VOA标准英语2009年-Australian Lawmaker Urges Immigration Cuts

An Australian legislator has called for a sharp reduction in the number of immigrants allowed in the country, along with more rigorous background checks on new settlers. The intent is to determine whether immigrants from Africa or the Middle East have links to fundamentalist groups.

Last week, several Australians of Somali and Lebanese backgrounds were charged with plotting a suicide attack on a military base.
　
Illegal migrants from Afghanistan who want to go to Australia sit on the floor as they wait for questioning at the immigration office in Cilegon, Indonesia (File)

The arrests have raised concerns among some that extremist groups may be seeking to establish themselves in Australia through immigrants from Muslim or predominantly-Muslim nations.

Australian lawmaker Kelvin Thomson has called for a sharp reduction in the number of immigrants allowed in the country and more rigorous background checks on new settlers. He says the intention is to determine whether immigrants from certain nations in Africa or the Middle East have links to fundamentalist groups.

"Given time, it would be possible to get to the bottom of the background of applicants¹ from Somalia and elsewhere and work out whether they have any association with fundamentalist groups and make a rational assessment² of whether they pose a risk," said Thomson. "Reducing our rates of immigration intake³ to the rates prevailing⁴ back in the 1990s would provide authorities with much more time in which to assess applications, and thereby⁵ improve Australia's security."

Refugee advocates, however, believe that such an approach would be short-sighted and biased⁶.

They make the point that in the past most terror suspects here have been born in Australia to white, European families.

"Often the majority of suspects in terrorism cases, they're often born in Australia and often they're from Anglo-Saxon backgrounds, as we've seen with some of the high profile cases over the last few years," said Peter van Vliet, the director of the Federation⁷ of Ethnic⁸ Communities Councils of Australia.

Last year more than 400,000 new settlers arrived in Australia. Among them were foreign students as well as temporary and permanent migrants. The number of skilled migrant workers has recently been reduced due to the global economic slowdown.

Official figures show that the new-comers came from more than 200 countries, with the largest groups arriving from Great Britain, New Zealand, China, India and Italy.

Australia also re-settles around 13,000 refugees every year under official humanitarian⁹ schemes.

1 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

2 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

3 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

4 prevailing   

adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的

参考例句：

• She wears a fashionable hair style prevailing in the city.她的发型是这个城市流行的款式。
• This reflects attitudes and values prevailing in society.这反映了社会上盛行的态度和价值观。

5 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

6 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

7 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

8 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

9 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。