时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2016年(一月)


英语课

President Obama Plans First Visit to Detroit Auto 1 Show 奥巴马总统计划首次参观底特律车展


DETROIT, MICHIGAN—


On the sprawling 2 floor of Detroit’s Cobo Center, site of the 2016 North American International Auto Show, the latest and greatest vehicles, and the technology going into them, are at center stage for the international press.


Amid the glitz and glamour 3 and shiny metal and chrome of this annual ritual for the automotive world, it’s easy to forget how close the U.S. auto industry came to complete collapse 4.


“When I was here in 2008, 2009, there was just a sense of depression, frankly 5, and fear,” describes U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat 6. “Because we weren’t sure what was going to happen.”


Stabenow’s colleague in the U.S. Senate, Gary Peters, also a Democrat from Michigan, remembers just how dire 7 the situation was. “When we would walk around this auto show in 2008 and 2009 we weren’t sure if some of these automakers would survive, whether or not General Motors and Chrysler would be around.”


In the frigid 8 Detroit winter of January 2009, the scene outside the Cobo Center reflected those concerns. At the time, General Motors and Chrysler, two of the big three U.S. automakers, were on the verge 9 of bankruptcy 10, iced by an economic downturn that forced many Americans to skip new vehicle purchases. Just over 13 million new vehicles left dealer 11 lots in the U.S. in 2008. By 2009 that number dipped to just above 10 million.


Comeback from life support


Assembly lines halted, and thousands of workers like Frank Warren were laid off. “The event that led to my latest round of layoffs 12 was a bunch of bad decisions being made by a bunch of executives being overpaid themselves,” he explained. “We had no idea we were on the verge of bankruptcy.”


The solution to the meltdown was for the U.S. government to finance loans to the struggling U.S. automakers.


“All we’re asking for is some help here, and they call it a bailout,” said Daimler Chrysler employee Keith Kennedy at the time. “They’re not bailing 13 anybody out. It’s a loan.”


“In the 2008 meltdown, the auto industry was on life support,” says University of Michigan Law Professor John Pottow, who describes the U.S. government’s role in the crisis. “They basically came in as if they were a giant hedge fund, and said, we’re going to let you borrow some money on our bankruptcy terms, and that will be enough to fund your restructuring.”


The plan had its detractors.


“No amount of government stimulation 14 is ever going get us back on our feet," said Tea Party supporter Jeff McQueen during an organized protest against the loans outside Cobo Center during the 2010 North American International Auto Show.


Risky 15 move


Senator Gary Peters says the loans were indeed a risky move for President Barack Obama, who succeeded President George W. Bush as the meltdown in the auto industry accelerated. “Had that disappeared, and with the loans, it would have been catastrophic for him. He may not have been able to survive a re-election.”


Peters served as member of the U.S. House of Representatives at the time of the crisis, and was part of the Michigan delegation 16 urging the president to act to save those auto companies in trouble.


“We all fought very aggressively to make sure that the funding was available for our companies to get through a very tough time and President Obama made some tough decisions,” Peters told VOA during an interview at the 2016 North American International Auto Show. “He was attacked by a lot of folks around the country who thought he should not help the auto industry.”


Pottow says the auto industry today may have looked very different if the Obama administration listened to those recommendations. “We might have shut one or two of them down had things gone the other way.”


But the government’s involvement was immediately clear to General Motors employee Matt Slade, who credits the loans with saving his job. "They kept thousands of people, especially in Michigan and the metro 17 Detroit area, working,” he told VOA in an interview in 2010. “It's not the perfect scenario 18; however, it did save our industry.”


Fast forward to 2015


“We’re coming off of the best sales year ever for American vehicles, ever, for 2015,” explains Senator Debbie Stabenow. “We’re totally back.”


Back, but not the same.


While many assembly lines in the region are busy churning out new, more fuel-efficient vehicles, the restructuring led to the elimination 19 of several brands altogether, such as GM’s Pontiac and Hummer.


Although employment figures for the Big 3 U.S. automakers in Detroit are close to their pre-recession numbers, U.S. Senator Gary Peters says they are still down from recent highs.


“Even though they are making more cars, you don’t see the kind of increases in employment you would have seen in years past,” says Peters.


“A lot of people are back working in the industry,” says Stabenow. “A lot of people are back working in the parts supplier industry. We actually have more jobs in the parts suppliers than we do the manufacturers themselves.”


Those brands that remain are now the showpieces of more advanced, marketable automotive technology, and that’s what’s fueling the resurgence 20 of jobs in Michigan, says Kevin Kerrigan, Senior Vice 21 President with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.


“Seventy-six percent of the research and development money that is spent in the U.S. is spent here in Michigan,” he says.


“I think innovation, I think technology, I think the bigger picture [is] what consumers are going to want down the road, are the true driving factor in what saved the auto industry,” says U.S. automotive expert Michael Caudill from the floor of this year’s Auto Show. “I think the auto industry saved itself.”


When President Obama visits the 2016 North American International Auto Show on January 20, he will get an up-close look at the newest technology and innovations in an industry his administration is partially 22 responsible for saving, says University of Michigan professor John Pottow.


