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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Forget the "Lost Decade."
Profitable automakers racing2 for the new-new thing of mobility3 are starting to create the "Next Decade." On one track are the likes of General Motors and Ford4 Motor, each booking record profits on the strength of trucks and SUVs. On the other track is a whole new world with the power to change the perception – and reality – of Michigan as we know it.
Nowhere is that transformation5 more symbolic6 than in Flat Rock. The Blue Oval is investing nearly $1 billion there to build a second Michigan data center and to produce electrified7 and autonomous8 vehicles.
You want to see the future in autos? This is it.
Now, they're still building cars and trucks there – think Mustangs and Lincoln Continental9. Along with a full line-up, they account for the company's revenue and profit … for now.
But they're also building two data centers – for a car company – because Ford expects its data usage to soar 1,000 percent by the early part of the next decade. That's 1,000 percent.
Old Detroit it's not.
The coming transformation contemplates10 technology this business couldn't fathom11 just a few years ago. It's attracting young techy college grads who wouldn't have been wooed by the metal bending of it all. It's angling to change the investment cases for automakers still hungering for capital and respect on Wall Street and to create jobs.
New auto1-related jobs in Michigan swelled12 by 200,000 since the end of the global financial meltdown. That's more than any other state in the nation.
The Center for Automotive Research says automakers and major suppliers have invested more than $30 billion in the state between 2009 and last year. More than 75% of all North American automotive research is conducted here. And Michigan boasts more autonomous-vehicle test sites than any other state.
The state economic development arm says Michigan is home to 27 assembly plants. It claims 63 of the top 100 North American suppliers. It's the largest producer of cars and trucks in the United States, boasting 19 percent of total U.S. production.
The bottom line: the smaller footprint of the Detroit-based industry is more geographically13 concentrated in Michigan than it was before the meltdown. But it's not just manufacturing anymore.
It's high-tech14. It's greener and cleaner. And that so much of it is happening here is huge. It's a testament15 to the industry's human capital and the current political environment's bias16 for investing at home. This in the state synonymous with the "Lost Decade" of job losses, plant closures, economic decline and epic17 bankruptcy18.
This in the home of Detroit automakers that many investors19 still do not believe in. Memories of capital incinerated and promises broken, of deep cutbacks, asset sales, even bankruptcy, are still too fresh for too many on Wall Street.
The stakes are enormous. The Detroit auto industry is finally profitable at home, but it's still beset20 by perceptions it's less competitive, less nimble and less innovative21 than rivals. Executing the high-tech vision for its future is the best way to change that – and Michigan in the process.
1 auto | |
n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车 | |
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2 racing | |
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的 | |
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3 mobility | |
n.可动性,变动性,情感不定 | |
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4 Ford | |
n.浅滩,水浅可涉处;v.涉水,涉过 | |
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5 transformation | |
n.变化;改造;转变 | |
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6 symbolic | |
adj.象征性的,符号的,象征主义的 | |
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7 electrified | |
v.使电气化( electrify的过去式和过去分词 );使兴奋 | |
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8 autonomous | |
adj.自治的;独立的 | |
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9 continental | |
adj.大陆的,大陆性的,欧洲大陆的 | |
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10 contemplates | |
深思,细想,仔细考虑( contemplate的第三人称单数 ); 注视,凝视; 考虑接受(发生某事的可能性); 深思熟虑,沉思,苦思冥想 | |
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11 fathom | |
v.领悟,彻底了解 | |
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12 swelled | |
增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 ); 肿胀; (使)凸出; 充满(激情) | |
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13 geographically | |
adv.地理学上,在地理上,地理方面 | |
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14 high-tech | |
adj.高科技的 | |
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15 testament | |
n.遗嘱;证明 | |
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16 bias | |
n.偏见,偏心,偏袒;vt.使有偏见 | |
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17 epic | |
n.史诗,叙事诗;adj.史诗般的,壮丽的 | |
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18 bankruptcy | |
n.破产;无偿付能力 | |
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19 investors | |
n.投资者,出资者( investor的名词复数 ) | |
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20 beset | |
v.镶嵌;困扰,包围 | |
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21 innovative | |
adj.革新的,新颖的,富有革新精神的 | |
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