美国劳工部长赵小兰谈灾后工作机会

Anchor: FEMA began issuing special debit¹ cards worth up to 2,000 dollars to Americans who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. These cards will help their families meet their short term needs for food and clothes and travel, but what is the federal government doing for the victims of the hurricane in a long term and how will all of these people get back to work. Joining us now from Houston tonight in the Astrodome--Mrs. Secretary of Labor², Elaine Chao is with us, Mrs. Secretary, thank you for being with us; I appreciate you're being on board. (Honor! Thanks for having me!) I understand what it is some ten thousand people already have applied³ for unemployment benefits, so we are hopeful that we can get these people taken care of immediately, but there maybe as many as 400,000 people displaced in terms of their jobs.

Zhao: Well, we don't know quite yet. It's a little too early. But just today, I signed off on 31 million dollars to increase a capacity of the States to take in these unemployment insurance claims. But the great challenge that we have is to communicate to dislocated workers, the array of assistance programs that are available to them. So just in the last 6 days alone I've signed off on about 200 million dollars in National Emergency grants to create about 47,500 temporary jobs, now these jobs are gonna help people, and get a paycheck(Yeah.) and also aid in the recovery, and, ah, cleanup of their own community, (Sure.)They'll also be helping⁴ in the delivery of humanitarian⁵ services. But we also have 2 other programs that are very helpful as well: One is Unemployment Insurance, and then secondly⁶ is a Disaster Unemployment Assistance.

Anchor: Let me ask this, (sure) 'Cause I guess the biggest concern of these people, they lost their homes, everything they have (Yeah.)and they don't have a job to go back to, so that it means by which, for example ,if you lost your job in a normal circumstance, it's hard enough. But now you don't even have a house, you may not even have a phone, you're displaced, you're not even in the same city. (Yeah.) Are we preparing to perhaps to extend benefits of necessary and really look at this as a very unique situation?

Zhao: Well, our hearts just go out to these people, and I think, you know, everyone is trying to do everything they can. In terms of extension of the unemployment insurance, the states have that authority, and obviously as the time gets, uh, as we go forward, then we'll see what is really happening, I think that will be discussed. But let me also say, you know, the majority of people have left the, eva, devastated⁷ areas, and I want to make it very clear that people do not have to return to their home communities to fall for these claims. We say basically that to people, No.1, if you have access to a telephone, please call our toll⁸ free number, it's 1-866-4-USA-DOL, there you can find caring, compassionate⁹ professionals who are working, you know, who are on call 24*7 to provide the assistance. (Secretary, I'm sorry, go ahead. Please go.) And also, yes, if they are unable to get to a phone, or they can get on the internet, please visit our website--- www.dol.gov. Again we have people who are very willing to help, and so eager to help. Now we're also saying if you can not get to a phone, if you can not get to a computer, we are trying to find you. We got teams of people canvasing neighborhood after neighborhood. We're working with nonprofit, faith-based organizations, community organizations to find these people. We have picked teams of people with laptops to register people for Unemployment Insurance, or for Disaster Unemployment Assistance. Now the Disaster Unemployment Assistance is very important. Let me explain. They are people who are not usually eligible¹⁰ for Unemployment Insurance, and these are the self-employed, if you're taxi driver in New Orleans for example, you could no longer apply your trade. You are eligible for Income Assistance through the disaster Unemployment Assistance. If you're newly employed, you don't have a track record yet. You are not ordinarily eligible for unemployment Insurance, but under Disaster Unemployment Assistance, you are available, you are eligible. So we have a whole array of services. We also have job banks; we have mobile units outside the Reliance Center in Houston Astrodome. We have job banks all over. We had a job bank in Dallas, Texas today. We had so many employers that we were oversubscribed. We are gonna hold a job fair in Houston next week, and the employers, we're asking employers to come and register with us and tell us what the jobs they have available. We are setting up a regional job bank that will list kind of like a bulletin board, all of the jobs that are available in the devastated region.

Anchor: We have...Secretary Chao,We have to run, but thank you for being with us,(Yes.) wish you ah.. all the best in that very difficult task ahead of you,(Thank you.) thank you for being with us.

1 debit   

n.借方，借项，记人借方的款项

参考例句：

• To whom shall I debit this sum?此款应记入谁的账户的借方？
• We undercharge Mr.Smith and have to send him a debit note for the extra amount.我们少收了史密斯先生的钱，只得给他寄去一张借条所要欠款。

2 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。

3 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

6 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

7 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

8 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

9 compassionate   

adj.有同情心的，表示同情的

参考例句：

• She is a compassionate person.她是一个有同情心的人。
• The compassionate judge gave the young offender a light sentence.慈悲的法官从轻判处了那个年轻罪犯。

10 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。