VOA慢速英语20060331a

ECONOMICS REPORT - General Motors Moves to Cut CostsBy Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Friday, March 31, 2006

I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Economics Report.

General Motors lost almost eleven thousand million dollars last year. Now the cost-cutting efforts of the world's largest automaker are gaining speed.


To cut costs, General Motors is cutting jobs and selling shares of businesses it owns

Last week, talks with the United Auto¹ Workers union resulted in a major deal. G.M. agreed to offer buyouts to one hundred thirty-one thousand factory workers. No one knows how many will accept. The deal affects hourly workers at G.M. and its biggest parts supplier, Delphi.

A buyout is an offer of money, and sometimes other terms, if an employee will agree to leave a job or retire early.

Workers at G.M. who are too young to retire are being offered as much as one hundred forty thousand dollars to accept the buyout. They would lose things like their health care plans. Older workers are being offered smaller payments but the chance to retire early under G.M.'s retirement² program.

Buyouts are costly³, but G.M. hopes to save money in the long term. Its share of the American car market has been shrinking for years. The offer is part of a plan announced last June to cut thirty thousand jobs through two thousand eight.

The deal with the union does not involve supervisors⁴ or others who earn a salary instead of an hourly wage. The company wants to cut up to seven percent of its non-hourly workers this year. On Tuesday G.M. cut several hundred salaried jobs.

G.M. is trying to do something that several steel makers⁵ and airline companies have tried but failed to do. It is trying to restructure without seeking bankruptcy⁶ court protection from its creditors⁷.

The company is moving to reduce its interests in some businesses it owns or controls. G.M. says it sold seventy-eight percent of G.M.A.C. Commercial Holding on March twenty-third to three investment companies. The deal is worth almost nine thousand million dollars.

G.M. also has agreed to sell its eight percent share in the Japanese carmaker Isuzu.

And the company wants to sell a large share of its financing company that provides loans for cars, homes and businesses. G.M has been in talks to sell fifty-one percent to Cerberus Capital Management in a deal estimated at eleven thousand million dollars.

This week General Motors released its yearly report which had been delayed. The company restated several years of financial results.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. Read and listen to our reports at www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

2 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。

3 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

4 supervisors   

n.监督者，管理者( supervisor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think the best technical people make the best supervisors. 我认为最好的技术人员可以成为最好的管理人员。 来自辞典例句
• Even the foremen or first-level supervisors have a staffing responsibility. 甚至领班或第一线的监督人员也有任用的责任。 来自辞典例句

5 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。

7 creditors   

n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They agreed to repay their creditors over a period of three years. 他们同意3年内向债主还清欠款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》