“President Bush started it, President Obama took it and ran with it,” he explains. “I do think they get credit because I do think there was a very significant possibility, certainly some people were advising, that you should just let the car companies fail, let them go their own way. And by backing them with that restructure, with that necessary capital, was the money that they needed to keep surviving; you do see healthy, smaller to be sure, but still healthy car companies.”



n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车
  • Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
  • The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。
adj.蔓生的,不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 );蔓延;杂乱无序地拓展;四肢伸展坐着(或躺着)
  • He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
  • a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇
n.魔力,魅力;vt.迷住
  • Foreign travel has lost its glamour for her.到国外旅行对她已失去吸引力了。
  • The moonlight cast a glamour over the scene.月光给景色增添了魅力。
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷
  • The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
  • The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说
  • To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说,我一点也不赞成这个主意。
  • Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说,我不反对改革。
n.民主主义者,民主人士;民主党党员
  • The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
  • About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后,他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。
adj.可怕的,悲惨的,阴惨的,极端的
  • There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
  • We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了,但是我们渡过了困难。
adj.寒冷的,凛冽的;冷淡的;拘禁的
  • The water was too frigid to allow him to remain submerged for long.水冰冷彻骨,他在下面呆不了太长时间。
  • She returned his smile with a frigid glance.对他的微笑她报以冷冷的一瞥。
n.边,边缘;v.接近,濒临
  • The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
  • She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。
n.破产;无偿付能力
  • You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产,就必须节省开支。
  • His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。
n.商人,贩子
  • The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
  • The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。
临时解雇( layoff的名词复数 ); 停工,停止活动
  • Textile companies announced 2000 fresh layoffs last week. 各纺织公司上周宣布再次裁员两千人。
  • Stock prices broke when the firm suddenly announced layoffs. 当公司突然宣布裁员时,股票价格便大跌
(凿井时用吊桶)排水
  • Both fountains were going furiously and both pumps bailing with might and main. 两个人的口水只管喷泉似地朝外涌,两个抽水机全力以赴往外抽水。
  • The mechanical sand-bailing technology makes sand-washing operation more efficient. 介绍了机械捞砂的结构装置及工作原理,提出了现场操作注意事项。
n.刺激,激励,鼓舞
  • The playgroup provides plenty of stimulation for the children.幼儿游戏组给孩子很多启发。
  • You don't get any intellectual stimulation in this job.你不能从这份工作中获得任何智力启发。
adj.有风险的,冒险的
  • It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险,但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
  • He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。
n.代表团;派遣
  • The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
  • We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。
n.地铁;adj.大都市的;(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国,主要经营零售)
  • Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗?
  • The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。
n.剧本,脚本;概要
  • But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
  • This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。
n.排除,消除,消灭
  • Their elimination from the competition was a great surprise.他们在比赛中遭到淘汰是个很大的意外。
  • I was eliminated from the 400 metres in the semi-finals.我在400米半决赛中被淘汰。
n.再起,复活,再现
  • A resurgence of his grief swept over Nim.悲痛又涌上了尼姆的心头。
  • Police say drugs traffickers are behind the resurgence of violence.警方说毒贩是暴力活动重新抬头的罪魁祸首。
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
adv.部分地,从某些方面讲
  • The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
  • The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静,宵禁部分解除。
学英语单词
(terthiophen)yl
abettal
activation block
aglyconic
Almquist unit
amount limit
at-class
automatic sensing display flag
Auvergnese
Boltzman distribution law
chromizes
cobefrin
common emitter junction phototransistor
compass of competency
cotton scarlet
current weighted index
dangl
debused
delayed plan position indicator
deodorization by water wash
digital audio workstation
duterte
dysostosis enchondralis metaepiphysaria
ectendotrophic mycorrhiza
exterior trim
facies sphenomaxillaris
first-aid surgery
front connection type
fullwave rectifier
gamma-loop
garbage-fired boiler
gas train
gigatesla
gradient charge
gummatous proctitis
halfcycle
hanlawhile
heterotropia
high sensibility tester
hoon
ice thrust
inner-bark borer
insistency
integrated programming environment
ketocaine
Kouilou, Rég. du
lake inlet
lateralisation
leak finding
let me
lipofibromatosis
loess-like loam
low yield per mu
masking film
MCA (maximum credible accident)
media necrosis
methylpiperidinopyrazole
microreactor activity
mid-mounted mower
moral framework
nanoswitches
nonperpendicularity
nucleophilic gene
observable vector
oratosquilla fabricii
over-exerted
Pandaceae
paper-grade talc
passive transport
phon(o)-
Piseco
polychrones
prefix expression
primary high explosive
pustuloulcerating
Puyehue, Vol.
recuperation heat
ren lobatus
rotary scanning spectroscope
Rupert Brooke
seed longevity
serum prothrombin
served as
sighting telescope
smelt up
solar absorption refrigerating machine
symmetrize
tackle purchase
tend-toward
tetramates
Tinia
transfer standard
tunica albuginea corporis spongiosi penis
UNIF (uniformity)
upward-stroke
urkel
viscotiol
wash-water
water in oil test
water-immiscible
well-tanned
young tableau