文章以对比手法环绕吉普塞是不是一个民族/国家，可不可以取得合法地位这一中心而写。从人口上说，它的数量超过加入欧盟许多国家，应在欧盟中一席之底。但人口分散在各国，他是对抗的部落，还没有共同的语言和信仰。不像犹太人，它们没有回归的祖居地。它们成立了国际联盟，也选出了领导，在布鲁塞尔开设了办事处，想成立国会，但不知如何落实操作，只是极力游说欧盟和联合国等组织，以获得一个合法地位和发言权。这是欧盟日程表上一个问题，但欧盟等机构又担心，万一他们取得正式地位，那些国家中正闹分离和独立的民族也会提出同样的要求，就象潘多拉盒子那样，不能打开。

　　Europe’s Gypsies, Are They a Nation?

　　The striving of countries in Central Europe to enter the European Union may offer anunprecedented chance to the continent’s Gypsies (or Roman) to be recognized as a nation,albeit one without a defined territory. And if they were to achieve that they might even seeksome kind of formal place—at least a total population outnumbers that of many of the Union’spresent and future countries. Some experts put the figure at 4m-plus; some proponents ofGypsy rights go as high as 15m.

　　Unlike Jews, Gypsies have had no known ancestral land to hark back to. Though their languageis related to Hindi, their territorial origins are misty. Romanian peasants held them to be bornon the moon. Other Europeans (wrongly) thought them migrant Egyptians, hence thederivative Gypsy. Most probably they were itinerant metal workers and entertainers whodrifted west from India in the 7th century.

　　However, since communism in Central Europe collapsed a decade ago, the notion ofRomanestan as a landless nation founded on Gypsy culture has gained ground. TheInternational Romany Union, which says it stands for 10m Gypsies in more than 30 countries, isfostering the idea of “self-rallying”. It is trying to promote a standard and written form of thelanguage; it waves a Gypsy flag (green with a wheel) when it lobbies in such places as theUnited Bations; and in July it held a congress in Prague, The Czech capital. Where PresidentVaclav Havel said that Gypsies in his own country and elsewhere should have a better deal.

　　At the congress a Slovak-born lawyer, Emil Scuka, was elected president of the InternationalTomany Union. Later this month a group of elected Gypsy politicians, including members ofparliament, mayors and local councilors from all over Europe (OSCE), to discuss how topersuade more Gypsies to get involved in politics.

　　The International Romany Union is probably the most representative of the outfits that speakfor Gypsies, but that is not saying a lot. Of the several hundred delegates who gathered at itscongress, few were democratically elected; oddly, none came from Hungary, whose Gypsiesare perhaps the world’s best organized, with some 450 Gypsy bodies advising local councilsthere. The union did, however, announce its ambition to set up a parliament, but how itwould actually be elected was left undecided.

　　So far, the European Commission is wary of encouraging Gypsies to present themselves as anation. The might, it is feared, open a Pandora’s box already containing Basques, Corsicans andother awkward peoples. Besides, acknowledging Gypsies as a nation might backfire, just whenseveral countries, particularly Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, are beginning to treatthem better, in order to qualify for EU membership. “The EU’s whole premise is to overcomedifferences, not to highlight them,” says a nervous Eurocrat.

　　But the idea that the Gypsies should win some kind of special recognition as Europe’s largestcontinent wide minority, and one with a terrible history of persecution, is catching on . Gypsieshave suffered many pogroms over the centuries. In Romania, the country that still has thelargest number of them (more than 1m), in the 19th century they were actually enslaved. Hitlertried to wipe them out, along with the Jews.

　　“Gypsies deserve some space within European structures,” says Jan Marinus Wiersma, aDutchman in the European Parliament who suggests that one of the current commissionersshould be responsible for Gypsy affairs. Some prominent Gypsies say they should be moredirectly represented, perhaps with a quota in the European Parliament. That, they argue,might give them a boost. There are moves afoot to help them to get money for, among otherthings, a Gypsy university.

　　One big snag is that Europe’s Gypsies are, in fact, extremely heterogeneous. They belong tomany different, and often antagonistic, clans and tribes, with no common language or religion,Their self-proclaimed leaders have often proved quarrelsome and corrupt. Still, says,Dimitrina Petrova, head of the European Roma Rights Center in Budapest, Gypsies’ sharedexperience of suffering entitles them to talk of one nation; their potential unity, she says,stems from “being regarded as sub-human by most majorities in Europe.”

　　And they have begun to be a bit more pragmatic. In Slovakia and Bulgaria, for instance, Gypsypolitical parties are trying to form electoral blocks that could win seats in parliament. InMacedonia, a Gypsy party already has some—and even runs a municipality. Nicholas Gheorge,an expert on Gypsy affairs at the OSCE, reckons that, spread over Central Europe, there arenow about 20 Gypsy MPS and mayors, 400-odd local councilors, and a growing number ofbusinessmen and intellectuals.

　　That is far from saying that they have the people or the cash to forge a nation. But, with theGypsy question on the EU’s agenda in Central Europe, they are making ground.

　　1. The Best Title of this passage is

　　[A]. Gypsies Want to Form a Nation. [B]. AreThey a Nation.

　　[C]. EU Is Afraid of Their Growth. [C]. They Are aTribe

　　2. Where are the most probable Gypsy territory origins?

　　[A]. Most probably they drifted west from India in the 7th century.

　　[B]. They are scattered everywhere in the world.

　　[C]. Probably, they stemmed from Central Europe.

　　[D]. They probably came from the International Romany Union.

　　3. What does the International Romany lobby for?

　　[A]. It lobbies for a demand to be accepted by such international organizations as EU andUN.

　　[B]. It lobbies for a post in any international Romany Union.

　　[C]. It lobbies for the right as a nation.

　　[D]. It lobbies for a place in such international organizations as the EU or UN.

　　4. Why is the Europe Commission wary of encouraging Gypsies to present themselvesas a nation?

　　[A]. It may open a Pandora’s Box.

　　[B]. Encouragement may lead to some unexpected results.

　　[C]. It fears that the Basgnes, Corsicans and other nations seeking separation may raise thesame demand.

　　[D]. Gyspsies’ demand may highlight the difference in the EU.

　　5. The big problem lies in the fact that

　　[A]. Gypsies belong to different and antagonistic clans and tribes without a commonlanguage or religion.

　　[B]. Their leaders prove corrupt.

　　[C]. Their potential unity stems from “being regarded as sub-human”.

　　[D]. They are a bit more pragmatic.