商业周刊:最后雇佣却先遭解雇(5)

Now Nash is among millions of retail¹ workers who lost their jobs as coronavirus shutdowns rolled across the country.

现在，随着新冠病毒在全国范围内致使商店倒闭，纳什成为数百万失业的零售业工人中的一员。

While the industry's been in turmoil² in recent years, employment in the sector³ had finally regained⁴ pre-financial crisis levels in 2015,

尽管该行业近年来一直处于动荡之中，但其就业率终于在2015年恢复到金融危机前的水平，

with 15.7 million workers, and wages hit a 15-year high.

拥有1570万名工人，工资也创下了15年来的新高。

Now, even if stores reopen, there's concern that shoppers may not come back, either because they fear infection or because their incomes are constrained⁵. Workers may not either.

现在，即使商店重新开业，人们担心购物者可能不会回来，要么是因为他们害怕感染，要么是因为他们的收入受到限制。工人也可能不会再回来了。

"I don't see myself returning there for a while or at all," says Nash, who has been unable to collect her final paycheck, which is inside the shuttered store.

纳什说：“我暂时不会回去，或者永远不会回去了。”她一直无法拿到最后的工资支票，它待在倒闭的商店里。

Nash, who lives at home with her parents, qualified⁶ for a stimulus⁷ check. Like many others, she's found applying for unemployment a frustrating⁸ ordeal⁹.

纳什和父母住在家里，她有资格获得刺激经济个人支票。和其他许多人一样，她发现申请失业保障是件令人沮丧的磨人事。”

"This process has to be a whole lot easier," she says. "It's like you're being punished for being poor or not having a job."

她说：“这个过程必须要更为简单，就好像你因为贫穷或没有工作而受到惩罚一样。”

Karla Wagoner used to work 36 hours a week as a home health aide, feeding, bathing, or socializing with elderly and sick patients.

卡拉·瓦格纳过去每周工作36小时，做家庭健康助理、喂饭、洗澡或与老人和病人交流。

She's now down to just six hours a week, as clients' families have canceled services over fears of the virus or because they now have time to care for their relatives themselves.

她现在每周只工作六小时，因为客户的家人担心病毒，或因为他们现在有时间照顾自己的亲戚而取消了服务。

A resident of Fort Collins, Colo., the 72-year-old Wagoner is in the fastest-growing labor¹⁰ participation¹¹ cohort: workers age 65 and over.

72岁的瓦格纳是科罗拉多州柯林斯堡的居民，其所属的65岁及以上的工人，是人数增长最快的劳动者群体。

Older Americans are postponing¹² retirement¹³ as they live longer. In the past few years, some were also called back to jobs when employers faced shortages of skilled labor.

美国老年人因寿命延长而推迟退休。在过去几年中，当雇主面临技术劳动力短缺时，一些人也会被召回工作岗位。

Wagoner, who shares a home with her son, now also unemployed¹⁴, and granddaughter, collects social security.

瓦格纳和她的儿子和孙女住在一起，她的儿子现在也失业了，孙女领取社会保险。

The $12.50 to $15 an hour she makes as a health aide pays for groceries, travel, and "anything else above and beyond," she says.

她说，作为一名健康助理，她每小时挣12.50美元到15美元，用来支付日常用品、旅行以及“其它物品”。

"We're just trying to reduce everything: insurance costs, different things that we have control of. We're hopping¹⁵ around more competitively, lowering the budget."

我们只是想减少一切费用：保险费用，以及我们能控制的各种事情。进行比较之后再采购，降低预算。”

Her employer doesn't offer automatic sick leave or hazard pay. Plus, Wagoner must supply her own personal protection gear.

她的雇主不提供自动病假或危险津贴。另外，瓦格纳必须提供自己的个人防护装备。

"My granddaughter and I took some handkerchiefs and made some homemade masks," she says,

“我和孙女拿了一些手帕，自制了些口罩，”她说，

and the Colorado care workers union also brought some medical ones to her door. She bought a box of latex gloves herself.

科罗拉多州护理工人工会也为家中送来一些医用口罩。她自己买了一盒乳胶手套。

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 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

3 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

4 regained   

复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• The majority of the people in the world have regained their liberty. 世界上大多数人已重获自由。
• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise. 她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。

5 constrained   

adj.束缚的,节制的

参考例句：

• The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。
• I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。

6 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

7 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

8 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

10 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。

11 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

12 postponing   

v.延期，推迟( postpone的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He tried to gain time by postponing his decision. 他想以迟迟不作决定的手段来争取时间。 来自辞典例句
• I don't hold with the idea of postponing further discussion of the matter. 我不赞成推迟进一步讨论这件事的想法。 来自辞典例句

13 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

14 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

15 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。