China has overtaken the UK to become Australia’s biggest source of migrants in an historic shift that underlines the strengthening ties between the two Asia Pacific nations.

　　中国已经超越英国，成为澳大利亚最大的移民来源国。这一历史性转变突显了这两个亚太国家关系的不断增强。

　　Migrants from China jumped a fifth to nearly 30,000 out of Australia’s total annual intake of 168,685, according to government figures published on Wednesday.

　　据周三公布的政府数据显示，2010-11年度来自中国的移民上升了20%，达到近3万人，而同期澳大利亚吸纳的移民总数为168685人。

　　The rise comes at a time when Australia is grappling with skilled worker shortages, especially in its booming mining and energy industries that are investing record sums to meet China’s demands for commodities and fuel. China is Australia’s biggest two-way trading partner.

　　澳大利亚近年来正努力解决熟练工人短缺的问题，尤其是在其蓬勃发展的采矿业与能源业，澳大利亚正在这两个行业大举投资，以满足中国对大宗商品与燃料的需求。中国移民数量的攀升正是在此背景下发生的。中国是澳大利亚最大的双边贸易伙伴。

　　Australia’s jobless rate has flat-lined this year at about 4.9 per cent, considered close to full employment, and the government has forecast it will fall to 4.5 per cent in 2013.

　　澳大利亚今年的失业率几乎与去年持平，在4.9%左右（被认为接近充分就业），而政府预测到2013年失业率将下降到4.5%。

　　The greater migrant numbers from China helped offset the continued decline from the UK, where numbers fell for a fifth straight year to slightly less than 24,000. India, now Australia’s third biggest migrant source, has also declined in recent years and fell 6 per cent to 21,768.

　　中国移民数量的增加帮助抵消了英国移民数量的持续下降——来自英国的移民数量已连续第五年下降，跌至2.4万人以下。澳大利亚如今的第三大移民来源国——印度的移民数量近年来也出现了下降，本年度降幅为6%，移民总数为21768人。

　　Australia's image in India was tarnished by a string of brutal Indian student bashings in 2009, while Canberra has also cracked down on disreputable vocational education schools that were temporarily used by foreign students, including those from India, to attain working visas.

　　澳大利亚在印度的形象，因2009年一系列在澳印度学生遭暴力袭击事件而受到了破坏。与此同时，澳洲政府还对外国学生（包括来自印度的学生）暂时选择就读，以获取工作签证的不良职业教育学校进行了取缔。

　　Chris Bowen, the Australian immigration minister, said the bulk of the new arrivals in the 2010-11 migration programme were skilled workers.

　　澳大利亚移民部长克里斯?鲍恩(Chris Bowen)表示，2010-11年移民计划吸纳的移民，大多数都是熟练工人。

　　"Skilled migrants deliver significant benefits … as their employment contributes to economic growth and their relative youth offsets some of the impacts of the ageing labour force," he said.

　　“熟练工移民为澳大利亚经济带来了重大利益……他们的工作为经济增长做出了贡献，而且他们相对年轻，这抵消了澳大利亚劳动力老龄化的部分影响，”他表示。

　　Mr Bowen is locked in a legal battle over Canberra’s plan to deport 800 asylum seekers entering Australian waters illegally by boat to Malaysia in exchange for 4,000 of its refugees.

　　鲍恩眼下还忙着一起有关澳政府遣送难民的法律诉讼。澳政府计划将乘船进入澳洲水域寻求政治避难的800名非法偷渡客，遣送回马来西亚，以交换马来西亚的4000名难民。

　　The top occupations in the skilled migrants stream were accountants, computing professionals, cooks and registered nurses.

　　 熟练工移民中，排名最靠前的几个职业分别是会计师、计算机专业人士、厨师以及注册护士。