VOA慢速英语2015 机器人制造iPad 和 iPhone

Robots to Make iPads and iPhones 机器人制造iPad 和 iPhone

The Hon Hai company is based in Taiwan and operates factories in China. The U.S. company Apple and other top electronic brands hire Hon Hai to make products, including iPads and iPhones.

The CEO of Hon Hai is Terry Gou. Mr. Gou recently told reporters that Hon Hai is replacing 70 percent of its manufacturing process with an automatic system. He says machines will do most of the work that people do now. Mr. Gou expects the changes to be finished in three years.

Jamie Wang is a researcher with a business in Taipei that studies markets. She says using robots is an increasingly common change in manufacturing. Even the popular company Apple is planning to depend more on robots, she says. So, she says, manufacturers like Hon Hai must keep up with the market and reduce their costs.

Using robots may also reduce Hon Hai's risk of labor¹ disputes. In the past five years, some workers in Hon Hai’s Chinese factories have protested workplace conditions and even killed themselves. The events have damaged the company. Now, fewer workers are depending on Hon Hai for jobs.

Geoff Crothall is a spokesman² for the China Labor Bulletin³ advocacy group in Hong Kong. He says people are no longer forming long lines to try to work in factories. He says some Chinese workers are staying in school longer and seeking higher levels of education. Others are simply finding better jobs in other places.

Changes in China

Companies such as Hon Hai are also facing rising wages for factory work in China. Those wages rose 13 percent in 2014.

At the same time, the cost of living in eastern China is increasing. Some workers are moving to less expensive but less developed cities. And, foreign investments, especially in manufacturing, are slowing. Direct investments grew at only two percent last year.

Liang Kuo-yuan is chairman of the Yuanta-Polaris Research Institute in Taipei. He says companies as large as Hon Hai need to bring more machines into their manufacturing process. He says the company must move toward automatic systems as costs rise and the number of workers drops.

Hon Hai refused VOA requests for details on its plans. But the company has said it hopes to grow in the United States. It also says it wants to open a $1 billion research and development center in Indonesia.  

Words in This Story

automatic – adj. having controls that allow something to work or happen without being directly controlled by a person

robots – n. machines that can do the work of a person and that work automatically⁴ or are controlled by computers

labor – n. workers as a group

wages – n. money a worker is paid based on the amount of time he or she has worked

1 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。

2 spokesman   

n.发言人，代言人

参考例句：

• The government spokesman gave a quick briefing to the reporters.政府发言人向记者们作了情况简介。
• They drew lots to decide who should be their spokesman.他们抽签决定谁是他们的发言人。

3 bulletin   

n.小报，会刊，简明新闻，新闻快报

参考例句：

• We read the declaration posted on the bulletin board.我们读了贴在布告板上的声明。
• The radio bulletin warned of the typhoon.收音机新闻快报发布了台风警报。

4 automatically   

adv.不加思索地，无意识地，自动地

参考例句：

• The machine cycles automatically.这台机器自动循环运转。
• She had automatically labelled the boys as troublemakers.她不假思索地认定这些男孩子是捣蛋鬼。