月度归档:2020年03月

2020-3-17 English Reading.

How is the cruise industry affected?

 

Joe Raedle—Getty Images

The spread of COVID-19 has been devastating for the cruise industry. In a tweet on Friday, President Donald Trump announced that four major cruise lines — Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and MSC — have agreed to not sail from U.S. ports for thirty days. This comes after ports around the world have begun to temporarily ban cruise ship arrivals out of fear about the spread of coronavirus.

Read more: Why Are So Many Politicians Testing Positive With COVID-19?

Cruise Lines International Association, a trade organization that includes over 50 cruise lines, announced on Friday that all CLIA ocean-going cruise lines will be temporarily suspending cruise ship operations from U.S. ports of call for 30 days.

 

Multiple cruise ships have suffered high profile outbreaks of the virus. The Diamond Princess was quarantined for weeks off the coast of Japan and at least 700 people on board ended up contracting coronavirus. Another cruise ship, the Grand Princess, was prevented from docking off the coast of California for days out concerns about spreading the virus, and 21 people on board ended up testing positive by the time they disembarked in Oakland on March 9.

Princess Cruises

On Thursday, Princess Cruises — which is owned by Carnival Corp. — announced it was suspending all its global operations through early May, meaning 18 ships will cancel trips that were scheduled to begin between March 12 and May 10.

When asked what would happen to the employees scheduled to work these voyages, a spokesperson for Princess Cruises told TIME on Thursday, “Shoreside employees may temporarily take on new duties to support this change and the refund process. Most shipboard teammates will return home until service resumes in 60 days.”

“Our teammates are our Princess family and we are committed to the care of our team. This is an unprecedented action in the history of our company, so we do not know how everything will play out. We ask for understanding as we work through the specifics regarding compensation and other details,” the spokesperson continued.

On Friday, Carnival Corp. announced four more cruise lines would suspend their activity for a month: Carnival Cruise Line, Cunard North America, Holland America Line and Seabourn. Carnival Corp. did not immediately respond to TIME’s request for comment about what would happen to its workers.

Disney Cruises

On Friday, Disney Cruise Lines announced that it would suspend all new departures of Disney cruise ships beginning March 14 through the end of the month. “While we know this decision may be disappointing, the health and wellbeing of our guests is of the greatest importance,” Disney Cruise Line said in a statement.

“We are equally committed to the wellbeing of our incredible crew members who live and work aboard our ships and on Castaway Cay. During the suspended operations, Disney Cruise Line will continue to compensate our Crew Members and shoreside Cast Members,” the statement continued.

Read more: ‘Only a Matter of Time.’ At This Washington State Immigrant Detention Center, Attorneys Believe a Coronavirus Outbreak Is Inevitable

Viking Cruises

Viking Cruises also announced that it would suspend all ocean and river cruises until May 1.

Viking directed TIME’s request for comment to a message sent to all employees on March 11: “Viking’s guests and our crew always come first; we stand by you. The Company is financially strong, and we have experience in handling adversity. We have no plans to reduce our crew levels as they currently are and will use the next weeks to improve our procedures to handle future challenges presented with the new coronavirus.”

 

2020-3-16 English Reading.

How is the rail industry affected?

On Saturday, Amtrak announced its Northeast Corridor — which runs between Boston and Virginia — would run its Saturday schedule beginning March 16 through March 29. The Keystone Service in Pennsylvania will also be operating on a Saturday schedule with no service to the Ardmore Station.

