VOA慢速英语:美国参议院通过贸易促进权法案

The United States Senate recently passed a measure called Trade Promotion Authority. Under the bill, the Congress can only vote for or against a trade agreement once it has been negotiated. This ability to "fast-track" such agreements would be important when Congress considers possible trade deals with Asian and Pacific countries and also Europe.

美国参议院最近通过了一项贸易促进权的措施。根据这项法案，当涉及一项贸易协定达成时，国会只能投赞成或反对票。这种快速审批类似协议遇到国会审批美国与亚太国家以及欧洲可能签订的贸易协定时，可能会尤为重要。

But the issue of free trade can fuel a debate about U.S. jobs. Many labor unions and Democratic Party members support a little-known federal program for American workers. It is called the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program. It provides financial assistance to those who lose their job because of increased foreign competition. Conservatives say the program is ineffective and costs too much.

但是自由贸易可能会增加美国就业问题的争论。许多工会和民主党成员支持一项少有人知的针对美国工人的联邦计划，这就是所谓的贸易调整援助计划。该计划为那些因为国外竞争增加而失业的人提供经济援助。保守党称该计划并没有多大效果反而付出的代价过大。

However, a former steel worker who spoke with VOA says the program works and should be expanded. Michael Smith worked at the Bethlehem Steel Mill in Sparrows Point, Maryland. The mill was once a major producer of steel. It employed as many as 30,000 Americans. Mr. Smith was a crane operator with Bethlehem Steel for 13 years. Recently, he returned to the grounds.

然而一位前钢铁工人告诉美国之音称这项计划呈现出了效果，并且应该扩大施用范围。Michael Smith在马里兰州斯帕罗斯角的伯利恒钢铁厂工作。这个工厂曾经是钢铁主要生产商，曾雇佣30000多名美国人。Smith曾是这个工厂的吊车司机，一做就是13年。最近他又回到了这里。

"I remember what this place used to be. I remember the sights, the sounds, the tractors. It's actually hard physically standing here. I mean, my heart hurts."

我记得这个地方曾经是干什么的。我还记得当时的场景，那些声音，那些吊车。其实重新站在这里是很难的，我是指心里面很难受。

The mill closed in 2012 as a result of a series of business decisions and increasing global competition. That left Mr. Smith and 2,500 mill workers with no jobs and few marketable skills.

这个工厂自2012年因为一系列业务决策和不断增加的全球竞争不得不关闭。这使得Smith在内的2500名工厂工人失业，并且这些人所具备的市场技能很少。

"I was blessed enough to find a program called TRA ((Trade Readjustment Allowance)) and TAA ((Trade Adjustment Assistance)), which is a union bargain benefit that was provided to us."

幸运的是我听说了贸易调整补助计划和贸易调整援助计划。这个项目给我们提供了一个很好的机会。

The TAA program gave Mr. Smith a weekly stipend. He used his retraining assistance to pay for books and school tuition fees. He recently completed his college studies and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Psychology.

贸易援助计划给Smith先生提供了每周津贴。他用这笔钱来支付用来培训新技能的书费和学费。他最近完成了大学课时学习，并且取得了心理学学士学位。

Michael Smith's experience with the program was good. However, many conservatives say TAA is wasteful and ineffective. Dan Ikenson studies trade policies for the Cato Institute research group. He says that for every job lost to trade, 30 jobs are lost for other reasons. He spoke to VOA on Skype.

Smith的援助计划经验是个很好的例子。然而许多保守派议员认为贸易援助计划是一种资金浪费项目，并且所取得的成效不大。Dan Ikenson在卡托研究所研究小组负责研究贸易政策。他说贸易每丢掉一个就业岗位，其它原因就会丢掉了30个就业岗位。他通过Skype与美国之音进行了对话。

"My first question is: why should we treat people who lose jobs or can tie their job loss in some way to trade any differently than we treat other people who lose their jobs?"

我第一个问题想问，为什么我们要把那些失业的人或者因为受贸易影响而失业的人与因为其他原因失业的人区别对待?

Dan Ikenson says trade creates more winners than losers. Instead of government aid, he says manufacturers are better equipped to retrain displaced workers.

Dan Ikenson说贸易所造就的成功者远比失败者多。相比政府援助，他说，制造商能更好的培训失业工人。

"They complain a lot about the dearth of skilled workers, and if they were incentivized to hire people just to train them in exchange for them agreeing to work, maybe for a year or two afterwards, that might work a lot better than trade adjustment assistance does."

关于缺乏技术工人这个问题他们抱怨的太多了，如果他们主动雇人来培训他们来让他们工作，也许一年或者两年之后，可能就会比贸易调整援助工作的效果好很多。

The Senate voted to extend the 400-million dollar program as part of a fast-track bill to speed pending free trade deals with Pacific countries. The House of Representatives has yet to vote on the trade legislation.

参议院投票通过延长4亿美元计划作为快速审批法案的一部分来加快推进美国同太平洋国家悬而未决的自由贸易协定。众议院也已经投票表示支持贸易立法。

I'm Mario Ritter.

Mil Arcega reported on this story for VOA. Additional material came from other VOA reports. Mario Ritter wrote it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in This Story

assistance – n. help or aid that is provided by someone or a group

global – adj. from around the world or having to do with the world

marketable – adj. able to be sold; something that others will want to buy or accept

adjustment – n. a relatively small change that makes something better

pending – adj. not yet decided on or acted upon