UNIT 4

Text 1

When a Bangladeshi man goes to work on a construction site in the Middle East, his wife typically moves in with her husband's family. Not all wives enjoy this. They sweat in a strange kitchen, take care of a bossy mother-in-law and see their husbands only for a few weeks each year. And although their husbands send home plenty of money, they often send it to their parents, not their wives. Migration creates losers as well as winners.

But the gains vastly outweigh the losses, as Ian Goldin, Geoffrey Cameron and Meera Balarajan make plain in their new book, Exceptional People. If rich countries were to admit enough migrants from poor countries to expand their own labor forces by a mere 3%, the world would be richer, according to one estimate, by $356 billion a year. Migration is the most effective tool yet devised for reducing global poverty.

The same worker can earn 15 times as much if he or she moves from say, Yemen to the United States. And the emotional costs of leaving home, though still hefty, are much lighter than they were. A 19th-century Russian emigrant might never see or speak to his family again. A 21st-century migrant can Skype them in the taxi from the airport. Increasing mobility combined with cheaper communications means that in the future, "the global community is becoming connected in a manner not experienced since our small-world evolutionary origins in Africa."

In this book, Mr Goldin and his co-authors give an accurate but readable guide to the costs and benefits of modern migration. Poor countries may suffer when they lose their best brains to the West. But the prospect of migrating spurs people in poor countries to acquire marketable skills. Some then decide not to migrate after all. Others spend several years abroad but then return home with new skills, new contacts and a pot of savings to invest. Overall, the brain drain actually helps poor countries.

Immigration is unpopular in rich countries because people overestimate its costs and underestimate its benefits. An influx of unskilled migrants may drag down the wages of unskilled natives, but this effect is "very small at most, and may be irrelevant", according to a number of different studies. Migrants often create employment for natives. Indian entrepreneurs in San Francisco create new technology firms. Migrants come when their services are wanted and stay away when they are not.

More generally, the authors predict a future of labor shortages in rich countries which only migration can solve. As Europe and America age, they will need more young and energetic nurses, housekeepers and cleaners. The demand for highly skilled workers will grow too, and countries will start to compete more fiercely for mobile talent. Migration will "define our future", the authors say.

1. It is suggested in Paragraph 1 that______.

[A] wives lose freedom, but their migrant husbands gain money

[B] migration can bring losses, but create benefits as well

[C] some people get rich through migration, but others do not

[D] migration benefits rich countries, but does harm to poor ones

2. The authors of Exceptional People may believe that______.

[A] migrants are talents who should not be neglected

[B] migrants benefit both the rich and poor countries

[C] rich countries should finance poor countries

[D] rich countries are running short of labor forces now

3. It can be inferred from Paragraph 3 that______.

[A] migrants are more popular in America than in other rich countries

[B] migrants nowadays may not be as homesick as those in the past

[C] modern technology has relieved the emotional loss of migration

[D] Africa is the joint point connecting all the countries in the world

4. We can learn from Paragraph 4 that migration will______.

[A] bring more harm than benefit to poor countries because of brain drain

[B] enhance migrants' skills and promote investment in poor countries

[C] end up with the migrant workers returning home from the West

[D] help migrants use new contacts to start business abroad

5. The immigrants in wealthy countries______.

[A] bring no benefit but competition

[B] will be urgently needed due to labor shortage

[C] have created a large part of value

[D] won't leave unless they are out of work