VOA标准英语2009年-US Car Companies Seek Additional Government Mon

Two US automakers say they need billions more of government money in order to survive.
　
GM sign sits in front of a long line of unsold 2009 Escalades at a Cadillac dealership² in Denver, Colo. 10 Feb 2009

General Motors and Chrysler say they need billions more from the government merely to survive until the end of March. The size of the requests were far bigger than expected.

Chrysler, the smallest US car maker¹, says it needs an additional $5 billion. General Motors, after Toyota the world's biggest car company, says it requires $2 billion by March 1. Together with the money already borrowed, GM is asking for $30 billion from US taxpayers³.

Company president Fritz Henderson says that figure is far less than what taxpayers would pay in the event of the company seeking bankruptcy⁴ protection.

"The additional financing requirement for the US government [with bankruptcy] would be $50 to $60 billion more, than the out of court process [of bankruptcy]," said Fritz Henderson. "And if you actually tally⁵ up the incremental⁶ requirements for foreign governments [where GM has plants] that would likely be required, the size of the incremental financing in order to operate General Motors at peak while in a traditional Chapter 11 [bankruptcy] process would be close to $100 billion."
　
Chrysler logo

Both companies said they are closing more plants and laying off more workers. They have reached a contract agreement with the autoworkers union but terms of the concessions⁷ were not revealed.

US car companies pay far more in wages and benefits than foreign car companies operating in the United States. GM chief executive officer Rick Wagoner was asked if his company is considering selling its profitable operations in China.

"China is really fundamental to our future," said Wagoner. "And so I think that would be a very tough call for us to make. We've not had any conversations along those lines."

Wagoner did suggest that GM's European operations might be sold, but he said no prospective⁸ buyers have come forward.

Car companies worldwide are enduring their worse sales slump⁹ in a quarter century as the financial crisis has caused buyers to cut back. Both GM and Chrysler say they expect the market to remain distressed¹⁰ for all of this year and into 2010.

1 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

2 dealership   

n.商品特许经销处

参考例句：

• The car dealership has a large inventory of used cars. 这家汽车经销商拥有数量庞大的二手车。
• A key to this effort is the experience in the dealership. 达到这个成果的关键是销售的体验。

3 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

4 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

5 tally   

n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致

参考例句：

• Don't forget to keep a careful tally of what you spend.别忘了仔细记下你的开支账目。
• The facts mentioned in the report tally to every detail.报告中所提到的事实都丝毫不差。

6 incremental   

adj.增加的

参考例句：

• For logic devices, the incremental current gain is very important. 对于逻辑器件来说，提高电流增益是非常重要的。 来自辞典例句
• By using an incremental approach, the problems involving material or geometric nonlinearity have been solved. 借应用一种增量方法，已经解决了包括材料的或几何的非线性问题。 来自辞典例句

7 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。

8 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

9 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

10 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。