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But for all the joys adoptive parenting can bring, the trend has also produced its own set of challenges, chief among them the question of how parents of one culture go about raising children born of another culture. And when that country is ffice:smarttags" />China, and the children are of a different race, whatresponsibilities do parents have for maintaining their children''s connections to the birth country?
要不是因为收养过程为这些好心的夫妇带来了巨大的快乐，接收外来者早就成为一种挑战压得他们不知所措了。他们面临的主要问题是，身处不同文化背景的父母该怎样教育来自异国的孩子。当孩子来自中国，来自不同于他们的种族时，为了维持孩子与祖国的联系，父母又该做些什么？
Ask Los Altos Hills residents Amy Shantz, 10, and sister Amanda, 8, about their ethnic identity and they will say they''re Chinese American. I was born in China, and my mom and dad are American, Amy explained.
当问及洛斯阿尔托斯山的居民—十岁的艾米·山兹和八岁的妹妹阿曼达的种族身份时，她们会说自己是华裔。“我出生在中国，我的爸爸、妈妈是美国人”，艾米解释道。
In 2001, one out of every four internationally adopted children in the United States was born in China, the leading country for foreign adoptions. It''s a far cry from a decade earlier, when China allowed just 61 adoptions to the United States. An adoption law in 1992 opened up the country,however -- a natural outgrowth of China''s population-control policy that resulted in more children being born than the Chinese government allowed families to keep.
Local numbers mirror the national trend. Bay Area Adoption Services, one of about a dozen Bay Area agencies handling international adoptions, has placed 500 Chinese orphans in local homes since 1991.
2001年，全美有四分之一的收养儿童来自中国。中国，是收养儿童的首选国家。十年前的中国可远不是这般景象，那时的中国只允许美国收养六十一个孩子。1992年颁布的收养法消除了人数的限止。然而，控制中国人口自然增长的政策却导致了更多婴儿的出生，超生的数量远远多于中国政府对每个家庭生育数量的限止。
而地区的生育数量往往能折射出整个民族的人口增长态势。硅谷收养服务部门是当地为数众多的管理国际收养事务的代理部门之一。该部门从1991年起,已经为五百个中国孤儿在当地找到了家。
It''s not just the availability of children that has spurred this adoption trend, but also an increased willingness of American families to consider international adoption as well as domestic.
Some say a climate of growing diversity makes the option more feasible -- interracial families are more accepted than they used to be. Others point to the waiting period for China -- up to 20 months -- as sometimes more favorable than a domestic adoption.
Some would-be parents admit to a fear that birth mothers in the United States will change their minds and want to keep their children -- and be supported by the courts in that quest.
Still others cite an affinity for another culture, and their willingness to make it a part of their lives.
其实，不单是收养资源的充分刺激了收养趋势的扩大。美国家庭逐渐愿意考虑国际及本国收养问题也是造成收养潮的原因之一。
有人说,越来越浓重的多样化氛围使人们比以前更能接纳不同种族的孩子,将其视为家中的一员。
也有人指出,从中国收养孩子时,将近二十个月的等待期限有时有益于收养程序的进行，而国内收养机构是不提供这种便利的。
不少快作父母的人承认他们担心欲收养孩子的美国母亲会改变主意,急于留下他们的孩子,甚至用法院的支持力量来达到目的。
部分人在说明收养外国儿童带给他们的至深感受时, 引用了“不同文化间密切联系”带给他们的体验。并且愿意使这种感受成为生活的一部分。
China has also been a viable choice for single parents. At one point during the last decade, one-third of the children were being adopted by single mothers and fathers, according to the group Families with Children from China.
The current influx of Chinese orphans into the United States isn''t the country''s first experience with raising Asian children. An earlier generation of Asian adoptees, now adults, came over after the Korean War.
中国成了有收养意图的单身父母的可行之选。对收养中国儿童的家庭作了调查后发现，在过去的十年里，曾一度，有三分之一的儿童被单身父亲或母亲收养了。
大量的中国孤儿涌入二十一世纪的美国，但抚养亚洲儿童早就不是什么新鲜事了。上一代被收养的亚洲儿童如今都进入了成年人的行列，这代人是在朝鲜战争后进入美国的。
But the approach of today''s parents differs markedly from that of a generation ago. Nancy Ng, a board member of the Palo Alto adoption-support group Families Adopting in Response (FAIR), has studied the lives of Korean adoptees.
It was different in those days. There was a strong sense of ''rescue'' in adoption in those times (and) much less emphasis on preserving the culture in the kids'' lives after adoption, Ng said. There was kind of a belief that, if you love kids enough, everything would be fine. They''d come and be Americans, and they would be fine. The mindset was, they''ll become one of us.
