting pot of different races， ethnic groups and cultures.

Migrant population was brought to America because of the huge demand of labour force in American colonies. But what trigger off4 the need of labour force varied. The farm owners in American colonies， generally white higher class sent by the Emperor， were not able to take care of cotton field and crops by themselves alone. Some smart businessmen took advantage of the disparity between supply and demand of labour and initiated the business of transporting and selling slaves to American farm owners， which led to the development and boom of slave trafficking.5 Slave traffickers kidnapped and transported black people from Africa as goods to America by stocking them under decks and laying them tightly one by one.6 Many slaves died on the way to the America. The survived slaves were presented in the open market for sale. Farm owners purchased their black human goods， overloaded them with forced work and treated them as their properties rather than human beings.7 Although the cruel system of slavery was terminated8 long time ago， black people have been fighting for their equality and human rights in America for centuries. Appreciation of African-Americans contribution to the development of America has been observed， but discrimination against African-American people and their culture and ideology can prevail in the modern society.9

Because of historical reasons， the conflict and discrimination among different races in the UK has not been as fierce as that in America.10 But there is also evidence of racial disparity and discrimination. After the Second World War， due to the lack of labour force and the urgent need to rebuild cities and to recover the economic power of the UK， a huge number of immigrants from continental Europe， Africa and West Asian countries were attracted to the UK.11 Many migrants came to the UK， to seek opportunities of development and to strive for12 a better life for both themselves and their descendants. Major proportion of migrant population was Indian people， since India was once the colony of the UK， which may explain why more Indian and Pakistan descendants than African descendants are observed in modern British society.

Some coincidence between the past and the present is still visible in both modern British and American societies， for example， stereotypes of different social classes.13 As the UK was conquered by the Roman and ruled by the French， the leading race of British ruling class has always been white， and the lower class has been other races， which shapes the social stereotypes of different races. The white people in the UK regard their social status naturally superior to others and hold the thought that they should enjoy the prestige， privilege and dignity.14 In the pursuit of prestige， self-esteem and decent life，15 descendants of ancient British higher class， mostly white people， prefer to develop their careers in offices so as to wear decent collar and tie to go to work every day. They may regard blue-collars as humble jobs.16 Ironically， this preference to mental work leads to the lack of the manual workers in modern society， which increases the demand of manual workers and consequently raises the wages for blue-collar workers.17 For example， a person who works on mass production manufacturing lines can earn more money per hour than the one who work at the reception.18 In the UK， cleaners and construction workers may make much more money than office assistants. Similar situations are present in the American society.

Limited positions of mental work are mainly occupied by white British， while immigrants， forced by living pressure and pursuit of higher income， may choose to take manual work. It is not hard to notice， according to skin color， most taxi drivers， bus drivers， outdoor stand19 sellers and cleaners are not white people but immigrants from India， Pakistan， Africa， and etc. Comparatively， in developed districts like CBDs， the majority groups are white British or half-white hybrids.20

Another representation of multi-ethnicity in the UK is the residential segregation within metropolis.21 In some big cities， like London， Birmingham， Manchester and Edinburgh， certain ethnic groups feature some residential areas.22 Since I lived in Manchester and London before， I will take London and Manchester for examples. In both cities， the majority of Chinese immigrants and their children live around China Town， the areas around which are famous for its Chinese style. In the other street where many Indian shops and restaurants are established， people may think they are traveling in India when they wander around that area， because they are overwhelmed by buildings，23 shops， restaurants and music of Indian style. Besides， most of the residents living there are Indian immigrants and their descendants， so most passers-by are not white British but people with brown skin colour. But when they talk to people， the former impression disappeared immediately. As they have settled down in the UK， some of their second generations regard themselves as British rather than Indian. One of my classmates was an Indian girl. But she firmly claimed she was British when we were talking about nationality， because she was born and raised in the UK.

As the globalization and internationalization of the whole world is in progress， there is no doubt that the level of multi-ethnicity in the UK is going to be higher and higher.

在大眾的認識中，種族問題在美國比英國更受矚目，但人們往往忽略了美國是受過曠日持久的民權(quán)運動洗禮的國家，但英國的種族問題卻因得不到重視而暗流涌動。然而和美國相似，英國的種族問題也與歷史、殖民、移民等問題息息相關(guān)，反映在經(jīng)濟、社會地位、文化等各個方面的不平等和歧視上，也導(dǎo)致了種種社會矛盾和隱患。

1. multi-ethnic： 多種族的。

2. 受大眾媒體描述的影響甚至蒙蔽，人們也許持有這樣的觀點：大多數(shù)英國人是盎格魯-撒克遜的后代，簡單說就是白人，而美國是多人種、文化及種族的大熔爐。deceive： 欺騙；perspective： 觀點；descendant： 后代；Anglo-Saxon： 盎格魯-撒克遜，五至六世紀入侵不列顛的古代北歐日耳曼諸部族，包括盎格魯人、撒克遜人和朱特人；melting pot： 熔爐；race： 人種；ethnicity： 種族。

3. portrait： 描寫。

4. trigger off： 引起，激起。

5. 一些聰明的生意人利用勞動力供求之間的差異，開始向美國的農(nóng)場主運送和販賣奴隸，導(dǎo)致了奴隸走私貿(mào)易的發(fā)展和興盛。disparity： 不同，不一致；initiate： 開始；boom： 繁榮，暴漲；trafficking： 非法交易。

6. kidnap： 綁架；stock： 放（常用在牲畜上）；deck： 甲板；lay： 放置。

7. purchase： 購買；overload sb. with： 用……使某人負擔(dān)過重；properties： 財產(chǎn)，財物。

8. terminate： 廢除，終止。

9. 非裔美國人對于美國發(fā)展做出的貢獻是得到了肯定，但針對非裔美國人及其文化和意識形態(tài)的歧視在現(xiàn)代社會中依然盛行。ideology： 意識形態(tài)； prevail： 占上風(fēng)，盛行。

10. conflict： 沖突；fierce： 激烈的。

11. 第二次世界大戰(zhàn)之后，由于勞動力的緊缺和重建城市、恢復(fù)英國經(jīng)濟實力的迫切需求，大量來自歐洲大陸、非洲及西亞的移民被吸引過來。

12. strive for： 力求。

13. coincidence： 巧合，一致； visible： 明顯的，看得見的； stereotype： 刻板印象。

14. superior to： 優(yōu)于，比……優(yōu)越；prestige： 聲望；privilege： 特權(quán)；dignity： 尊嚴。

15. in the pursuit of： 追求……； self-esteem： 自尊；decent： 體面的。

16. regard： 把……看作；humble： （級別或地位）低下的。

17. 諷刺的是，這種對腦力工作的偏好導(dǎo)致了現(xiàn)代社會體力勞動者的緊缺，因此增加了體力工作者的需求，結(jié)果導(dǎo)致了藍領(lǐng)工作的工資提高。ironically： 諷刺的是；manual worker： 體力勞動者；blue-collar worker： 藍領(lǐng)工人，即體力勞動者或技工。

18. mass production manufacturing line： 大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)制造線； reception： 前臺，接待處。

19. stand： 攤位。

20. CBD： 是Central Business District的簡稱，商務(wù)中心區(qū)；hybrid： 混血兒。

21. residential segregation： 居住隔離；metropolis： 大都市。

22. Birmingham： 伯明翰；Manchester： 曼徹斯特；Edinburgh： 愛丁堡； feature： v. 作……的特征，以……為主要內(nèi)容。

23. wander around： 在……周邊漫步；be overwhelmed by： 被……淹沒。