VOA慢速英语2020 2019年美国工业机器人出货量下降（在线收听）

American companies put fewer robots in place during 2019 than they did the year before, Reuters news agency reports. That is the first decrease in shipped robots since 2015.

据路透社报道，美国公司2019年期间安装的工业机器人数量比上一年度有所减少。这是2015年以来工业机器人出货量的首次下降。

Robot shipments last year fell to 23,758. That is a more than 16 percent drop from the year before. That information comes from the Association for Advancing Automation, an industry group based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

去年工业机器人出货量下降到了23758台。这比上一年度减少了16%以上。该信息来自总部位于密歇根州安阿伯市的美国自动化促进协会。

Robot shipments also fell in Mexico last year, decreasing 25 percent to 3,263. Shipments in Canada were about the same, with just over 3,000 robots shipped.

墨西哥去年的工业机器人出货量也下降了25%到3263台。加拿大的工业机器人出货量大致保持在3000台没有变化。

A major goal of President Donald Trump's administration has been to get manufacturers to bring jobs back to the United States. New robotics permit U.S. companies to compete with low-cost labor in China and other countries. Some experts, however, believe there is a slowdown in manufacturing.

川普政府的一个重要目标是让制造商将就业岗位带回美国。新的工业机器人使得美国公司可以跟中国等国的廉价劳动力相竞争。但是一些专家认为制造业正在放缓。

Alexander Shikany is vice president of the Association for Advancing Automation. He said a slowdown is not likely to last a long time. He noted that orders for new robots in North America increased last year by 1.6 percent to 29,988 units.

亚力山大·西卡尼是美国自动化促进协会的副主席。他说，经济放缓可能不会持续很长时间。他指出，去年北美地区的新工业机器人订单增长了1.6%，达到了29988台。

The largest driver of that growth was a more than 50 percent increase in orders from carmakers. Shikany said the car industry is making robots part of their investment for the future.

这一增长的最大驱动力是汽车制造商的订单增长了50%以上。西卡尼表示，汽车行业将工业机器人作为未来投资的一部分。

U.S. carmaker General Motors recently announced that it was investing $2.2 billion to build electric trucks and self-driving electric vehicles at its factory near Detroit, Michigan.

美国通用汽车公司最近宣布将投资22亿美元在密歇根州底特律市的工厂制造电动卡车和自动驾驶电动汽车。

Hytrol Conveyor Company, Incorporated is a private company in Jonesboro, Arkansas. It makes conveyor belts and sold over $200 million of products last year. The company did not cut back on new robots in 2019. It spent $1.9 million last year to automate its assembly line.

海特罗输送机公司是阿肯色州琼斯伯勒市的一家私营公司。该公司生产传送带，去年产品销售额超过了2亿美元。该公司在2019年没有缩减对新工业机器人的投资。该公司投资了190万美元来实现装配线的自动化。

David Peacock is the company's president. He said the company realized three years ago that it would have trouble meeting demand without more robots.

大卫 · 皮科克是该公司总裁。他说，该公司3年前意识到，如果没有更多工业机器人，该公司将会很难满足市场需求。

However, the investments have not cut jobs. The number of workers at Hytrol Conveyor's factory has increased 18 percent over the past three years to 1,300. And the company has seen a nearly 25 percent increase in profits.

然而对工业机器人的投资并未削减就业岗位。海特罗输送机公司旗下工厂的员工数量增长18%，达到了1300人。同时该公司的利润增长了近25%。