今天，父母收养子女的方式明显地不同于上一代。南希·Ng—收养问题组织the Palo Alto的一位董事，她早就开始研究朝鲜儿童的生活情况了。the Palo Alto用对收养行动作反馈的方法来表示对这种社会现象的支持，该组织又称FAIR，Families Adopting in Response的缩写。
“以前的人对收养问题持着另一种态度。战火纷飞的年代里，收养儿童被看作是一种拯救生命的壮举。如何保留孩子身上的异国特色，这在战争刚结束的美国根本不是人们的关注重心，Ng说道，“有这样一种信念，如果你给了孩子足够的爱，一切就都会好起来的。孩子们最终会融入美国社会，成为美国人。他们将在美国演绎各自辉煌的人生历程。美国人普遍认为：这群被收养的外国儿童将成为美利坚和众国的一员”。
However, research on the adopted Korean children, and writings by adoptees themselves, have revealed that growing up as the only Asian children in their families -- and sometimes hometowns -- was a far greater challenge than people expected.
Many of us considered ourselves white trapped in Asian bodies, wrote one Korean adoptee in a 1999 study conducted by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute in New York.
然而，对被收养的朝鲜儿童所作的研究及被收养者自身发表的著作显示，作为生长在美国家庭中仅有的亚洲孩子难免会经常产生思乡的情愫。这种情感的强烈程度远远地超过人们的预期，它对被收养儿童的正常生活构成了威胁。
“许多人认为自己是白人，却受制于亚洲人的躯体”，一位来自朝鲜的被收养者在一九九九年的研究著作中写道，该项研究是在纽约收养机构成员埃文B·唐纳森指导下进行的。
The survey of 170 adoptees revealed many felt confused over their identities. Growing up, more than a third considered themselves white, rather than Korean/Asian, American, or Korean American. By adulthood, the numbers had reversed, with most viewing themselves as Korean/Asian or Korean American -- although 11 percent still thought of themselves as white.
一项有170位被收养者参于的调查显示，许多被收养者对自己的身份表示困惑。随着年龄的增长，三分之一以上的人认为自己是白人，而不是朝鲜人/亚洲人，美国人或朝鲜裔美国人。不过成年后，被收养者对自己身份的看法会有很大改变。虽然仍有百分之十一的被收养者坚持认为自己是白人，但绝大部分人把自己看作朝鲜人/亚洲人或朝鲜裔美国人。
The study also revealed the majority had sought out ways as adults to learn about their heritage, from joining Korean organizations to studying the language.
Some Korean adoptees have written of their anger about their upbringing, expressing feelings of isolation and alienation. Others took a more circumspect approach, weighing the benefits and drawbacks of growing up in the United States versus South Korea.
Their experiences led professionals and families to take a hard look at the role of cultural identity in fostering a resilient sense of self.
该研究还暴露出一个现象：大多数被收养者在长大后会设法去了解自己民族的历史和文化遗产，比如参加韩国的组织学习韩国语言文化。
不过，另有部分朝鲜裔的被收养者把愤怒写进了自己的生长史。让世人了解，这段成长史带给他们的是孤立感和疏远感。 还有的朝鲜裔的被收养者在权衡了美国社会与朝鲜社会影响自己成长过程的利弊因素后，选择了审慎、明智的生活方式。
他们的生活体验导致专家和收养家庭开始注意民族文化在建立孩子富有生气的自我意识过程中起着不可忽视的作用。
As adoption support groups grew and parents talked to each other, there was an increasing awareness of the need to honor the birth country and raise them with knowledge of their birth culture, Ng said.
Although Korean and Chinese cultures are not the same, adoptions from both countries share things in common, Ng said. Most notably, the kids are readily identified as not being part of the adoptive family when they''re adopted by Caucasians.
Armed with this knowledge, parents of Chinese adoptees have taken a zealous new approach to raising their children.
“随着收养组织支持率的不断升高及养父母间的经常接触，人们开始逐渐认识到了尊重收养儿童祖国和让他们了解祖国文化的必要性”，Ng说。
尽管朝鲜文化与中国文化间存在着诸多差异，但两国儿童的收养情况有着相似之处，Ng说。最重要的是，当他们被白种人收养时，这些孩子很容易融入收养家庭。
对收养问题有了正确的认识后，养父母们采取了新颖的方式对待收养子女问题，态度也显得极为积极。
Support groups have sprung up, through which parents exchange ideas and share information. One group, called Families with Children from China, counts more than 3,000 families as members and has chapters throughout the country, including one covering the south bay and Peninsula.
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