密歇根新闻广播 唐纳德·特朗普误会了福特的墨西哥之举

Facts detailing how the global auto¹ industry operates shouldn't muck up the campaign between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump². Nor should they slow the candidates' flailing³ efforts to score cheap political points in the industrial Midwest, right?

Yet, this week, Trump predicted the Dearborn automaker will “fire all of their employees in the United States” because it's ending small car production in Michigan. And a CNN anchor actually asked Ford⁴ CEO Mark Fields whether the allegation is true.

Seriously? No wonder Fields says it's, quote, “really unfortunate when politics gets in the way of the facts.”

Reality simply doesn't support Trump's cockamamie narrative⁵ flogging Ford's year-long small cars-to-Mexico story.

The Blue Oval has created 28,000 jobs in the United States over the past five years. It has invested $12 billion in U.S. facilities. It produces more vehicles in U.S. plants, and it employs more hourly workers here than any other automaker. That includes cross-town rival General Motors.

Since the restructuring during the global financial meltdown, Ford concentrated manufacturing and product development in the Midwest. It reinvested in heartland plants, even as it bolstered⁶ operations in Mexico. It announced plans for a decade-long renovation⁷ of its headquarters campus.

And Ford is still controlled by a family that takes the family part seriously. They're all for allocating⁸ capital globally — but not at the expense of the country that birthed the industrial icon⁹ and produces most of its profits. Just ask them.

Ford could have dispatched this story a year ago. That's when The Detroit News first reported that the automaker would be shipping¹⁰ production of its Michigan-built Focus, C-Max and hybrids¹¹ outside the country. Likely to Mexico.

Brilliant, Dearborn. Nothing like handing a rhetorical club to a guy eager to use it. Doesn't matter to Trump — or Clinton — whether the stubborn facts ruling today's auto industry support their uninformed version of the real world.

It should. Here are some:

The United States is not “losing' more than 4,000 jobs at Michigan Assembly in Wayne because Ford will build small cars in Mexico. The number of union jobs lost in the States because of this should be zero.

Why do you think Ford's Mexico move wasn't a strike-worthy issue with the UAW last fall? Because union leaders and the rank-and-file know how the industry works … far better than the smart people running for president.

Second, Ford wouldn't be shipping its small cars south of the border if more customers wanted those vehicles. But customers don't need small cars to get economy in a world of two-plus-dollar-a-gallon gas, surging American energy production, and the increasing fuel-efficiency of new crossovers and SUVs.

Third, automakers competing in the United States can't actually choose whether to build compacts and subcompacts. The government essentially¹² says they must build them, and hybrids, to meet tough fuel economy targets by 2025 — irrespective what the market wants.

Ford and its global competitors are in the business to make money. They understand the politics of production and jobs better than the two people running for president understand the auto industry — and that's a problem around here.

1 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• 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。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 flailing   

v.鞭打( flail的现在分词 )；用连枷脱粒；（臂或腿）无法控制地乱动；扫雷坦克

参考例句：

• He became moody and unreasonable, flailing out at Katherine at the slightest excuse. 他变得喜怒无常、不可理喻，为点鸡毛蒜皮的小事就殴打凯瑟琳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His arms were flailing in all directions. 他的手臂胡乱挥舞着。 来自辞典例句

4 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

5 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

6 bolstered   

v.支持( bolster的过去式和过去分词 )；支撑；给予必要的支持；援助

参考例句：

• He bolstered his plea with new evidence. 他举出新的证据来支持他的抗辩。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The data must be bolstered by inferences and indirect estimates of varying degrees of reliability. 这些资料必须借助于推理及可靠程度不同的间接估计。 来自辞典例句

7 renovation   

n.革新，整修

参考例句：

• The cinema will reopen next week after the renovation.电影院修缮后，将于下星期开业。
• The building has undergone major renovation.这座大楼已进行大整修。

8 allocating   

分配，分派( allocate的现在分词 )； 把…拨给

参考例句：

• Administrative practice generally follows the judicial model in allocating burdens of proof. 在分配举证责任方面，行政实践通常遵循司法模式。
• A cyclical multiplexing technique, allocating resources in fixed-time slices. 以固定的时间片分配资源的循环复用技术。

9 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

10 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

11 hybrids   

n.杂交生成的生物体( hybrid的名词复数 )；杂交植物（或动物）；杂种；（不同事物的）混合物

参考例句：

• All these brightly coloured hybrids are so lovely in the garden. 花园里所有这些色彩鲜艳的杂交花真美丽。 来自辞典例句
• The notion that interspecific hybrids are rare is ill-founded. 有一种看法认为种间杂种是罕见的，这种看法是无根据的。 来自辞典例句

12 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。