On Wednesday, Amtrak announced it had temporarily suspended three trains that run between New York and Washington “due to lower demand.” It added that “additional changes to our schedule are under consideration.”
additional changes 额外的改变

John Feltz, director of the Transport Workers Union Train Division, told TIME on Friday there’s a possibility that onboard service workers on Amtrak he represents — such as cafe car workers — may have to prepare for a “furlough or a layoff situation.” He says the the union is “still trying to work that out with Amtrak right now” and “they are cooperating and they are working hand-in-hand.”
“furlough or a layoff situation.” 休假或裁员
still trying to work that out with Amtrak right now
work that out 解决这个问题

Feltz says that, if furloughed, workers would be able to collect unemployment under the Railroad Retirement Board, but their health insurance would be only last three months from their time they first left work.
furlough 休假

Amtrak told TIME on Friday night that they are “working closely with the unions right now as we adjust our schedules as a result of reduced demand that has cut hundreds of millions of dollars from our revenue estimates.”
revenue estimates.” 预估收入

“We will soon be rolling out a voluntary unpaid leave program where non-essential employees can volunteer to take unpaid leave in order to contribute to reducing our expenses,” the spokesperson continued. She added they’ve taken other cost cutting measures “as we work hard to offset the revenue loss while minimizing the impact on our employees.” These measures include: ending all non-safety critical hiring; cutting discretionary travel, cutting professional fees, cutting consultant spending, cutting advertising spending, and cutting deferred non-priority capital projects.
rolling out 推出

Read more: President Trump Says He Was Tested for Coronavirus

Anthony Simon, general chairman of the transportation division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation workers, who represents workers on the Long Island Railroad, writes TIME in an email that they have “been in constant contact with management and local officials. We have the full support of our international Union as well, and our work is secure moving forward as decisions and conditions are constantly changing.”

 as well常用作状语,作“又;也”解,相当于too或also,常位于句末,无须用逗号与句子分开。
如: I am going to London and my sister is going as well(=going,too).
我要到伦敦去,我妹妹也要去。 
as well as常用来连接两个并列的成分,作“也,还”解。它强调的是前一项,后一项只是顺便提及。因此连接并列主语时,谓语动词与前一项一致;而用not only ...but also...连接时,谓语动词与后一项一致。 

“Our first priority is for everyone’s safety and to prepare for whatever is necessary to restore normal. While there have been no threats to cut service as of yet, we will be prepared for whatever comes our way,” he writes.

2020-3-15 English Reading.

As Coronavirus Spreads, U.S. Travel Providers Are Cutting Back Their Services. Here’s How That’s Impacting Transportation Workers

source:https://time.com/5802661/coronavirus-cancelations-workers/


Travel to — and throughout — the United States has rapidly dropped in recent days, driven by concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus. On Wednesday night, President Donald Trump announced a month-long ban on most non-U.S. citizens traveling from Europe in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus — and on Saturday said the ban will extend to the United Kingdom and Ireland — although the move has been criticized as ineffective at stopping a virus that is already in the U.S.

Trump’s orders follow a widely-reported trend of people across and the U.S. (and across the world) canceling or curtailing travel plans in an attempt limit their risk of contracting COVID-19. This practice of self-isolation, known as social distancing, has already had a major impact on many major forms of mass transportation across the U.S. and internationally; here’s how’s how the travel industry is responding — across flights, trains, cruise ships and more — and what it means for the industry’s workforce.

How is the airline industry affected by coronavirus?

The airline industry has already been heavily impacted. According to OAG, a global travel data provider, the number of scheduled flights is globally down by 10% compared to the second week of March in 2019.

Many U.S. and European companies have been hit particularly hard by President Trump’s travel ban on non-U.S. citizens who have visited Europe’s Schengen Area, a collection of 26 countries that do not restrict travel amongst each other including Italy, Spain and France. Per OAG, the ban will affect passengers arriving on nearly 7,000 flights over the next month.

A spokesperson for Airlines for America, a trade association and lobbying group that represents major U.S. airlines, told TIME in a statement on Friday that, “We respect President Trump’s decision to take action to prevent the spread of the virus as our top priority is – and always will be – the safety and well-being of all passengers and crew. However, the government-imposed travel restrictions have triggered rapid and severe damage to the airline industry.”
represents major U.S. airlines,代表美国主要航空公司

 

U.S. airlines directly employ 750,000 workers; the industry as a whole supports 10 million jobs. “The economic impact on U.S. airlines, their employees, travelers and the shipping public is staggering,” the spokesperson continues. New flight bookings for the next 90 days are down by 65-75%.
staggering  令人惊愕的
flight attendants 空乘

 

The flight attendant’s union the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) told TIME on Friday that they’ve seen a general reduction in the availability of flight hours but have not yet been made aware of any involuntary furloughs. However, flight attendants are generally paid by the hour, and that drop could be costly.

