纽约时报 亚马逊将斥资7亿美元 对员工进行再培训 (3)

Automation already plays a central role at Amazon’s huge warehouses².

自动化在亚马逊大型仓库中起着关键的作用。

Devices tell workers which direction to walk to pick up a package from a shelf.

自动化设备会提示员工取货路径。

And there are signs that technology is at least easing the company’s voracious³ appetite for warehouse¹ workers:

有迹象表明，技术至少缓解了该公司对仓库工人的火爆需求：

Last holiday season, it hired fewer temporary workers than in the previous year,

上个假期，该企业雇佣的临时工的数量相比前一年已经有所下降，

and last quarter, its head count was up 12 percent, the lowest rise in years.

上个季度，该公司的员工人数只增长了12%，达到了数年来的最低增幅。

Amazon isn’t trying to turn warehouse pickers into software engineers.

亚马逊并没有打算将仓库管理员变成软件工程师。

Rather, its new program aims to move a large swath of workers up one or two rungs on the skills ladder,

这次的再培训项目只是为了让大量工人在技能阶梯上提升一到两个层次，

turning warehouse floor workers into IT technicians and low-level coders into data scientists.

把仓库的地勤人员变成IT技术人员，把低级程序员变成数据科学家。

Ms. Williams said the retraining initiative was built on existing education programs at the company.

威廉姆斯说，再培训计划是依托公司现有培训项目推出的。

Software engineering classes will be available for corporate⁴ employees without technical backgrounds, she said.

没有技术背景的企业员工也能上该项目的软件工程课。

Ms. Williams said in an interview, “When automation comes in, it changes the nature of work,

威廉姆斯在接受采访时说：“自动化出现以后改变了工作的本质，

but there are still pieces of work that will be done by people.

但还是有一些工作需要人工来完成。

You have the opportunity to up-skill that population so they can, for example, work with the robots.”

我们有这个机会提高这些员工的技能，让他们可以和机器人一起工作什么的。”

Amazon’s announcement met with some skepticism from experts,

亚马逊的声明遭到了一些专家的质疑，

They noted⁵ that American companies had long spent less on training than their European counterparts —

他们指出，长期以来，美国企业在培训方面的投入一直低于欧洲同行——

and that when they did offer training, it was usually for college-educated, white-collar workers.

而且，就算美国的企业推出了培训项目，通常也是针对受过大学教育的白领的项目。

Amazon’s most prominent retraining program has had only modest adoption⁶ internally.

哪怕是亚马逊最著名的再培训项目，真正参加的人数还是十分有限。

In 2012, Amazon started a program called Career Choice to provide up to $12,000 in tuition and other costs

2012年，亚马逊启动了一个名为“职业选择”的再培训项目，为小时工们提供高达1.2万美元的学费和其他费用，

for hourly employees to get certificates or associate degrees in high-demand fields like health care.

帮助他们获取医疗等需求较大的领域的证书或副学士学位。

Even though hundreds of thousands of people have worked at Amazon’s warehouses since the program started,

尽管自该项目启动以来，亚马逊的仓库员工新增了数十万人，

only about 25,000 have participated.

真正参加该项目的却只有2.5万人左右。

Even if the retraining effort succeeds, some workers are bound to lose out.

就算再培训成功了，无疑还是会有部分员工被淘汰。

Not every one of them will be able to find a better job.

也不是所有人都能找到更好的工作。

A report that the McKinsey Global Institute published on Thursday

麦肯锡全球研究所周四发布的一份报告

analyzed⁷ the impact of automation and the clustering of skilled workers in geographic⁸ hubs.

分析了自动化和技术工人集中在地理枢纽地区对整个国家就业增长率的影响。

The research paper concluded that 25 cities and high-growth hubs

该研究论文指出，到2030年，25个城市及高增长中心

could generate 60 percent of the job growth in the United States through 2030.

就能给美国带来60%的就业增长。

The 54 trailing cities and rural areas, where one-fourth of Americans live, could have no growth in jobs.

而54个落后的城市和农村地区，这些地区的人口占到了美国总人口的四分之一，可能不会出现任何增长。

Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who recently wrote a report on automation and the work force,

布鲁金斯学会高级研究员马克·穆洛最近撰写了一份关于自动化和劳动力市场的报告，

said increased training would, like higher wages, benefit workers.

他说，增加培训和提高工资一样能造福员工。

But he cautioned that there was no guarantee those policies would last when the economy cooled.

但他也警告称，不保证经济降温时企业还会继续执行这些政策。

And he said that if Amazon did expect large job cuts in the future,

他还说，如果亚马逊真的准备在未来大幅裁员，

offering training now would be a savvy⁹ public relations move.

现在就提供培训堪称是明智的公关举措。

He said, “A less benign¹⁰ view of it is you’re pushing a lot of stuff out publicly

他说，“不那么善意地理解这件事就会觉得，你之所以公开推出这么多培训项目，

at a moment where you know there’s going to be a real serious human accounting¹¹ in the coming years.

是因为你知道接下来几年会进行大幅人事调整。

“It’s also good marketing¹² now at a time when you’re beginning to contemplate¹³ major staffing changes.”

“开始考虑重大人事变动之际推出这些再培训项目也是很好的营销手段。”

1 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

2 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

3 voracious   

adj.狼吞虎咽的，贪婪的

参考例句：

• She's a voracious reader of all kinds of love stories.什么样的爱情故事她都百看不厌。
• Joseph Smith was a voracious book collector.约瑟夫·史密斯是个如饥似渴的藏书家。

4 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。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

7 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

9 savvy   

v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的

参考例句：

• She was a pretty savvy woman.她是个见过世面的漂亮女人。
• Where's your savvy?你的常识到哪里去了？

10 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

11 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

12 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

13 contemplate   

vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视

参考例句：

• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate.战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。
• The consequences would be too ghastly to contemplate.后果不堪设想。