2007年VOA标准英语-Can an American Auto Industry Town Regain Past

By Brian Padden
Flint, Michigan
26 April 2007
 

These are hard times for parts of the American Midwest where the American auto¹ industry is centered.  Competition from Asian automakers, outsourcing, and automation have, over the years, forced American companies to shut down factories and cut jobs by the thousands.  While labor² leaders there continue to fight for auto industry jobs, most people in the affected³ communities realize many of these jobs are not coming back.  To survive, experts say the region must lower expectations and diversity its economy.    VOA's Brian Padden recently visited Flint, Michigan, a city that has lost approximately 70,000 auto jobs in the last 30 years. 

Flint, Michigan has lost jobs and population over the past 30 years

At one time Flint, Michigan embodied⁴ the American dream.  Until the 1970s, good paying jobs here were plentiful⁵ at the General Motors Corporation auto assembly plants. At the height of Flint's prosperity, 82,000 people worked for General Motors, and downtown was a bustling⁶, crowded city.  

Today, Flint, Michigan is a shadow of its former self.  Empty buildings dot Main Street.  General Motors continues to manufacture trucks in Flint, but it employs only 12,000 people.  And General Motor's major supplier, Delphi Corporation, has filed for bankruptcy⁷.  

Michael King works for Delphi.  He fears the company may be planning to eliminate more jobs or cut wages in the near future. "There are questions as to where we are going with that company and where we are going to end up." King is already selling his home because of financial difficulties.  Without this job, he says he does not know what he would do. 

At the regional United Auto Workers office in Flint, director Duane Zuckschwerdt continues to fight to save American autoworker jobs.  But he realizes that unions today have limited bargaining power when companies can relocate to China and other low wage countries.  In addition to negotiating labor contracts, he says the union must get more involved in advocating trade policy.

"We know we have to take a much stronger approach as far as political activism, as far as getting our message out to middle class America,” says Zuckschwerdt. “It isn't just about labor.  It's about Middle America." 

But former American Motors Corporation Chairman Gerald Meyers says nothing can be done to bring those auto jobs back to Flint. Meyers is now a professor of management at the University of Michigan. "For the younger people, they have to face up to the fact that this area, this Michigan area, is not what it was and they should go elsewhere -- and they will go elsewhere."  

Mayor Don Williamson

Flint Mayor Don Williamson says the future of Flint depends on its ability to attract businesses beyond the manufacturing sector⁸.  To do that, he says the city has spent millions of dollars in the last four years to tear down rundown buildings, repave roads and increase the number of police on the streets.

"First of all we have to clean this town up before people are going to come here.  We need to get the city in perfect condition and people will come back," says the mayor.

Renovating⁹ a historic bank building into apartments for students at the local University of Michigan campus is the beginning of an urban renewal¹⁰ effort.  The city is also planning to make the entire downtown area a free wireless¹¹ Internet zone to attract high-tech¹² businesses.  While these efforts will not bring back the prosperity of the past, city leaders hope they will make the city of Flint more competitive in a global economy. 

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 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。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 embodied   

v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• a politician who embodied the hopes of black youth 代表黑人青年希望的政治家
• The heroic deeds of him embodied the glorious tradition of the troops. 他的英雄事迹体现了军队的光荣传统。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 plentiful   

adj.富裕的，丰富的

参考例句：

• Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
• Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。

6 bustling   

adj.喧闹的

参考例句：

• The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。
• This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。

7 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。

8 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。

9 renovating   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The increased production was largely attained by renovating old orchards and vineyards. 通过更新老果园和葡萄园，使生产大大增加。
• Renovating that house will cost you a pretty penny. 为了整修那所房子，你得花很多钱。

10 renewal   

adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来

参考例句：

• Her contract is coming up for renewal in the autumn.她的合同秋天就应该续签了。
• Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。

11 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

12 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。