雅思聽力口語(VOA)聽抄訓練 - 美國速食工人為爭取更高工資罷工

Leading up to the Labor Day holidaycelebrating the contribution of American workers to society, thousands oflow-wage workers at fast-food restaurants and retail stores went on a one-daystrike in more than 50 cities. These protests are part of a labor unionsponsored campaign to pressure the fast food industry to increase wages andallow workers to unionize.

在美國勞工節前夕，成千上萬在美國速食店和零售店工作的低收入工人在美國50多個城市展開了為期一天的罷工，要求提高工資並成立工會。

In New York City, several hundredrestaurant and retail workers took to the streets to demand higher wages.

在紐約，數百家快餐廳和零售店工人走上街頭，要求得到更高的工資。

One of them, Tasian Edwards works forBurger King and says the national minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, which sheearns, is not enough to support her family.

塔西安•愛德華茲在一家漢堡王速食店工作，她表示美國最低工資標準是每小時7.25美元，她拿的就是最低工資，這點錢難以養家。

“I’m the oldest in the house. And I’m theonly one that can work right now, and $7.25 can’t feed my three siblings,including me and my mother," she said.

她說：“我是我們家最大的子女。我也是家裡目前唯一能工作的，每小時7.25美元沒法養活包括我在內的三個兄弟姐妹，還有我的母親。”

Organizers say workers in more than 50American cities, including Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles, participated inone of the biggest worker protests in the country. The strikes are part of acampaign backed by labor unions to demand a minimum wage of $15 an hour and theright to join a labor union.

抗議活動的組織者說，包括芝加哥、底特律和洛杉磯在內的美國50多個城市的工人們，參加了這次美國規模最大的工人罷工活動之一。這場罷工活動的訴求是把每小時最低工資提高到15美元。

Proponents of the fast food industry saylow-wage jobs provide opportunities to students and entry-level workers whoover time will move on to better jobs and higher pay. Imposing higher wages,they say, could backfire on workers.

速食業界的支持者則表示，低工資的工作為學生和初級工人們提供了工作機會。隨著時間的推移，這些人會找到更好的工作，得到更高的收入。他們表示，強迫施行更高的工資標準，會對工人們產生反效果。

“If employers are paying more, they eitherhave to raise their prices, which means the workers' dollars are buying less,or if employers have to cut back on hours or employment, then people have lesstake home pay at the end of the day," said economist Michael Saltzman fromthe Employment Policies Institute.

就業政策研究所的經濟學家邁克爾•薩爾茨曼說：“如果雇主們支付更多的工資，他們要麼得提高價格，這意味著工人們掙到的工資只能買到比以前更少的東西，要麼雇主們就得減少工人工作的時間，或者削減就業職位，人們每天下班的時候帶回家的收入也就更少。”

But protest organizers say with so manymanufacturing jobs migrating to low-wage countries like China, the fast-foodindustry is the only option for many unskilled American workers.

但是抗議活動的組織者表示，那麼多的製造業工作機會轉移到了像中國這樣的低收入國家，速食業是很多缺乏技能的美國工人唯一的選擇。

Fast-food worker Derrick Langley said it'stime for American workers to stand up for their rights.

德里克•蘭利表示，現在是美國工人站出來維護自己權利的時候了。

“I’m aware that this might cause me to losemy job, but at the same time I’m fighting for something I believe in. I’m justnot going to let somebody keep stepping on my toes after I keep realizing ithurts,” he said.

他說：“我知道這可能會導致我失去自己的工作，但是與此同時，我是在為我信奉的東西而奮爭。我不會在自己意識到受到傷害之後，還讓別人繼續傷害我。”

Saltzman said tax credits already help poorworking families, but many workers said they don’t want to rely on governmentassistance. While one-day strikes may not force the industry to change on itsown, they could increase pressure on President Obama and Congress to raise theminimum wage for all.

薩爾茨曼表示，稅收減免措施已經幫助了貧困的工薪家庭，但是這些工人中有很多人表示，他們不想依賴政府的幫助。儘管只有一天的罷工不會迫使速食業界自己做出改變，但是他們能夠向奧巴馬總統以及國會施加壓力，提高所有人的最低工資標準。