2006年VOA标准英语-Foreign Competition Forces US Autoworker Conces

By Peter Fedynsky
Washington, DC
16 June 2006
 
watch Auto¹ Workers report

One of America's major labor² organizations, the United Auto Workers, or UAW, held a convention this week amid signs that foreign competition will force the organization to accept benefit concessions³.

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Millions of Americans are fans of stock car races, which feature powerful vehicles that resemble the family sedan. Since the largest U.S. racing⁴ organization, NASCAR, was founded in the late 1940s, those stock cars have always been American.

Next year, for the first time, NASCAR races will include the Toyota Camry, a Japanese car built in America.  

 
David Illingworth
  
David Illingworth, Toyota’s senior vice⁵ president, said, "More than 6.5 million Camrys have been sold in the U.S. and it has been the best-selling car in America for eight of the last nine years."

Several Toyota models also have more American parts than vehicles built by the “Big-Three” American automakers -- Ford⁶, General Motors and Chrysler -- or more precisely⁷, Daimler-Chrysler, which is owned by American, European and other international investors⁸. Some Fords, incidentally, are assembled in Mexico for distribution in the United States and the company has factories in China for sales in that country. 

Bill Booher  
  
So, what is an American car? Bill Booher represents the Council on Competitiveness, a non-governmental organization in Washington, D.C. that seeks to advance the U.S. economy. "As the 21st century rolls in and the global economy gets smaller and smaller and smaller, defining vehicles as American or Japanese or European is a term that's not nearly as important as looking at where they are produced, what they mean to the overall economy," he said.

Foreign manufacturers in the United States employ tens of thousand of Americans in supply companies and newly built plants, particularly in the southeastern states. As foreign vehicles roll off assembly lines with non-union labor, domestic manufacturers close plants and lay off workers--most of them union members. At the same time, the total number of U.S. autoworkers has remained at 1.1 million over the last 10 years.  

 
Ron Gettelfinger
  
The trend toward non-organized labor has hurt the United Auto Workers union, or UAW, whose membership has plummeted⁹ from 1.5 million in the 1970s to about 640,000 today. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger spoke¹⁰ at the organization's convention in Las Vegas. "The point is that this union is no stranger to struggle, adversity and hard choices.  Our road has never been straight and smooth,” he said. “It has plenty of twists and bumps. We've enjoyed our share of successes, but we've suffered setbacks too."

An auto worker on an assembly line  
  
Until the onset¹¹ of serious foreign competition in the 1980s, the UAW demanded and received generous health and pension benefits from U.S. auto companies. Today, General Motors alone is funding the pensions of one million former employees. Such payments, known as legacy¹² costs, are adding more than $1,000 to the cost of every American vehicle.

The UAW is prepared to make concessions to help compete against foreign manufacturers, who do not carry such high labor costs. Booher says concessions are necessary. "That's a model I think you're going to be seeing in the future in the auto industry and other industries,” he said. “Maybe in the 20th century we were a cradle-to-grave society, but I think we're going to be asking all of our citizens in the future to take some responsibility for their own long-term financial and other benefits viability¹³."

Others, including UAW president Ron Gettelfinger, are calling for a universal health care system. That, however, has been a controversial political issue for more than half a century and Congress does not appear likely to enact¹⁴ such a system in the near future.

Meanwhile, foreign competition has increased the efficiency of the American autoworker, who is producing more cars with better quality.

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 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

4 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• 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。

6 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。

7 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

8 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

9 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 onset   

n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始

参考例句：

• The drug must be taken from the onset of the infection.这种药必须在感染的最初期就开始服用。
• Our troops withstood the onset of the enemy.我们的部队抵挡住了敌人的进攻。

12 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

13 viability   

n.存活(能力)

参考例句：

• What is required to achieve or maintain such viability? 要达到或维持这种生存能力需要什么？
• Scientists are experimenting to find ways to ensure the viability of seeds for even longer periods of time. 正如我们所说，科学家正在试验努力寻找让种子的生命力更加延长的方法。

14 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。