美国国家公共电台 NPR Springfield, Ohio: A Shrinking City Faces A Tough Economic Future

Springfield, Ohio: A Shrinking City Faces A Tough Economic Future 

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A big part of what fuels the American dream is opportunity, the chance to move ahead economically. Much of the anger and anxiety in our current politics is fueled by the sense that that opportunity has dried up for many Americans. As part of our election year project with some members stations, called A Nation Engaged, we are asking a question this week. How can economic opportunity be created for more Americans? We're focusing on two Ohio cities - Springfield and Columbus. NPR's Uri Berliner takes us to Springfield.

URI BERLINER, BYLINE²: There are plenty of places named Springfield in the U.S., 33 according to one government count. The Springfield in Ohio is a blue-collar city with a lot of history, pain and pride, a place with an uncertain future.

KEVIN ROSE: When you look at what makes America great, what makes America, you know, not great, our ups and our downs, Springfield represents all of it.

BERLINER: That's Kevin Rose, a historian with The Turner Foundation, a local philanthropy. For years now, the not so great seems to have the upper hand. Median incomes fell an astounding³ 27 percent in Springfield between 1999 and 2014. That's more than any metropolitan⁴ area in the country. Factory jobs disappeared, or they started paying less. And for many in town, a middle-class life is out of reach.

ROSS MCGREGOR: People need to have a little bit more to be able to do the things that we need to have done on the shop floor these days.

BERLINER: Ross McGregor is executive vice⁵ president of Pentaflex, which makes parts for heavy trucks. He says today's factory jobs require training, analytical⁶ skills. The unskilled work, that's what the robots are doing. When we head out to the factory floor, McGregor directs me to a machine moving parts through a stamping operation.

MCGREGOR: This is a automated⁷ assembly unit. Again, this was a process that required four operators before the automation. Now only one operator needs to run it.

BERLINER: For manufacturers like McGregor, those robots, all that automation and keeping a lid on labor⁸ costs is what allows them to compete with a country like Vietnam. But for workers, it's all part of what's putting the squeeze on living standards. That squeeze on blue-collar workers, the march of automation and global competition isn't just landing on Springfield. It's happening throughout the country and the industrialized world.

GREGG MCGILLIVRAY: I think it would be very hard to be starting out with a family now, like I did 31 years ago.

BERLINER: Gregg McGillivray has worked at Pentaflex for 31 years. He said he's made a good life in his job and in Springfield. But for younger people...

MCGILLIVRAY: I don't think it's as good as it used to be.

BERLINER: In what way?

MCGILLIVRAY: I just don't think it's as easy to get by in the world today.

BERLINER: There's no doubt it's harder to get by in Springfield. As it transitions away from manufacturing, the city relies more on service jobs, like in call centers or nursing homes. But they don't pay well. Some trucking distribution companies have come because Springfield is convenient to two big interstates. And incomes did tick up last year, but that doesn't get Springfield any closer to the knowledge economy of tech or finance or design.

WARREN COPELAND: Quite honestly, that's a struggle.

BERLINER: Warren Copeland is Springfield's mayor.

COPELAND: In Ohio, every city like us is in direct competition with Columbus, which is the go-go-growth city in Ohio. They really have a lot of the well-paying paperwork jobs that are the part of the economy that's performing well.

BERLINER: Springfield's population has fallen steadily⁹ over the years. Many young people go to college and leave - the brain drain. To help end that exodus¹⁰, Springfield is banking¹¹ on a revival¹² of downtown.

JIM KING: We're Blue Jacket Dairy. We make farmstead cheese. It's called artisan cheese, meaning, you know, artsy.

BERLINER: Jim King is selling those artisanal cheeses at a farmer's market next to the downtown esplanade. It's a warm weekday evening. There's music. The vibe is friendly, exactly the kind of scene tourism and development officials dream about.

SAMANTHA SOMMER: Since I've been here, there's been something like more than $300 million invested in downtown.

BERLINER: Samantha Sommer is editor of the Springfield News-Sun. She's been at the paper since 2001.