Sara Nelson, the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA — which represents 50,000 flight attendants at 20 airlines explains to TIME that 80% of flight attendants in the industry are organized, and that their contracts provide pay protections that help mitigate schedule loss. However, most flight attendants work more hours than such pay protections account for, and depend on the income from those extra hours.
contracts 合同

Nelson also told TIME that the AFA-CWA has worked with airlines to secure contractual pay protection in the current months’ schedule and has worked with management of multiple airlines to determine how much voluntary, unpaid leave they’ll offer. Nelson says that flight attendants will still have their health insurance while on leave, “which is critically important as we’re facing this pandemic.” Flight attendants on leave will also maintain their seniority.

Departure lounge at Ruzyne - Vaclav Havel Airport, Prague, Czech Republic.  

Departure lounge at Ruzyne – Vaclav Havel Airport, Prague, Czech Republic.

 

aviation-images.com/Universal Images Group—Getty Images

The Air Line Pilots Association, a union that represents over 63,000 pilots, tweeted on March 11, “ALPA’s Air Safety Organization is closely monitoring the 2019 novel #coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and will continue to meet regularly and provide timely information to our pilot groups as the situation progresses.”

Delta Airlines

The airline most affected by the the U.S.-Schengen area travel ban will be Delta Airlines, which was scheduled to fly 17% of flights affected by Trump’s ban, per OAG. On Friday, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a memo to all Delta employees world-wide that the company would reduce an unprecedented 40% of its overall capacity over the next few months — parking up to 300 aircrafts. This will be the largest reduction in the company’s history, including 9/11.
in a memo 在一个备忘录中
scheduled to fly  原定要飞行的

Bastian also said Delta would immediately offer voluntary short-term unpaid leave and institute a company-wide hiring freeze. It also will reportedly reduce its use of consultants and contractors.
consultants and contractors. 顾问和承包商

“Through this unprecedented and evolving business environment in the COVID-19 pandemic, Delta’s values remain stronger than ever. This includes taking care of our people and letting our values lead. To that end, we are offering employees the voluntary option to take a 30, 60 or 90-day unpaid leave while retaining full benefits and enhanced travel privileges including confirmed flights,” a Delta spokesperson told TIME on Saturday.
taking care of our people 照顾我们的员工

 

The AFA-CWA’s Nelson told TIME on Friday that Delta is the only major airline whose flight attendants are not unionized, and she’s concerned what this could mean for workers.

United Airlines

United Airlines is the second-most affected by the ban; it was scheduled to operate 14% of affected flights, per OAG. The airline was also one of the first to take drastic action because of the spread of the virus. On March 4, United announced it would reportedly offer voluntary, unpaid leave for U.S. based employees, would institute a hiring freeze and postpone salary increases.
postpone 推迟

On Tuesday, United announced that it would cut 20 percent of its flights indefinitely until demand increases, according to The Washington Post. Its CEO and president will also reportedly forgo their base salaries through June. United President Scott Kirby said that airline’s domestic net books are down 70% as of Tuesday, per ABC News.
forgo

“We are reviewing our flight and crew schedules to comply with the administration’s travel restrictions,” United told TIME in a statement sent on Thursday, March 12. “As always, we will continue to provide our customers and employees with the very latest information as it develops.”

 

American Airlines

American Airlines is the fourth most affected by the U.S.-Schengen ban, per OAG, and announced on Thursday that it would suspend multiple routes to Europe and South America through May. When asked for comment, American Airlines referred TIME to a letter sent to all its team members on Thursday night, which announced that the company would suspend all hiring and leadership moves, postpone pay increases, and offer extended unpaid, voluntary leaves of absence. The letter also said that American Airlines is extending a two-week paid sick policy for all team members who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or are quarantined.
paid sick policy带薪病假政策

Many other U.S. and European airline companies have been hurt by the threat of COVID-19. The German company Lufthansa is the third most affected by the U.S.-Schengen Area travel ban, for example. But even before Trump’s announcement, the airline had already canceled 23,000 flights between March 29 and April 24.

