VOA标准英语2012--More Women Starting Businesses in US
时间：2018-12-16 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2012年(十月)
More Women Starting Businesses in US
A few decades ago, this truck would likely have belonged to a company owned by a man. But it actually belongs to Barbara Ayers.
She is president and CEO of Apple Transfer, based in Fredericksburg, Virginia, which helps move households and businesses all across the United States, and overseas.
Ayers started the company with her brother in 1988.
"We started out, it was just my brother and me, and we actually had one small truck," Ayers recalls. "He did the moving, and I took care of the office."
Today, she oversees 1 a fleet of trucks and a large storage facility, and employs up to 100 people during peak moving season.
Ana Harvey of the U.S. Small Business Administration says women-owned businesses in the U.S. are flourishing.
"If you think about 1979, only 5 percent of privately 2 owned businesses in this country were owned by women," Harvey notes. "So here we are, in almost 2013, and 30 percent of the privately owned businesses are owned by women."
Harvey says the trend started with legislation passed in the 1970s.
"Back then, there was an act passed that allowed women to actually get a loan without having a male co-signer. That really made a difference in terms of women business ownership," Harvey adds.
And then, says Harvey, there's the economy which has suffered. Many of the women who've been laid off have decided 3 to take matters into their own hands and become business owners.
Harvey, who used to be a small business owner herself, says the federal government is there to help women in a number of ways. "Last year we helped about 160,000 women with business plans, marketing 4 plans, social media interactions, everything that you need to build a business," Harvey explains.
Barbara Ayers says special federal government programs offered to small, female-owned companies have helped her procure 5 government contracts. And it has opened doors in areas that have traditionally been closed to women.
"I'm in the trucking industry and so I'm a novelty because this is traditionally a male-dominated industry," Ayers notes. "So I sometimes find resistance. No reflection on men, but it is just the attitude and the thought of the way that it was."
But Ayers says it has all been worthwhile and adds that it is a tremendous feeling of pride when sees one of her own trucks on the highway.
That feel of pride is being shared by more and more American women entrepreneurs.
- She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网
- Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
- The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。
- This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
- There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。