SOMMER: That includes a brand new hospital, a new brewery¹³, a new ice rink, multiple renovations of old historic buildings.

BERLINER: Including a Frank Lloyd Wright house that's part of the city's promotion¹⁴ of cultural tourism. But less than a mile from downtown is a neighborhood where no tourist would venture.

CHARLES ROLLINS: We're on the corner of Selma Road and Linden Avenue in Springfield, Ohio.

BERLINER: Pretty tough neighborhood.

C. ROLLINS: Yeah, it's pretty bad down here.

BERLINER: Charles Rollins is welcoming me to Many Pathways, an addiction¹⁵ recovery clubhouse. The streets here are bleak¹⁶ - dilapidated and abandoned buildings, guys walking around looking lost or haunted.

C. ROLLINS: Definitely an increase in young, Caucasian men, you know, turning to heroin¹⁷.

BERLINER: Part of the opioid crisis sweeping¹⁸ this part of the country.

MICHAEL ROLLINS: One of the things about the opiate addiction that is crippling our economies is, it is - the addiction itself takes daily maintenance.

BERLINER: That's Michael Rollins, who helps his twin brother Charles run the place. Charles and Michael speak from experience. They're recovering addicts¹⁹. Charles spent time in prison for trafficking cocaine²⁰. Now he's getting a degree in social work. Charles and Michael hope their paths set some kind of example.

M. ROLLINS: The people come into recovery. They want to quit using drugs, and they come into recovery. And the people that we see that succeed for the longest amount of time are the people that acquire some type of gainful employment.

BERLINER: Gainful employment - over and over again, I hear how it's tough to find gainful employment in Springfield but how it can change lives. Blake Drummond is 20, and a few years ago he was a high school dropout²¹ making $9 an hour in an unskilled factory job.

BLAKE DRUMMOND: We were assembling Corvette manifolds. And my only job was to just push two metal rods down into the manifold. Every day, eight hours a day, two breaks and a lunch. Every day I'm putting the two rods in. I kind of felt like a robot, honestly, just standing²² there doing the same thing. It was - it was bad.

BERLINER: After getting his GED and taking construction and building classes, Drummond now earns $21 an hour. He's supervising a crew renovating²³ a historic building downtown.

DRUMMOND: I always say, I feel like I was a carpenter in my past life because I can just pick up a tool sometimes and immediately know what it's used for, what to do with it and how to use it.

BERLINER: Drummond says he'd like to stay in Springfield and help build up the city. But if opportunities dry up here, he can always pack up his tools and find work somewhere else. Uri Berliner, NPR News.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 astounding   

adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词)

参考例句：

• There was an astounding 20% increase in sales. 销售量惊人地增加了20%。
• The Chairman's remarks were so astounding that the audience listened to him with bated breath. 主席说的话令人吃惊，所以听众都屏息听他说。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

6 analytical   

adj.分析的；用分析法的

参考例句：

• I have an analytical approach to every survey.对每项调查我都采用分析方法。
• As a result,analytical data obtained by analysts were often in disagreement.结果各个分析家所得的分析数据常常不一致。

7 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

9 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

10 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。

11 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

12 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

13 brewery   

n.啤酒厂

参考例句：

• The brewery had 25 heavy horses delivering beer in London.啤酒厂有25匹高头大马在伦敦城中运送啤酒。
• When business was good,the brewery employed 20 people.在生意好的时候，这家酿造厂曾经雇佣过20人。

14 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

15 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

16 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

17 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

18 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

19 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

20 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

21 dropout   

n.退学的学生；退学；退出者

参考例句：

• There is a high dropout rate from some college courses.有些大学课程的退出率很高。
• In the long haul,she'll regret having been a school dropout.她终归会后悔不该中途辍学。

22 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

23 renovating   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The increased production was largely attained by renovating old orchards and vineyards. 通过更新老果园和葡萄园，使生产大大增加。
• Renovating that house will cost you a pretty penny. 为了整修那所房子，你得花很多钱。