“Our primary goal is to keep as many of our employees on board as possible,” a Lufthansa spokesperson told TIME in an emailed statement. “The extremely urgent decisions on reduced working hours are an important milestone in this regard… The Lufthansa Group has launched an extensive savings program. This includes an immediate hiring freeze, as well as cost reductions in personnel, material and project costs. We are using all available means to secure our liquidity.”
extremely urgent decisions 非常紧急的决定
in this regard在这方面

On Thursday, Norwegian Air also announced it would suspend over 4,000 flights and implement temporary layoffs of up to 50% of their employees. Norwegian did not respond to TIME’s request for comment as to what would happen to its workers.

2020-3-14 English Reading.

President Trump Declares National Emergency As Coronavirus Pandemic Grows

source:https://www.krcc.org/post/watch-trump-discuss-coronavirus-amid-growing-crisis-scrutiny-his-response

接昨日上文


Two types of declarations

The money freed up Friday by the president’s declaration will be in addition to the $8.3 billion provided by an emergency spending bill Trump signed on March 6 — and is aside from a new relief package negotiated with House Democrats to cover the costs of testing, paid leave and other economic assistance for people affected by the disruption caused by the pandemic.
in addition to此外 
relief 救济
paid leave 带薪休假
costs of testing, 支付测试费用

Trump his authority under the Stafford Act to make the nationwide emergency determination, and encouraged governors and tribal leaders to request a “major disaster” declaration as well, which would free up even more assistance. Stafford Act powers are more typically used during natural disasters like hurricanes, but were also used in during the outbreak of West Nile virus in 2000 to help the states of New York and New Jersey.
encouraged governors and tribal leaders 鼓励州长和部落领袖

The Stafford Act declaration activates the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which can help with technical, financial and logistical relief. FEMA could, for instance, facilitate the distribution of coronavirus tests, medications and food or even bring in tents for hospitals treating an overload of patients if it gets to that point.
tents 帐篷
logistical 后勤

Trump also declared a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act. This, in conjunction with the public health emergency already declared in January, provides regulatory relief that can help the response. For instance, this allows agencies to waive licensing requirements so medical professionals can cross state lines to assist in areas of greatest need.
waive 免除

Using the authority, his administration issued a blanket ban on visitors to all nursing homes across the country to protect people most vulnerable to the virus, a step officials said would be painful for families, but was necessary.
issued a blanket ban 发布了全面禁令
nursing homes 养老院


Student loans, oil reserves

Trump took other steps too. He said he would waive interest on federal student loans until further notice using executive action.   And he said the government would take advantage of depressed crude oil prices and buy oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. “We’re going to fill it right to the top,” Trump said.
further notice进一步的通知

Trump also raised the possibility of expanding a ban on travelers from most parts of Europe by adding the United Kingdom. The UK had been exempt from the action Trump announced Wednesday night, but has since seen more cases of the virus.

Trump plans to host a videoconference for leaders of G7 nations next week to discuss the pandemic, the White House said on Friday night.
videoconference 视频会议

Trump also said he will “most likely” get tested for coronavirus himself. Trump had posed for a picture last weekend at his Florida residence with a member of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s delegation. That aide has since tested positive for the coronavirus.
aide 助手

NPR’s Barbara Sprunt, Lexie Schapitl and Shannon Bond contributed to this story.

2020-3-13 English Reading.

