IT WAS always meant to have been one of Barack Obama's big priorities. But along with saving the planet from global warming and closing down the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, immigration reform has slithered down the White House's to-do list as health care turned from triumph to liability. With the House of Representatives due to pass into Republican control at the beginning of next year and the Democrats' majority in the Senate due to be slashed at the same time, Mr Obama looks set to end his second year in office without having brought forward a plan for immigration reform, let alone getting one enacted. Even climate-change legislation has fared better than that.

移民改革一直都是奥巴马优先要做的大事之一。但因为医改从胜利走向了负担，紧随全球变暖与关塔那摩战俘营之后，移民改革再次搁浅。中期选举后共和党夺回众议院多数，民主党在参议院的席位也减少了，奥巴马在其任期的第二个年头看似也提不出什么移民改革计划，更别说通过了。就连最棘手的气候变化问题都比移民改革问题进展的顺利。

This is disappointing. America has at least four separate immigration problems to contend with, and on only one of them is there any progress. The four are the securing of the southern border to cut the number of illegals who cross, often risking their lives in the harsh desert; expanding the number of high-skilled foreigners that America lets in and keeps; finding a way to ensure an adequate supply of unskilled workers, perhaps through a guest-worker programme; and, trickiest of all, figuring out what to do about the 11m or so mostly Hispanic people living without authorisation inside America, many of whom have been there for decades doing jobs that Americans won't do while living in the constant fear of deportation.

这真让人失望。（就目前来说）美国至少要解决四个相互独立的移民问题，但却只有一个稍有进展。这四个问题分别是：保障南部边境安全，减少非法越境人数；增加高技术移民的人数；保障非技术工人的供给，为此或许会启动客工计划；（然而）最棘手的一个莫过于第四个，为约1100万拉美裔为主的非法移民指明出路，在美国这些人从事着美国人自己不愿干的工作长达几十年之久，却每天活在随时可能被驱逐出境的持续恐惧之中。

Ideally, all four problems would be settled at once, via a "comprehensive" reform containing something for everyone. Business types would get their hands on more software geniuses and hod-carriers. Law-and-order Republicans would get a tighter border. Democrats and Hispanic groups would be able to do the right thing by the 11m (Hispanics are reliable Democratic voters, and saved the party from an even worse drubbing at the mid-terms). In practice, though, perhaps all that can be done is to tackle the problems piecemeal.

通过照顾到每一个人的综合移民改革，一次性解决这四个问题再好不不过了。如此，各行各业都能雇到从工厂小工到软件精英他们想要的各种员工。宣扬法治的共和党则会有一个更安全的边境。而民主党人和拉美裔集团也算对得起这1100万的移民了。要知道，拉美裔移民是民主党可靠的朋友，曾在中期选举中救民主党于危难。然而回到现实中来，问题却只能各个击破。

On the border issue, there has been some success: more border guards, smarter technology, tougher requirements on employers to verify the legality of their workforce plus (unfortunately) the recession have halved the numbers caught crossing over the past five years. An increase in the number of visas available for the well-qualified could sail through the more-Republican Congress if submitted next year. A guest-worker programme is harder, but also less urgent in straitened times. Yet on the plight of the 11m, there has been no progress whatsoever. Republicans have in the past branded any attempt to regularise their position as "amnesty", an ugly word that killed the last attempt at reform in 2007.

边境问题的确取得了一些成就：五年来，由于边防人力的增加，应用更智能的技术、更严格的雇工审查，加上经济衰退（很不幸）使非法越境的人数减了一半。增加合法申请签证数量一事明年一旦提交，在今日共和党日益主导的国会通过没什么问题。然而，就目前的经济情况来说，比起前几年，客工计划通过的可能性小了，就连紧迫性也不如从前了。但无论如何，面对目前1100万非法移民的困境，两党均无所作为。过去，共和党人把任何试图将非法移民合法化的行为定性为特赦，而正是特赦使07年最后一次改革尝试夭折了。

Man up
拿出点勇气来！

Even a little bravery on this subject would be welcome. And a suitable, if small, proposal does exist, in the shape of the DREAM Act, which a bipartisan group of humane and sensible senators have been trying to get passed for a decade. It provides for young illegals to earn their citizenship by either service in the armed forces (they can sometimes do this already, but it is tricky), or by spending at least two years in higher education, both coupled with an extended period of blameless law-abiding. It is a testament to just how nasty the immigration debate has become that a measure that would bring the fearful out of the shadows, encourage tertiary education in a section of the workforce that needs more of it and supply the undermanned army with recruits has gone nowhere. House Democrats still have the votes to push the bill through their chamber before the outgoing Congress retires at the end of the year, and then dare the Republicans to block it in the Senate. If only they have the courage to say gracias.

哪怕就移民问题有一个小小的勇敢举动都会受到欢迎。两党中仁爱与开明的参议员们10年来一直致力于这么一个梦想法令，尽管有些小。该法令为年轻的非法移民提供了争取公民身份的机会，只要他们服兵役（已经有人这么做了，但对多数人来说繁操作起来并不容易）或着上两年大学，但都要求在延长期里无违法记录。这项措施能将提心吊胆的非法移民从黑暗中解救出来，能鼓励他们上大学，还能为人员不足的部队补充新兵，然而却迟迟不能落实，这恰恰证明了今天就移民问题的政治辩论是多么的扯淡。众议院民主党在年末离任国会之前仍然有有机会通过该项法案，接着共和党人会在参议院阻止。只要他们还有脸说一声谢谢。

注释：1. Guantánamo Bay ：关塔那摩监狱
2. verify：vt. 核实；查证
[ 过去式verified 过去分词verified 现在分词verifying ]
examine and verify 审核；审计
例句:
(1). He tried in every way to verify this theory.
他想一切办法来验证这个理论。
(2). Please verify each item you have pricked down.
请把你已用小记号标出的每一个项目核对一下。

3. law-abiding adj. 守法的
(1).The rule of law has kept our society open, fair and law abiding.
法治制度使我们的社会开放公平，市民奉公守法。
(2). At the same time, working gives them a sense of social responsibility and law abiding spirit in addition to improving self-discipline.
同时在劳动中可以培养其社会责任感和遵纪守法的精神。