双语新闻：美国作为创新的摇篮还能维持多久?

2014-10-23 15:28:49来源：可可英语

　　And then there is the erosion of our infrastructure — physical and intellectual. James Fallows,who wrote up The Atlantic's great-inventions list (and who is an astute student of the economiccultures of the U.S. and China) worries about the dwindling of America's publicly financedresearch. The budgets of the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation andother sources of investment in the long-term basic science that undergirds practical innovationhave been slowly eroding — even before the ham-handed budget sequester and the idioticgovernment shutdown. "This is more maddening than the other most obvious problem, theneglect of physical infrastructure, because it would be so much easier to solve," Fallows toldme in an email. "Rebuilding bridges, ports, etc. takes a long time. Increasing research budgetsis an ‘it's only money' issue. The sums are small on the national budgetary scale but large intheir implications."

　　还有我们的基础设施的削弱，这既包括实体的基础设施，也包括知识上的。詹姆斯·法洛斯(James Fallows)撰写了《大西洋》月刊(The Atlantic)的伟大发明名单(他对美国和中国的经济文化也有深入的研究)。他对美国政府出资的研究的日益减少感到担忧。美国国立卫生研究院(National Institutes of Health)、国家科学基金会(National Science Foundation)的预算不断减少，长期基础科学研究的其他资金来源也在慢慢减少，而实际创新需要基础科学研究的支撑。甚至在笨拙的预算缩减和愚蠢的政府关门发生之前，这些资金就已经在减少了。法洛斯在一封邮件中告诉我，“这比其他最明显的问题，以及忽视实体的基础设施更令人抓狂，因为解决这个容易多了。重建桥梁、港口要花很长时间。增加研究预算则是花钱就能解决的问题。这些花费在全国预算中的比重很小，但是影响巨大。”

　　PROBABLY the most perverse impediment is our immigration law. Currently, Bill Aulet reports,the brightest foreign students come to M.I.T., earn degrees in high-demand disciplines (with ahealthy side order of rigorous entrepreneurship training) and then are recruited to work inCanada or Britain because they can't get an American green card. "We should be embracingthese people," Aulet said, as a source of the heterogeneity and drive that generate new ideas.

　　也许最有悖常理的障碍就是我们的移民法。比尔·奥莱特(Bill Aulet)说，目前，最聪明的外国学生来到MIT，拿到需求量最大的学科的学位(并且也会经历严格的创业训练)，接着他们会到加拿大或英国工作，因为他们得不到美国绿卡。奥莱特说，“我们应该接受这些人”，让他们成为多样性的来源和创造新想法的动力。

　　"The U.S. attracts a lot of talent," Ng agreed. "But it's very hard to stay and contribute."

　　吴昌俊同意这种观点。他说：“美国吸引了很多人才，但是这些人才很难留在这里，也无法为美国贡献才智。”

　　The comprehensive immigration bill passed by the Senate includes more immigrant visas forforeign graduates in sciences and technology and a small pilot program to admit promisingentrepreneurs. But that measure is stranded in the House, another casualty of our brokenpolitics, and another reminder that these days Washington is where bright ideas go to die.

　　参议院通过的全面的移民法案，将为更多科学和技术领域的外国毕业生提供移民签证，还会启动一项小型的试点项目，吸纳有潜力的创业者进入美国。但是这个法案却在众议院搁浅了。这个法案成为我们支离破碎的政治中的另一个牺牲品，这也提醒了我们，如今，华盛顿才是聪明想法的坟墓。

本文关键字: 美国创新的摇篮