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  3. This is not a good time to be foreign. Anti-immigrant parties are gaining ground in Europe. Britain has been fretting this week

This is not a good time to be foreign. Anti-immigrant parties are gaining ground in Europe. Britain has been fretting this week

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问题     This is not a good time to be foreign. Anti-immigrant parties are gaining ground in Europe. Britain has been fretting this week over lapses in its border controls. In America Barack Obama has failed to deliver the immigration reform he promised, and Republican presidential candidates would rather electrify the border fence with Mexico than educate the children of illegal aliens. America educates foreign scientists in its universities and then expels them, a policy the mayor of New York calls "national suicide".
    This illiberal turn in attitudes to migration is no surprise. It is the result of cyclical economic gloom combined with a secular rise in pressure on rich countries’ borders. But governments now weighing up whether or not to try to slam the door should consider another factor; the growing economic importance of Diasporas, and the contribution they can make to a country’s economic growth.
    Diaspora networks—of Huguenots, Scots, Jews and many others—have always been a potent economic force, but the cheapness and ease of modern travel has made them larger and more numerous than ever before. There are now 215m first-generation migrants around the world: that’s 3% of the world’s population. If they were a nation, it would be a little larger than Brazil. There are more Chinese people living outside China than there are French people in France. Some 22m Indians are scattered all over the globe. Small concentrations of ethnic and linguistic groups have always been found in surprising places—Lebanese in West Africa, Japanese in Brazil and Welsh in Patagonia , for instance—but they have been joined by newer ones, such as west Africans in southern China.
    These networks of kinship and language make it easier to do business across borders.   Theyspeed the flow of information. Trust matters, especially in emerging markets where the rule of law is weak. So does a knowledge of the local culture. And modern communications make these networks an even more powerful tool of business.
    Diasporas also help spread ideas. Many of the emerging world’s brightest minds are educated at Western universities. An increasing number go home, taking with them both knowledge and contacts. Indian computer scientists in Bangalore bounce ideas constantly off their Indian friends in Silicon Valley. China’s technology industry is dominated by "sea turtles" (Chinese who have lived a-broad and returned).
    Diasporas spread money, too. Migrants into rich countries not only send cash to their families; they also help companies in their host country operate in their home country. A Harvard Business School study shows that, American companies that employ lots of ethnic Chinese people find it much easier to set up in China without a joint venture with a local firm.
    Such arguments are unlikely to make much headway against hostility towards immigrants in rich countries. Fury against foreigners is usually based on two (mutually incompatible) notions; that because so many migrants claim welfare they are a drain on the public purse; and that because they are prepared to work harder for less pay they will depress the wages of those at the bottom of the pile. The first is usually not true (in Britain, for instance, immigrants claim benefits less than indigenous people do) , and the second is hard to establish either way. Some studies do indeed suggest that competition from unskilled immigrants depresses the wages of unskilled locals. But others find this effect to be small or non-existent.
    Nor is it possible to establish the impact of migration on overall growth. The sums are simply too difficult. Yet there are good reasons for believing that it is likely to be positive. Migrants tend to be hard-working and innovative. That spurs productivity and company formation. A recent study carried out by Duke University showed that, while immigrants make up an eighth of America’s population , they founded a quarter of the country’s technology and engineering firms. And, by linking the West with emerging markets, Diasporas help rich countries to plug into fast-growing economies.
    Rich countries are thus likely to benefit from looser immigration policy; and fears that poor countries will suffer as a result of a "brain drain" are overblown. The prospect of working abroad spurs more people to acquire valuable skills, and not all subsequently emigrate. Skilled migrants send money home, and they often return to set up new businesses. One study found that unless they lose more than 20% of their university graduates, the brain drain makes poor countries richer.
It can be inferred from the passage that______
选项 A、Immigrants are prepared to work harder for less pay, which can stimulate the locals to work even harder.
B、With the increasing number of Diasporas, they will form a new nation in the world.
C、The number of skilled migrants returning home is increasing.
D、The networks of kinship and language contribute to international business by taking advantage of legal loopholes.
答案C
解析 从文章第五段中可知“An increasing number go home，taking with them both knowledge and contacts”，因此C选项说“要回国的技术移民数量正在增加”是正确的。A选项后半句“which can stimulate the locals to work harder”文中没有提供相关线索，无法推断，因此A项不正确。文中第三段只是提到如果这些移民组成一个国家，这个国家将“a little larger than Brazil”，而B项后半句说这些移民将成立一个新国家是没有判断依据的，因此B项不正确。D项旨在考查对第四段“Trust matters，especially in emerging markets where the rule of law is weak”的理解。它是指信任很重要，特别是在新兴市场，通常法制薄弱。而D项由此推断这种“The networks of kinship and language”通过利用法律漏洞来促进国际商务贸易是不正确的。
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