美国国家公共电台 NPR Cities Dream Of Landing Amazon's New HQ And They're Going To Great Lengths To Show It

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The retail¹ giant Amazon is looking for a second home. And this could mean thousands of jobs and a new economic anchor for a city. Big cities like Denver and Atlanta are competing. But as we hear from Michigan Radio's Rick Pluta, leaders in some smaller cities think they have a shot, if only they could get Amazon's attention.

RICK PLUTA, BYLINE²: Tucson, Ariz., uprooted³ a 21-foot-tall saguaro cactus⁴ and tried to have it delivered to Amazon's Seattle headquarters. Birmingham, Ala., constructed giant Amazon boxes and placed them all around the city.

RON STARNER: Yeah we're seeing all kinds of stunts⁵.

PLUTA: Ron Starner is the executive vice⁶ president of Site Selection magazine. Yes, there is a magazine devoted⁷ solely⁸ to the art and the craft of choosing where to locate factories, warehouses⁹ and world headquarters. Starner says people are getting creative as they try to land the project.

STARNER: Tucson sent the cactus. The mayor of one city - and forgive me, I don't recall - he actually traveled to Seattle and stood outside Amazon headquarters. There's a community here in the suburban¹⁰ Atlanta market that even annexed¹¹ a whole bunch of land and said, look, if you come here, we'll let you call this Amazon City.

PLUTA: Amazon's also getting lots of videos from mayors using Amazon products to show they're ready to be team players.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARK BOUGHTON: I'm a proud Amazon customer. So, Alexa, where is the best place for Amazon to locate its second world headquarters?

COMPUTER-GENERATED VOICE: Danbury, Conn.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MURIEL BOWSER: Alexa, where is the most interesting company in the world going to locate?

COMPUTER-GENERATED VOICE: Obviously, Washington, D.C.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JEFF CHENEY: Hey, Alexa, where should Amazon locate HQ to?

COMPUTER-GENERATED VOICE: In Frisco, Texas.

PLUTA: So what is this hundred billion dollar company looking for? A metro¹² area of a million or more people, access to mass transit¹³ and proximity¹⁴ to an international airport, among other things. But the reality is there's probably no North American metro area that has everything Amazon's looking for, especially a ready-to-go workforce¹⁵ of 50,000 professionals. And so for economic developers in places like Grand Rapids, Mich., they think they have a chance. The city is just half an hour from Lake Michigan. It boasts a walkable downtown with plenty of restaurants and brewpubs, museums and music venues¹⁶. Kristopher Larson with the Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority acknowledges the city is a long shot but hopes the quality of life here will grab the attention of a certain Amazon CEO.

KRISTOPHER LARSON: We're hoping it's going to turn Jeff Bezos's head, and he's going to take a look at us.

PLUTA: But that's not all, says Birgit Klohs with The Right Place, a regional economic development group. She says this is a learning experience.

BIRGIT KLOHS: Just to be in the pool to us is success. We want to tell our story. We want to give Grand Rapids and west Michigan national attention by going for this.

PLUTA: Klohs says Grand Rapids can't lose by trying to win Amazon.

KLOHS: This is something we have to do. We owe our community that we put our best foot forward.

PLUTA: But their hopes are real that an online retail prince will slide a glass slipper¹⁷ onto that foot to make this city an economic Cinderella story.

PLUTA: For NPR News, I'm Rick Pluta in Grand Rapids, Mich.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "A DREAM IS A WISH YOUR HEART MAKES")

ILENE WOODS: (Singing) A dream is a wish your heart makes.

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 uprooted   

v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的过去式和过去分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园

参考例句：

• Many people were uprooted from their homes by the flood. 水灾令许多人背井离乡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hurricane blew with such force that trees were uprooted. 飓风强烈地刮着，树都被连根拔起了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 cactus   

n.仙人掌

参考例句：

• It was the first year that the cactus had produced flowers.这是这棵仙人掌第一年开花。
• The giant cactus is the vegetable skycraper.高大的仙人掌是植物界巨人。

5 stunts   

n.惊人的表演( stunt的名词复数 )；（广告中）引人注目的花招；愚蠢行为；危险举动v.阻碍…发育[生长]，抑制，妨碍( stunt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He did all his own stunts. 所有特技都是他自己演的。
• The plane did a few stunts before landing. 飞机着陆前做了一些特技。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。

7 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

8 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

9 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。

10 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

11 annexed   

[法] 附加的，附属的

参考例句：

• Germany annexed Austria in 1938. 1938年德国吞并了奥地利。
• The outlying villages were formally annexed by the town last year. 那些偏远的村庄于去年正式被并入该镇。

12 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

13 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

14 proximity   

n.接近，邻近

参考例句：

• Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
• Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。

15 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

16 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网

17 slipper   

n.拖鞋

参考例句：

• I rescued the remains of my slipper from the dog.我从那狗的口中夺回了我拖鞋的残留部分。
• The puppy chewed a hole in the slipper.小狗在拖鞋上啃了一个洞。