President Trump Declares National Emergency As Coronavirus Pandemic Grows

source:https://www.krcc.org/post/watch-trump-discuss-coronavirus-amid-growing-crisis-scrutiny-his-response


President Trump on Friday declared that the coronavirus pandemic is a national emergency, a designation that frees up as much as $50 billion in federal assistance to state and local governments overwhelmed by the spread of the virus, and makes it easier to surge medical resources to areas that need them most.
overwhelmed by the spread of the virus被病毒传播淹没的

After weeks of criticism over a shortage of diagnostic tests for the virus, Trump and his officials worked to assure anxious Americans that it would soon be easy for people showing symptoms to get tested, describing a surge in test production, and a website that would direct people to drive-through test sites set up in Walmart parking lots.
direct 指导人们

Markets rose as Trump spoke in the White House Rose Garden for more than an hour at the end of a week marked by school closures, sports event cancellations, directives to work from home, and cleared-out store shelves as people rush to stockpile basic goods.

“This will pass,” Trump declared, “this will pass through and we’re going to be even stronger for it.”

Trump thanked Google for helping to develop a website, saying it would be “very quickly done, unlike websites of the past” — a veiled shot at the healthcare.gov insurance website started by the former Obama administration, which was marred by extensive problems when it launched. “We’ll be announcing locations probably on Sunday night,” he said.
veiled shot 影射Obama政府
marred 损坏

Deborah Birx, a scientist who is part of the White House task force on the pandemic, brandished a flow chart to announce “this new approach to testing” that she said was “facilitated by Google” to help screen patients and direct them to testing sites.
facilitated 促成 便利
facilitated by Google Google促成
screen patients 筛查患者
direct them to testing sites. 指导他们前往测试点

But after the announcement, Google said its life sciences division, called Verily, was only in the “early stages” of rolling a website in California’s Bay Area.
life sciences division 生命科学部门

Asked about the discrepancy, a White House official told NPR: “The Trump administration is working with Google to develop a website Americans can go to determine whether a test is needed and, if so, facilitate testing at a nearby location. We expect to have more details in the days ahead.”
determine 确定 判断

Trump rebuffed critics of his administration’s response, saying he inherited a system that wasn’t able to respond quickly enough. Asked whether he took responsibility for the lag in making tests available for the coronavirus. Trump responded, “I don’t take responsibility at all.”
rebuffed 拒绝

Trump also said he was not responsible for dismantling a pandemic office inside the White House National Security Council, scolding a reporter for asking what he called “a nasty question.”

“I didn’t do it,” he said. “I don’t know anything about it.”

2020-3-12 English Reading.

Trump Suspends All Travel From Europe For 30 Days To Combat COVID-19

source:https://www.krcc.org/post/trump-set-deliver-address-coronavirus-deemed-pandemic


害,已经写好了,但是不小心保存了错误的草稿,又需要重写一遍。.


President Trump announced a total ban on travel from European countries to the United States for the next 30 days, beginning on Friday at midnight, in a bid “to keep new cases” of coronavirus “from entering our shores.” The restrictions, he said late Wednesday, do not apply to travelers from the United Kingdom.
restrictions限制

Homeland Security officials said the travel restrictions would only apply to foreign nationals, not American citizens or legal permanent residents, who have been in the Schengen region, 26 countries in Europe with open borders agreements, in the last 14 days. After Trump’s announcement, the State Department issued an advisory informing U.S. citizens to “reconsider travel abroad” as a result of outbreaks around the globe.
legal permanent residents, 合法永久居民
advisory 咨询 顾问

Trump also announced economic measures that he said would help the country overcome “temporary economic disruptions” caused by the disease.

The president’s primetime remarks Wednesday cap a concerted effort by the White House to calm a public made jittery by the rapid global spread of the disease and the concomitant economic turmoil. Indeed, globally, the number of cases of coronavirus has exceeded 125,000, with more than 1,000 of those reported in the United States, where the outbreak is expected to get worse.
concomitant economic turmoil.  随之而来的经济动荡
calm a public made jittery 平息公众恐慌
primetime remarks 黄金时段讲话   remark评论 将会

Trump’s address followed a Wednesday announcement by the World Health Organization, which classified the outbreak a pandemic. In Washington, lawmakers scrambled to find ways to contain the economic fallout of the fast-spreading virus.
scrambled 争先恐后的
contain限制

“This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history,” Trump said Wednesday night.
aggressive积极的 气势汹汹

