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Dan Harris: It's been called the Oscars of the auto industry. You will find marching bands, elaborate stage shows, even a star of 'Desperate Housewives'.
Eva Longoria (Actress, Desperate Housewives): I'm desperate for one of these cars.
Dan Harris: Desperation despite the pop is definitely in the air here.
William Ford (Chmn/CEO, Ford Motor Company): We've got a lot to do, and some of it will be painful.
Dan Harris: The Big Three automakers lost more than six billion dollars in North America last year, as they deal with stiffer competition from the Germans, Japanese and Koreans, adding to the angst, a Chinese company is displaying a cheap new car here for the first time ever.
Dan Harris: A few miles from the convention in the shadow of General Motors' headquarters, the best and brightest at Martin Luther King High School show little interest in Detroit's biggest business.
Dan Harris: How many people here have family members who work in the auto industry? How many of you think that there is a good future for you in the auto industry?
Dan Harris: That's because in the last ten years, Michigan has lost more than a quarter of its auto industry jobs, nearly 79,000 of them gone. Ryan Daleo, a fourth generation autoworker says he does not want his children entering the business.
Ryan Daleo (Autoworker): I can go on tomorrow, and they can say, you know, we don't need you anymore.
Dan Harris: American companies are struggling because they have to spend billions on health care for retirees; they have aging, inefficient plants, and because SUVs, their bread and butter, became much less popular when gas prices spiked.
Dan Harris: There is real speculation here that in the not-too-distant future, an American automaker could either go bankrupt or go out of business.
Dan Harris: Hence this mantra from Ford's new turnaround men: "...change or die".
Dan Harris: Change is coming in the form of layoffs and plant closings. Optimists say, in the long term, this will lead to a stronger industry, but in the short term, all this pageantry will be followed by pain.
Dan Harris: Dan Harris, ABC News, Detroit.
Note------------
in the air: if a feeling is in the air, a lot of people feel it at the same time; 广泛的,流行的.
angst: strong feelings of anxiety and unhappiness because you are worried about your life, your future, or what you should do in a particular situation; 焦虑, 担心.
bread and butter: 支柱,主要的支撑要素.
pageantry: impressive ceremonies or events, involving many people wearing special clothes; 壮观, 华丽.
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