2017年 考研英语二多项对应（信息匹配） Section II Part B · 41–45 题答案与解析

The decline in American manufacturing is a common refrain, particularly from Donald Trump. "We don't make anything anymore," he told Fox News, while defending his own made-in-Mexico clothing line.

美国制造业的衰落是一个常见的论调,尤其是来自唐纳德·特朗普。"我们不再制造任何东西了,"他在为自己墨西哥制造的服装系列辩护时对Fox News如此说道。

Without question, manufacturing has taken a significant hit during recent decades, and further trade deals raise questions about whether new shocks could hit manufacturing.

毫无疑问,制造业在最近几十年遭受了重大打击,进一步的贸易协议引发了关于新的冲击是否会打击制造业的问题。

But there is also a different way to look at the data.

但也有另一种方式来看待这些数据。

Across the country, factory owners are now grappling with a new challenge: Instead of having too many workers, they may end up with too few. Despite trade competition and outsourcing, American manufacturing still needs to replace tens of thousands of retiring boomers every year. Millennials may not be that interested in taking their place. Other industries are recruiting them with similar or better pay.

在全国范围内,工厂主现在正在应对一个新挑战:他们可能最终面临的不是工人太多,而是太少。尽管存在贸易竞争和外包,美国制造业每年仍然需要替换数以万计即将退休的婴儿潮一代。千禧一代可能对接替他们的位置不那么感兴趣。其他行业正在以相似或更好的薪酬招募他们。

For factory owners, it all adds up to stiff competition for workers – and upward pressure on wages. "They're harder to find and they have job offers," says Jay Dunwell, president of Wolverine Coil Spring, a family-owned firm, "They may be coming [into the workforce], but they've been plucked by other industries that are also doing as well as manufacturing." Mr. Dunwell has begun bringing high school juniors to the factory so they can get exposed to its culture.

对工厂主来说,这一切加起来构成了激烈的人才竞争,并形成了工资上涨的压力。"他们更难找到,而且他们有工作机会,"家族企业Wolverine Coil Spring的总裁Jay Dunwell说,"他们可能正在进入劳动力市场,但他们已经被其他同样发展良好的行业挖走了。"Dunwell先生已经开始把高中三年级学生带到工厂,让他们接触工厂文化。

At RoMan Manufacturing, a maker of electrical transformers and welding equipment that his father cofounded in 1980, Robert Roth keeps a close eye on the age of his nearly 200 workers. Five are retiring this year. Mr. Roth has three community-college students enrolled in a work-placement program, with a starting wage of $13 an hour that rises to $17 after two years.

在RoMan Manufacturing,一家由他父亲于1980年联合创立的电力变压器和焊接设备制造商,Robert Roth密切关注着他近200名工人的年龄。今年有五人退休。Roth先生让三名社区大学学生参加工作实习项目,起始工资为每小时13美元,两年后涨到17美元。

At a worktable inside the transformer plant, young Jason Stenquist looks flustered by the copper coils he's trying to assemble and the arrival of two visitors. It's his first week on the job. Asked about his choice of career, he says at high school he considered medical school before switching to electrical engineering. "I love working with tools. I love creating," he says.

在变压器工厂内的工作台旁,年轻的Jason Stenquist看起来被他试图组装的铜线圈和两位访客的到来弄得有些慌乱。这是他工作的第一周。当被问及他的职业选择时,他说在高中时他考虑过医学院,后来转向了电气工程。"我喜欢使用工具。我喜欢创造,"他说。

But to win over these young workers, manufacturers have to clear another major hurdle: parents, who lived through the worst US economic downturn since the Great Depression, telling them to avoid the factory. Millennials "remember their father and mother both were laid off. They blame it on the manufacturing recession," says Birgit Klohs, chief executive of The Right Place, a business development agency for western Michigan.

但要赢得这些年轻工人,制造商必须清除另一个主要障碍:父母们经历了自大萧条以来美国最严重的经济衰退,告诉他们要避开工厂。千禧一代"记得他们的父亲和母亲都被解雇了。他们把这归咎于制造业衰退,"密歇根州西部商业发展机构The Right Place的首席执行官Birgit Klohs说。

These concerns aren't misplaced: Employment in manufacturing has fallen from 17 million in 1970 to 12 million in 2015. When the recovery began, worker shortages first appeared in the high-skilled trades. Now shortages are appearing at the mid-skill levels.

这些担忧并非没有根据:制造业就业人数已从1970年的1700万下降到2015年的1200万。当经济复苏开始时,工人短缺首先出现在高技能行业。现在短缺正在中等技能水平出现。

"The gap is between the jobs that take no skills and those that require a lot of skill," says Rob Spohr, a business professor at Montcalm Community College. "There're enough people to fill the jobs at McDonalds and other places where you don't need to have much skill. It's that gap in between, and that's where the problem is."

"差距存在于不需要技能的工作和需要大量技能的工作之间,"Montcalm Community College的商业教授Rob Spohr说。"有足够的人来填补麦当劳和其他不需要太多技能的地方的工作。问题就在这两者之间的差距。"

Julie Parks of Grand Rapids Community College points to another key to luring Millennials into manufacturing: a work/life balance. While their parents were content to work long hours, young people value flexibility. "Overtime is not attractive to this generation. They really want to live their lives," she says.

Grand Rapids Community College的Julie Parks指出了吸引千禧一代进入制造业的另一个关键:工作与生活的平衡。虽然他们的父母满足于长时间工作,但年轻人重视灵活性。"加班对这一代人没有吸引力。他们真的想过自己的生活,"她说。