VOA慢速英語:美國紡織業(yè)煥發(fā)新生

[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, [00:01.90]this is the Technology Report. [00:05.68]The textile and clothing industry in the United States [00:10.36]is growing again after many years of decline. [00:14.64]Many of the factories are competing against factories [00:19.96]that pay low wages in countries like China. [00:24.19]VOA visited the southern state of North Carolina. [00:29.22]The textile industry there was once [00:33.25]one of the most important businesses in the state. [00:37.43]It has reinvented itself using technology [00:41.41]and employing fewer people than before. [00:46.39]Robots do most of the work [00:49.14]at the National Spinning Company factory [00:52.07]in Burlington, North Carolina. [00:54.56]The factory dyes more than 110,000 kilograms of yarn [01:00.53]every week in many different colors. [01:04.41]The yarn is sent to clothing and furniture makers [01:08.99]both in the U.S. and around the world. [01:13.77]Michael Hankensen is one of only two workers [01:17.60]who take care of the dye producing machines. [01:21.58]"As you see, most of this is extremely heavy, [01:24.37]cumbersome, and trying to move it around [01:27.06]in the order that these robots do it, [01:28.70]it would take an army of men [01:32.03]to accomplish what these robots do," said Hankensen. [01:35.27]Technology is helping the company [01:38.01]compete with factories in other countries [01:40.99]that pay workers only a few dollars a day. [01:44.67]The National Spinning Company factory pays [01:48.51]its 100 employees between $10 and $20 an hour. [01:54.88]Ed Atkins manages the factory. [01:59.01]He says it is important for the company to limit labor costs, [02:05.08]but he says, it must also make high quality products, [02:10.66]and he says, the company must provide good customer service [02:16.48]to compete in the international market place. [02:20.33]"We've diversified ourselves, looked for markets [02:22.86]that depended on the quick response [02:25.70]that you can provide from American-made products, [02:28.04]little niche markets. [02:30.23]I mean we don't try to compete [02:31.82]in the generic cotton business or anything like that, [02:34.76]because it's not where our strengths are," said Atkins. [02:37.05]Deborah Wince-Smith is the president of the Council on Competitiveness, [02:42.77]she says the textile industry must continue to develop technology. [02:49.79]"Companies and enterprises are really bringing [02:52.33]their core activities to where they have a skilled workforce, [02:55.41]where they have innovation talent [02:57.50]and where they're actually able [02:59.44]to develop the next generation of innovation [03:01.88]that drives manufacturing," said Wince-Smith. [03:03.82]The textile industry has built 23 factories [03:08.20]in the last three years, [03:10.34]it has also increased its exports by 30 percent. [03:15.37]To the surprise of many, [03:18.40]the American textile industry is showing new signs of life. [03:23.68]And that's the Technology Report from VOA Learning English. [03:30.05]Have a question or comment about this show? [03:33.43]Email us at learningenglish@voanews.com. [03:38.36]For more of our programs, [03:40.80]visit our website at chinavoa.com. [03:46.37]We are also on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, iTunes [03:52.00]and Twitter at VOA Learning English. [03:55.84]I'm June Simms.

00:00

00:00

MP3下載 文本下載