【英语语言学习】北美自由贸易协定成立20年

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

 

It has been almost 20 years since the U.S. Congress approved the North American Free Trade Agreement - New Year's Day to be precise. It was an agreement that was met with all kinds of controversy¹. Over the next few weeks, NPR will be airing a series of stories looking back at NAFTA. This morning, NPR's Jim Zarroli tackles one of the first assumptions about NAFTA, that it would send a wave of American jobs to Mexico, where labor² is cheaper.

 

JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE³: NAFTA was designed to break down the walls separating North American economies and let goods move freely across borders. The U.S. and Canada already had a free trade treaty. NAFTA would bring Mexico in as well. U.S. companies had long viewed Mexico as a sleepy backwater, hostile to outside businesses. Bill Lane is director of global government affairs at Caterpillar⁴.

 

BILL LANE: You might get a small spurt⁵ of growth and then there would be a decline in economy. And the knee jerk reaction from the Mexicans was to raise the tariff⁶ walls and try to protect the local industries.

 

ZARROLI: Under NAFTA, tariffs⁷ were eliminated on imported goods, allowing companies to sell wherever they wanted. Dean Baker⁸ is with the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a liberal think tank. Baker say NAFTA also established laws that protected companies doing business in Mexico.

 

DEAN BAKER: Basically, if General Electric, General Motors, whoever might be, if they're looking at setting up an operation in Mexico, they want to be sure that they're not plunking down a billion dollars, or whatever it might be, to set up a factory and then they're going to see it taken over by the government two, three, four years down the road.

 

ZARROLI: Opposition⁹ to NAFTA was intense and bipartisan. Unions warned it would drive down U.S. wages and worker safety standards. Presidential candidate Ross Perot memorably¹⁰ warned that the loss of jobs to Mexico would create a giant sucking sound.

 

ROSS PEROT: This agreement would move the highest-paid blue-collar jobs from U.S. to Mexico. This is going to create serious damage to our tax base during this critical period. We have got to manufacture here, not there, to keep our tax base intact.

 

ZARROLI: But NAFTA had supporters in the White House - President George H.W. Bush and his successor. President Clinton argued that NAFTA could succeed if tied to adequate worker protections.

 

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: American workers are now the most productive in the world. You got to believe in yourselves. We can do this. We can compete, we can win if we have access to the markets. That's what this gives us.

 

ZARROLI: In at least one sense, NAFTA did as predicted. Trade increased dramatically between Mexico and the United States.

 

MANUEL SUAREZ-MIER: In 1993, the year before NAFTA came into effect, bilateral¹¹ trade was $80 billion. Today, it's $500 billion, which translates approximately to $1 million per minute.

 

ZARROLI: Manuel Suarez-Mier of American University was a Mexican government official involved in the NAFTA talks. He says cross-border business activity has exploded under NAFTA.

 

SUAREZ-MIER: If you were to shut down the borders tomorrow, in three weeks, the auto¹² industry of the three countries would shut down. They are so integrated that they need each other to survive.

 

ZARROLI: Suarez says NAFTA made Mexican businesses much more competitive, yet Suarez says growth has been less impressive than he hoped. He says Mexico has been slow to adopt needed economic reforms, like breaking up monopolies in sectors¹³ such as telecommunications. In the United States, NAFTA has enabled companies such as Mary Kay Cosmetics¹⁴ to expand into Mexico. Ann Cruz is the company's vice¹⁵ president of government relations.

 

ANN CRUZ: Frankly¹⁶, NAFTA was a win-win on both sides of the border for Mary Kay, an opportunity for the U.S.-based company, as well as the opportunity to expand in Mexico and better serve Mexican consumers.

 

ZARROLI: Today, Mexico is the company's fourth biggest market. Caterpillar's Bill Lane argues that NAFTA has accomplished¹⁷ something else that's very important.

 

LANE: It kept both Mexico and the United States from embracing protectionist policies over the years, and as a result, it kept us from turning inward. And that's hard to quantify but it's enormously positive.

 

ZARROLI: But economist¹⁸ Dean Baker says there's little evidence to suggest NAFTA has added much to U.S. growth. And he argues that it's been one of the factors contributing to wage stagnation¹⁹ for most workers.

 

BAKER: The real story has been that it's had a negative impact on wages and, you know, probably roughly neutral for growth. Again, in the context of having a trade deficit²⁰ of $50 billion a year with Mexico, I'd be inclined to say at the moment at the least that's probably - I won't say it's a big negative - but a modest negative in terms of overall growth.

 

ZARROLI: Baker says NAFTA has lowered prices by helping²¹ companies produce cheaper goods. But it hasn't addressed the big problems facing the U.S. right now - a weak job market and slack aggregate²² demand. The most frequently voiced warning about NAFTA, that it would decimate the labor market, hasn't exactly happened as expected. The U.S. did lose a lot of manufacturing jobs after NAFTA, but most of them went to China, not Mexico. The giant sucking sound that Ross Perot predicted came from another part of the world all together. Jim Zarroli, NPR News.

 

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

 

MARTIN: And you are listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.

1 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

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 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。

4 caterpillar   

n.毛虫，蝴蝶的幼虫

参考例句：

• A butterfly is produced by metamorphosis from a caterpillar.蝴蝶是由毛虫脱胎变成的。
• A caterpillar must pass through the cocoon stage to become a butterfly.毛毛虫必须经过茧的阶段才能变成蝴蝶。

5 spurt   

v.喷出；突然进发；突然兴隆

参考例句：

• He put in a spurt at the beginning of the eighth lap.他进入第八圈时便开始冲刺。
• After a silence, Molly let her anger spurt out.沉默了一会儿，莫莉的怒气便迸发了出来。

6 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

7 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

8 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

9 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

10 memorably   

难忘的

参考例句：

• The book includes some memorably seedy characters and scabrous description. 这本书包含了一些难忘下流的角色及有伤风化的描述。 来自互联网
• Horowitz could play Chopin memorably. 霍洛维茨可以把肖邦的作品演奏得出神入化。 来自互联网

11 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

12 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

13 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 cosmetics   

n.化妆品

参考例句：

• We sell a wide range of cosmetics at a very reasonable price. 我们以公道的价格出售各种化妆品。
• Cosmetics do not always cover up the deficiencies of nature. 化妆品未能掩饰天生的缺陷。

15 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。

16 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

17 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

18 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

19 stagnation   

n. 停滞

参考例句：

• Poor economic policies led to a long period of stagnation and decline. 糟糕的经济政策道致了长时间的经济萧条和下滑。
• Motion is absolute while stagnation is relative. 运动是绝对的，而静止是相对的。

20 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

21 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。

22 aggregate   

adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合

参考例句：

• The football team had a low goal aggregate last season.这支足球队上个赛季的进球总数很少。
• The money collected will aggregate a thousand dollars.进帐总额将达一千美元。