“I am confident that by counting and continuing to take these tough measures, we will significantly reduce the threat to our citizens and we will ultimately and expeditiously defeat this virus,” he added.
expeditiously 迅速地

Trump explained the travel restrictions will be adjusted “subject to conditions on the ground.”
subject to conditions on the ground.根据

Global health experts expressed skepticism to NPR over the Trump administration’s travel restrictions, saying the move is not likely to hasten the containment of the virus.
experts expressed skepticism专家表示怀疑
hasten

“The president, counter to nearly all expert opinion, continues to treat the smaller number of known cases here (due to inadequate testing) as if it means we actually have a small number of cases and need to focus on keeping cases out,” said Marc Lipsitch, an epidemiologist at Harvard University. “Now we should be racing to mitigate spread in the U.S., not wasting resources on keeping cases out.”
as if 似乎
mitigate 减轻

Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health and Security, was equally as dubious.
was equally as dubious.同样表示怀疑

“We have limited resources and need to stay focused on liming domestic spread,” Nuzzo said, cautioning that if the restrictions will require additional screening and monitoring of foreign nationals entering the U.S. then “this will undoubtedly divert resources from protecting vulnerable populations, like the elderly and individuals with underlying health issues.”
vulnerable 容易受伤的 脆弱的

Lawrence Gostin, a global health law professor at Georgetown University, put his assessment more bluntly: “It may have political value but [it] has zero public health value.”

Gostin continued: “Most of Europe has the same or fewer cases than the U.S. Restricting travel certainly won’t make America safer.”
certainly 当然的

2020-3-11 English Reading.

Newcrest cuts output guidance as global fears send gold price soaring

source: https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/newcrest-cuts-output-guidance-as-global-fears-send-gold-price-soaring-20200311-p5491j.html


Newcrest, Australia’s largest gold miner, has cut its full-year gold production forecast after confronting difficult mining conditions at its Lihir mine in Papua New Guinea.

Compounded by the underperformance of its Telfer mine in Western Australia, the problems at Lihir prompted Newcrest to warn the market it now expected to produce between 2.1 billion and 2.2 billion ounces of gold this financial year, down from a forecast of between 2.38 billion to 2.54 billion ounces it gave on January 30.

The production downgrade comes at an inopportune time for the ASX-listed gold miner, with the price of the precious metal in Australian dollars close to a record high. Australian-denominated gold on Wednesday was hovering around $2500 an ounce, as investors sought a safe haven from the economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus outbreak and the dramatic fall in the oil price.
sought a safe haven 寻找一个安全的避风港

Newcrest chief executive Sandeep Biswas said increased gold production at its Cadia mine in NSW and Red Chris mine in Canada’s British Columbia would not be enough to offset the shortfalls at Lihir and Telfer.

While the divestment of Newcrest’s Gosowong mine in Indonesia was a contributing factor, the miner’s output downgrade was largely due to the challenging mining conditions faced at Lihir, located in an extinct but geothermally active volcanic crater on an island 900 kilometres north-east of Port Morseby.
an extinct but geothermally active volcanic crater 一个已灭绝但是地热活跃的火山口
divestment 撤资

Mr Biswas said output at Lihir, usually one of Newcrest’s top-producing mines, will now come in between 775,000 and 825,000 ounces.

“Lihir has been challenged by difficult mining and geothermal conditions, leading to a sub-optimal blend of ore feed to the plant,” Mr Biswas said.
sub-optimal 不够理想

Operating improvements planned at Lihir for the remainder of the 2020 financial year will be insufficient to address its shortfall in production.”
address its shortfall in production.解决生产不足的问题

Following the production outlook downgrade, shares in Newcrest slumped 8.6 per cent on Wednesday to $26.63
share有股票的意思

Analysts on Wednesday said Newcrest’s latest exploration results, including at Canada’s Red Chris, highlight “significant mineralisation with solid grades”. However, the main takeaway was the 8 per cent downgrade to guidance, they said.

