高级英语视听说第七单元文本-GM27s-Difficult-Road-Ahead.doc
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1、Unit 7 GMs Difficult Road AheadEpisode 1 If the old saying “whats good for American is good for General Motor and vice versa” is still true, we are all in a lot of trouble、 General Motors is limping along in the breakdown lane, in need of a lot more than a minor tuneup、 With GMs stock trading near a
2、n all time low and its bonds rated as junk, the pany reported losses of more than $10 billion last year、 Unless it stops hemorrhaging money, it will have to be towed into bankruptcy courta consequence that could cascade through the American economy, threatening up to a million jobs and changing the
3、dreams of American workers、 *General Motors is not just another pany、 For almost a century, it was emblematic of American industrial dominance, with a car for every customer and a brand for every stratum of society、 *Back when Pontiacs were as sexy as Sinatra and Cadillac the synonym for luxury, GM
4、made half the cars in the United States、 And a job on one of its assembly lines was a ticket into the middle class、 But that was before the first oil shock, and the Japanese imports、 Today, General Motors is losing $24 million a dayand * all bets are off、Cole: *And this is not a phantom crisis or a
5、fake crisis、 This is a real crisis、 David Cole is chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, a nonprofit consulting firm in Ann Arbor Michigan、 He is widely considered one of the industrys top analysts, and believes that Detroit is now facing what the steel industry and the big airlines have al
6、ready been through: high labor costs that make it almost impossible to pete、Cole: And every one of the Big Three faces a problem right now of about $2000 to $2500 per vehicle produced cost disadvantage、 * If that plays out over time, theyre all dead、Correspondent: Change or die、Cole: Its change or d
7、ie、 Everything is driven by a profitable business、 If you cant be profitable, you cant be in business、Episode 2: Wagoner: This is a midsized car, the Chevy Impala SS It has certainly not escaped the attention of General Motors chairman Rick Wagoner, who we met at the Detroit Auto Show and may have t
8、he toughest job in America: running a corporation many analysts believe has bee, too big , too bloated and too slow to pete with more nimble foreign petitors、Correspondent: How did General Motors get to the point where it is right now?Wagoner: Cause we have a long history, almost 100 years、 We have
9、a lot of employees、 We have a lot of retirees, a lot of dependents、 And promises were made about benefits to those people that werent very expensive when they were made、 And its really given us some financial challenges、 One of them is that most of the people on GMs payroll are no longer making cars
10、、 Every month, it sends out nearly a half million pension checks to former workers, many of whom retired in their 50s after 30 years of service and live in munities where GM plants closed long ago、 Then there is the everrising cost of health care、 GM has one of the most generous plans in America and
11、 provides it to 1、1 million people retirees, workers and their dependents at a cost of $6 billion a year、 More than any pany in America、 Gary Chaison, a professor of industrial relations at Clark University, has done the math:Chaison: It es to about $1400 a car now、 thats what the health care premiu
12、ms of the workers who make that car is、Correspondent: More that steel?Chaison: Yeah、 Much more than steel, much more than glass, much more than any other part、 What youre doing when youre buying a car is youre spending a lot of money for the health care benefits of workers who are making that car、 I
13、ts cost most of GMs foreign petitors dont have because their workers are usually covered by some form of government health insurance in their own countries、 Rick Wagoner says its one of the promises made to workers, in good times, that it can barely afford in bad、Episode 3: Correspondent: Do you thi
14、nk that those promises can be kept?Wagoner: Well, we feel a responsibility to the people that those promises were made to、 We also have a responsibility to insure that our business is successful in the future、 The future looks so bleak that the United Auto Workers, the union that represents GMs hour
15、ly workers, agreed last year to give back some hardwon concessions, which included a $1 an hour costofliving raise for active workers, and required retirees to pay up to several hundred dollars a year towards medical insurance that had always been free、 UAW President Ron Gettelfinger says it was pai
16、nful but necessary、Correspondent: Was it hard to sell?Gettelfinger: Sure it was hard to sell、 First of all, it was hard for us to convince ourselves that we needed to do something、 It was not the easy decision to make, but it was a right decision to make in the long term、 Because our concern is the
17、longterm viability of our membership both active and retired when it es to their benefits or to their wage levels、 And the consensus is the union may have to give up a lot more, either before or during next years contract negotiations, if General Motors is to avoid bankruptcyan oute that could allow
18、 the pany to scrap its labor agreements, slash wages and pass off its pension obligations to the federal government、 Cole: If you or I were given a choice between gold and silver, well take the gold every time、 Gold is no longer an option、 The choice that theyre facing, literally, is between lead an
19、d silver、 If they dont do the right things, theyre gonna get lead、Silver is still terrific、 And I think thats where were headed、 The industry can afford silver, but they can no longer afford gold、Correspondent: This is the end of the corporate welfare state?Cole: Its the beginning of the end, big ti
20、me、Episode 4: General Motors is still the largest automobile manufacture in the world, and most experts will tell you it has never made better cars and trucks、 But its market share has fallen to 24 percent, and it has too many plants and too many people for the number of cars its selling、GM wants to
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