英伦广角 Issue 138 白宫174亿元急救汽车两巨头

America's Big Three car companies employ a quarter of a million people directly, but it's believed that one in ten jobs in the US are tied to the industry. Parked at the "Last Chance Saloon"  the country's motor manufacturers have been given a 17.4-billion-dollar bailout by George Bush to save them from the scrap¹ heap.

"My economic advisers² believe in such a collapse³ would deal an unacceptably painful blow to hardworking Americans, far beyond the auto⁴ industry. It would worsen our weak job market and exacerbate⁵ the financial crisis. It can send our suffering economy into a deeper and longer recession.

But the bailout comes with conditions. The car companies must show they can repay the loans by the end of March next year, proving they're economically viable⁷. They’ll have to accept limits on salaries and bonuses, and have been told the perks⁸ such as corporate⁹ jets must be eliminated. And the US government will have the right to go through their books at any time, challenging their business independence.

 

Shortly after announcing the bailout, Mr. Bush was on TV once more--This time to accept the traditional portrait given to presidents about to leave office.

"I just expected there would be a good sign as cry on, once the world got out about my hanging.”

He had made it clear he wouldn’t be the one to hang the car industry out to dry, because it would be too late by the time Barack Obama takes over. Mr .Obama described the package as a necessary step. “The auto companies must not squander¹⁰ this chance to reform bad management practices and begin a long-term restructuring that is absolutely necessary to save this critical industry and millions of American jobs that depend on it, while also creating the fuel efficient cars of tomorrow.”

 

Ford¹¹ has said it hopes to get by without government help, but controversially, the government is using part of the pot of 700 billion dollars which was supposed to prop¹² up  Wall Street instead.

 
Mica⁶ Holland sky news.

 

1 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

2 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• 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。

4 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。

5 exacerbate   

v.恶化，增剧，激怒，使加剧

参考例句：

• WMO says a warming climate can exacerbate air pollution.世界气象组织说，气候变暖可能会加剧空气污染。
• In fact efforts will merely exacerbate the current problem.实际上努力只会加剧当前的问题。

6 mica   

n.云母

参考例句：

• It could not pass through material impervious to water such as mica.它不能通过云母这样的不透水的物质。
• Because of its layered structure,mica is fissile.因为是层状结构，云母很容易分成片。

7 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

8 perks   

额外津贴，附带福利，外快( perk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. 公司给予的额外待遇包括一辆汽车和免费健康保险。
• Are there any perks that go with your job? 你的工作有什么津贴吗？

9 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

10 squander   

v.浪费，挥霍

参考例句：

• Don't squander your time in reading those dime novels.不要把你的时间浪费在读那些胡编乱造的廉价小说上。
• Every chance is precious，so don't squander any chance away!每次机会都很宝贵，所以不要将任何一个白白放走。

11 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。

12 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。