VOA慢速英语--亚马逊的退出引发了人们对纽约的质疑

Amazon’s Withdrawal¹ Raises Questions about New York

Amazon shocked many people last week when it cancelled plans to set up a big new headquarters in New York City.

Amazon’s decision means the company is suspending plans to develop part of Queens, New York. The project would have created 25,000 jobs.

The decision came after some politicians and social activists² angrily protested the nearly $3 billion in assistance promised to the company.

“We are disappointed…we love New York,” said a statement from Amazon on its blog after the cancellation⁴ was announced.

The collapse⁵ of the project appears to raise questions about the growing power of large technology companies. Some people also disliked Amazon’s anti-labor⁶ position.

“This all of a sudden became the perfect test case for all those arguments,” said Joe Parilla. He works for the Brookings Institution research group.

Amazon announced in November that New York was one of two areas chosen for its second headquarters. The other was Crystal City, in Arlington, Virginia.

The announcement followed months of secret negotiations⁷ between Amazon and government officials in the two states.

In New York, the company planned to spend $2.5 billion to build its new offices.

Because of New York’s economic strength, the city will easily recover from the Amazon decision. But some observers say it could frighten other tech companies that are thinking about moving to New York. The city wants to be seen as the East Coast version of California’s Silicon⁸ Valley, the home of many high-tech⁹ businesses.

“One of the real risks here is the message we send to companies that want to come to New York,” said Julie Samuels. She heads the industry group Tech: NYC.

Opposition¹⁰ Grows

In November, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo were happy to welcome Amazon to New York. They believed it would help the growing tech economy and create billions of dollars in taxes that could be used for schools, housing and other projects.

But opposition quickly grew as people learned of the deals the city promised to the company.

Critics pointed³ to the $3 billion incentives¹² the city promised the company as well as some of Amazon’s demands.

Thomas Stringer works for a company that advises large companies. He said he knew something was wrong right from the start with the Amazon deal.

“If this was done right, all the elected officials would have been out there touting¹⁴ how great it was. When you didn’t see that happen, you knew something was wrong,” he said.

Stringer added that city and state government officials need to rethink their decision to carry out the negotiations in secret. Community leaders and potential critics were not included in the talks. They were angry when they learned about the incentives.

Amazon must also take some blame, said Joe Parilla. He said the publicity¹⁵ surrounding the hunt for a new headquarters and the way several cities were asked to offer incentives may have led to a backlash.

New York is still strong

But other tech companies are doing well in New York City.

Google is spending $2.4 billion to build up its Manhattan offices. Cloud-computing company Salesforce has put its name on Verizon’s former headquarters. And music service Spotify just signed a rental¹⁶ agreement for a large space at the new World Trade Center.

New York has higher costs than other cities. But many tech companies want to be there because it is home to many highly skilled people, education and cultural centers, as well as Wall Street, the financial center of the United States.

No other U.S. city has as many computer-related jobs as New York City. It has 225,600, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Washington, Boston, Atlanta and Dallas each have a greater percentage of their workers in tech jobs.

Even after cancelling the project, Amazon still has 5,000 employees in New York City, without including those who work at Whole Foods Market stores.

Words in This Story

incentive¹¹ – n. something that has an effect or persuades a person to do something or to work harder

disappoint – v. to make someone unhappy by not being as good as expected or by not doing something that was hoped for

tout¹³ – v. to talk about something or someone as being very good, effective or skillful

backlash – n. a strong public reaction against something

1 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

4 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

5 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

6 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。

7 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

8 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

9 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

10 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。

11 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

12 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

13 tout   

v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱

参考例句：

• They say it will let them tout progress in the war.他们称这将有助于鼓吹他们在战争中的成果。
• If your case studies just tout results,don't bother requiring registration to view them.如果你的案例研究只是吹捧结果，就别烦扰别人来注册访问了。

14 touting   

v.兜售( tout的现在分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• He's been touting his novel around publishers for years. 他几年来一直到处找出版商兜售自己的小说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Technology industry leaders are touting cars as a hot area for growth. 科技产业领袖吹捧为增长热点地区的汽车。 来自互联网

15 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

16 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。