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The failure of Asian Americans to become leaders in the white-collar workplace does not qualify as one of the burning social issues of our time. But it is a part of the bitter undercurrent of Asian American life that so many Asian graduates of elite universities find that meritocracy as they have understood it comes to an abrupt end after graduation. If between 15 and 20 percent of every Ivy League class is Asian, and if the Ivy Leagues are incubators for the country's leaders, it would stand to reason that Asians would make up some corresponding portion of the leadership class.
在白领工作场所亚裔美籍人不能成为领导的原因并不是我们这个时代的热门社会话题之谱。但是太多精英学校的亚裔美籍毕业生发现他们渐渐明白靠本领就搞定的法则在从学校毕业后就戛然而止了，这已经成为在亚裔美籍人的生活中苦涩暗流的一部分。如果每个常春藤联盟班级上15%到20%的学生是亚洲人，假设常春藤联盟是各行各业的领袖的摇篮，那么理所当然，亚洲人在领导层就应该占到相应的比例。
And yet the numbers tell a different story. According to a recent study, Asian Americans represent roughly 5 percent of the population but only 0.3 percent of corporate officers, less than 1 percent of corporate board members, and around 2 percent of college presidents. There are nine Asian American CEOs in the Fortune 500. In specific fields where Asian Americans are heavily represented, there is a similar asymmetry. A third of all software engineers in Silicon Valley are Asian, and yet they make up only 6 percent of board members and about 10 percent of corporate officers of the Bay Area" twenty-five largest companies. One succinct evocation of the situation appeared in the comments section of a website: "If you're East Asian, you need to attend a top-tier university to land a good high-paying gig. Even if you land that good high-paying gig, the white guy with the pedigree from a mediocre state university will somehow move ahead of you in the ranks simply because he's white."
但是数字却显示的是另一番景象。最新的一份调査研究显示，亚裔美籍人数大约占美国人口的5%，但是仅有0.3%是公司主管，不到1%的人是公司董事会成员，大约2%任职大学校长。财富500强排行榜上只有9位亚裔美籍CEO。在那种亚裔美国人举足轻重的特定领域，这种分布也是呈现相似的不对称性。硅谷里三分之一的软件工程师是亚洲人，而在旧金山湾区最大的25家公司内，亚洲人只占到董事会成员的6%，公司高级职员的10%。某网站上的评论中有这样一条是对这种形势的简练概括：“如染你是东亚人，你需要进人一所一流大学以便谋到高薪的职位。即使你谋到髙薪职位，那些来自中等州立大学但出身髙贵的白人职员在等级上也肯定会超过你，仅仅就因为他是白人。”
Part of the insidious nature of the "bamboo ceiling" is that it does not seem to be caused by overt racism. A survey of Asian Pacific American employees of Fortune 500 companies found that 80 percent reported they were judged not as Asians but as individuals. But only 51 percent reported the existence of Asians in key positions.
“竹天花板”防不胜防的一面在于，它似乎并不是由公然的种族歧视引起的。通过调査财富500强企业中的亚太裔美国雇员发现，80%的人声称美国公司并未将他们视为亚洲人，而是视为独立的个体。然而只有51%的人承认亚裔在美国公司内担任要职。