“It appears the downgrade is driven by lower grades at Lihir, where access to ex-pit ore has been delayed due to difficult mining and geothermal conditions that requires re-sequencing,” analyst Paul Hissey of the Royal Bank of Canada said.
lower grades 品味低?

 

2030-3-10 English Reading.

Title: U.S. Added 273,000 Jobs Last Month, But Economists Brace For Coronavirus Impact

source:https://www.krcc.org/post/us-added-273000-jobs-last-month-economists-brace-coronavirus-impact


Fear of the coronavirus doesn’t appear to have infected the U.S. job market yet, despite sending shivers through Wall Street.
despite 尽管
shiver 颤抖

A new report from the Labor Department says employers added 273,000 jobs in February — the same as in January. The February increase was about 100,000 more than private analysts had forecast. The unemployment rate dipped to 3.5%, matching a 50-year low.
employers 雇主
private analysts 私人分析师

Job gains for December and January were revised up by a total of 85,000.

The evident resilience in the jobs report may be an artifact of timing. The report is based on surveys conducted three weeks ago, before the sharp jump in reports of coronavirus cases outside of China, where the outbreak began.
这个显然的弹性(这里可能是说从12+1月份的85000到二月份的激增),也许是时间缘故。这份报告在两周前调查,(当时的时间)在新冠状病毒开始全球蔓延之前

“The February jobs report showed remarkably healthy labor market fundamentals prior to the coronavirus outbreak,” said Gregory Daco of Oxford Economics. “But while strong employment and steady wage gains have boosted consumersimmune system, the virus is all but certain to infect their willingness to spend.”
remarkably healthy       adv+adj  显然健康的
But while 但是尽管、但是虽然     表达转折
willingness to spend       消费的意愿

 

He warned that business and consumer caution about the virus is likely to weigh on job growth in the months to come.
weigh on job growth拖累工作增长

The pace of hiring in February was higher than the previous three months, in which employers added an average of 239,000 jobs. But there was little sign of the coronavirus contagion that’s triggered a widespread selloff in the stock market.
The pace of hiring   招聘的速度
little sign of the 几乎没有迹象(信号、标志)
contagion 传染 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped nearly 970 points on Thursday and was down about 500 points Friday morning. The blue chip index has fallen about 13% from its peak in early February. The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq have each tumbled more than 10% from their recent highs. Futures markets point to further declines on Friday.
Futures markets 期货市场

U.S. construction companies continued to expand in February, adding 42,000 workers. Construction has gotten a boost in recent months from higher-than-usual temperatures and lower-than-usual interest rates. The rate on an average, 30-year mortgage fell to an all-time low this week: 3.29%.
construction companies 建筑公司
fell to an all-time low 降低到历史最低

The hospitality business has been growing rapidly, adding tens of thousands of jobs in recent months, and that trend continued in February with 51,000 new jobs. That growth could slow, however, as fear about the spreading coronavirus discourages travel and tourism.

The retail, transportation and warehouse industries showed modest job declines in February.
modest 适当的 谦逊的

Manufacturers, who are especially sensitive to global shocks like coronavirus, added 15,000 jobs in February after cutting a revised 20,000 jobs the month before.

A survey of manufacturers released earlier this week showed factory activity expanded in February, albeit slowly. Many of the survey respondents said the coronavirus outbreak is playing havoc with their suppliers in China.
suppliers in China.中国的供应商

Analysts warn that a shortage of parts from that country is likely to get worse before it gets better. While Chinese factories that were shuttered by the outbreak have begun to reopen, most are not operating anywhere close to capacity.

“Some of the delays caused by this [will] only materialize as that works its way through the supply chain,” said Shawn DuBravac, chief economist for IPC, an association of electronics manufacturers. “It could be April and May when we actually see some of that delay materialize.”

Governments added 45,000 workers in February. About 7,000 of those were temporary census employees, but the largest share were state educators.

The share of American adults who are working or looking for work was unchanged last month.
这里share 是比例的意思

Average wages have increased 3% over the past year, a slight deceleration from the previous month.

