yicengzhenlou

Today Indian-born Americans number 2m and they are probably the most successful minority group in the country. Compared with all other big foreign-born groups, they are younger, richer and more likely to be married and supremely well educated. On the west coast they are a mighty force in Silicon Valley; well-off Indians cluster around New York, too. “The Other One Percent” is the first major study of how this transformation happened. Filled with crunchy analysis, it exudes authority on a hugely neglected subject.
今天，出生于印度的美国人有200万，他们可能是美国最成功的少数族裔。与其他所有生于外国的主要族裔相比，他们更年轻、更富有，已婚比例更高，并受过极好的教育。在西海岸，他们是硅谷的一股强大力量，而在纽约周边也聚集着富有的印度人。《另外百分之一》（The Other One Percent）是对这种转变的由来所做的第一项大型研究，充满了详实的分析，在这个被严重忽略的课题上尽显权威。

India’s diaspora is vast, with 20m-30m people spread across the world from the Caribbean to Kenya. In colonial times many moved as labourers after Britain abolished slavery in 1833, to build the east African railway, for example. In the 1970s a second wave of workers went to the Gulf during the oil boom. Perhaps the least well known flow of Indians abroad is the one to America. It picked up after 1965, when American immigration rules were relaxed, and surged after 1990. Three-quarters of the Indian-born population in America today arrived in the last 25 years.
印度移民人数众多，从加勒比到肯尼亚，全世界有2000到3000万印度移民分布各地。在殖民时期，许多印度人在1833年英国废除奴隶制之后作为劳动力移居海外，例如参与建造东非铁路的那些印度人。20世纪70年代，第二波移民工人在石油繁荣时期涌向了波斯湾。印度人移民美国的情况也许最不为人知。移民美国的人数在1965年美国放松移民规则之后开始增加，并在1990年以后飙升。如今，出生于印度的美国居民中有四分之三是在过去25年里移民而来的。

Today a quarter or more of the Indian-born workforce is employed in the tech industry. In Silicon Valley neighbourhoods such as Fremont and Cupertino, people of Indian origin make up a fifth of the population. Some 10-20% of all tech start-ups have Indian founders; Indians have ascended to the heights of the biggest firms, too. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s boss, was born in Hyderabad. Sundar Pichai, who runs Google, the main division of the firm Alphabet, hails from Tamil Nadu.
今天，美国出生于印度的劳动力中有四分之一或更多的人在科技行业工作。在硅谷的弗里蒙特（Fremont）和库比蒂诺（Cupertino）等地区，印度裔人口占总人口的五分之一。大约10%到20%的科技创业公司有印度裔创始人， 有些印度人还登上了最大型公司的高层之位。微软的老板萨蒂亚·纳德拉（Satya Nadella）出生在海德拉巴。Alphabet主要子公司谷歌的CEO桑达尔·皮查伊（Sundar Pichai）则来自泰米尔纳德邦（Tamil Nadu）。

The authors of “The Other One Percent” have been careful to avoid the trap of explaining Indians’ success in America through their particular culture. Instead they argue it is “at its core a selection story”. Indians cannot walk across a border to America. Because of the filters of caste, class and a fiercely competitive education system, only those with above average financial and human capital get the chance to move to America. Most have travelled either as students or holders of H1-B working visas, which require a university degree, and then acquire residency. This visa system acts as a further filter.
《另外百分之一》的作者小心避免了常见的陷阱，即从印度独特的文化这一角度来解释印度人在美国的成功。相反，他们认为这种成功的“核心就是一个筛选过程”。印度与美国不接壤，人们并不能直接穿越边境到美国。由于种姓制度、阶级分化和竞争激烈的教育制度的筛选，只有具备高于平均水平的财力和工作能力的人才有机会迁移到美国。大多数人都是持学生签证或是拥有大学学位才能获得的H1-B工作签证入境，然后获得居留权。这一签证制度起到了进一步过滤的作用。