Obama Speaks to Jobs Council

    President Obama on Thursday presided over the first meeting of his new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. During a more than hour long session（会议,开庭）, Mr. Obama told its members they have an important mission to help build American's confidence about prospects¹ for job growth and their ability to compete in the global marketplace.
    The 23-member council represents every sector² of the U.S. economy, from service industries, manufacturing and high technology, to banking³ and communications.  It also includes the head of the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest trade union federation⁴.
    Flanked by his chief of staff, William Daley, and the chairman of the new council, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt,  Mr. Obama told the group it has a crucial role to play in making it possible to extend economic recovery at a time when unemployment(失业人数) remains⁵ "way too high across the country."During a time of significant fiscal⁶ restraint, the president said, it will be even more critical to create a public-private partnership⁷ to help the U.S "up [it's] game" in an extraordinarily⁸ competitive world.
    "We want to make sure we narrow the focus to think about how do we ensure that we are putting people to work right now, but also how do we lay the foundation for us to win the future over the long-term," he said.
    The president's remarks to the council traveled familiar territory（领土,范围） as he reiterated  a pledge he made in a recent speech to the U.S. Chamber⁹ of Commerce, which represents thousands of U.S. businesses, to remove "any barriers and any impediments" preventing success and growth.
    But Mr. Obama also put a challenge to the business representatives on the jobs council, saying they need to provide ideas about creating an economy in which progress is distributed more evenly.
    "How do we make sure that the economy is working for everybody. How do we make sure that every child out there who is working hard is going to be able to succeed?  How do we make certain that working families across the country are sharing in growing productivity and that we're not simply creating an economy in which one segment of it is doing very well but the rest of the folks out there are treading water," he said.
    The chairman of the council, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt, spoke¹⁰ to reporters after the meeting with the president. "We want to stay laser-focused on job creation in America, that is the challenge that the president gave us. We know that the private sector has to lead the way in job creation. We want to do some short term things that are tactical that hopefully can move the needle in the short term, as well as things that are going to build competitiveness of the country over the long term," he said.
    In his remarks to the council, President Obama said he is concerned about what he called an "increasing bifurcation" in the U.S. economy, and what he called a "whole swath of employment" that will not be returning, requiring Americans to re-train.
    Mr. Obama said he hopes the council will help identify where future job growth will be as part of efforts to close the gap between more affluent¹¹ and less affluent sectors¹² of the economy.
    General Electric CEO Immelt told reporters he believes private sector competitiveness and investment will be driving job creation, adding that he thinks companies will be spending more on investment as confidence about the economy improves.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

2 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

3 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

4 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

7 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

8 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

9 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

12 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》