 

美赛终于结束了

今年美赛分为两个批次,wk1,、2,第一周放出了A、D、E三个题,我们选择的是wk2,哎。

早上五点多就醒了,看到发题了赶紧打卡看题。初看B题,心里就否定了大半,B题有很多关于流体力学的内容,如何设计沙雕的形状和含水量,使得沙雕在海潮的冲击下坚持的时间最久,我已经三年没有碰过物理了。C题还是一个数据问题,分析电商购买评论打分数据,为卖家谋取最大利益,这种题类型还算中规中矩,我也比较熟悉,但是里面通篇几个问题都涉及到分析评论的语义,需要一些NLP知识,而我们三个人没有一个学过NLP的,所以C题也很快排除掉了。
剩下的F题是一个非常广泛的问题,我们需要先预测气候难民的数目和文化丧失的风险,然后设计政策,分析政策,这题太发散了,令我感觉就是:没有建模的门槛,建模的程度下限低,上限高。如果做得好,能设计出非常棒的模型,但是不会建模的话,也不太影响做题。

第一天的一上午我们三个分别看了三个题,研究C题思路,队友分别研究B、F。选题的过程非常艰难,我们本来打算12点之前选好题,然而12点过去了,我们还没有确定。

中午的时候我和一个队友大概的意向是F题,另一个队友的大概意向是B题。B题算是中规中矩的题,只要把核心的物理模型搭建出来,整个论文就稳在一个水平线上了,但问题就在于我们都3年没学过物理了。我考虑了一下,下午又花了大半的时间去研究流体力学、边坡稳定性这些物理问题,然而基础太过薄弱,费劲脑汁研究了一下午都没有研究出来,已经下午五点了。另外一个一直想选择B题的队友也没有弄通核心物理方法。我们很无奈,只能选择下限低上限高的F题来做了。

晚上又看了看F题,感觉已经凉凉了。我们花了一整天的时间来选题,而F题又是胡扯题,我们还是不太擅长胡扯的,当时大家都有点泄气,第二天也没有什么战斗意志,我感觉大家似乎都已经放弃了。
其实也是因为不在一起做题的原因,大家都被困在家里,很容易受到家里的各种干扰,而且不能很好的交流,有种一个人做题的感觉,这很容易让人产生放弃感。

第二天我们没做题,大概是都已经战略性放弃这次坑爹的赛题了。晚上十点的时候,队友在群里说再坚持一下吧,胡编乱遭交上去一个论文就行了。

于是我们最后两天就开始了胡编乱造的过程

首先是预测难民数目,难民的数目没有明确的统计,没法用传统的方法来预测,看到有人说时间序列,其实不靠谱,难民数目和海平面上升趋势以及人口都有很大的关系,仅仅用时间序列根据目前的难民数目来预测实在是不靠谱。不过我也没想到什么好的思路,我在网上找了一些数据,胡乱预测了一下,大概思路是这样的:先预测出未来海平面的上升趋势、未来人口增长趋势,然后根据人口地理分布算出低海平面人口,根据2000年到现在海平面已经上涨的高度带来的影响评估未来海平面上涨的影响。
后面就开始胡扯了,队友有AHP何信息论分析的文化丧失的风险和不同政策可能造成的信息loss,这里的信息可以看成文化。然后我们胡扯了点政策,论述了一下我们政策的好坏,最后我画了图拍了版就交上去了。

虽然这次很失败,但好歹我觉得,我画的图还是很好看的。比国赛的时候的图好看多了,这也算是一个进吧。虽然我们第一天一整天都在选题,第二天没做题但是这次比赛感觉倒还是比较轻松的。没有太大压力,可能是因为语文建模的缘故吧,我以前每次建模都要写代码最少200行,国赛的时候甚至最后交的代码都有三十多页,每次工作量都很大,反而这次我倒是只写了很少的代码,大部分的时间都在做图和排版、写文稿。
这次的图画的相较于国赛真的是有质的提升。

充分意识到自己很菜,还要继续努力学习。

有关美赛

最近几天参加美赛,英语阅读暂时中断几天。赛后计划写一篇美赛总结性的文章