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练习 | NPR新闻：苹果宣布未来五年为美国经济贡献力量

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苹果宣布未来五年为美国经济贡献力量。

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NPR新闻：苹果宣布未来五年为美国经济贡献力量

燕山大学刘立军宋葳编写

◆TRANSCRIPT

Apple made a big announcement today. It is going to invest a lot more money in the United States and create 20,000 jobs here over the next five years. NPR's Laura Sydell is with us to talk about what Apple is doing and why it is doing it now. Hey, Laura.

LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE: Hello.
MCEVERS: So what else is in this big announcement?
SYDELL: Well, I'd say one of the most interesting things in the announcement is that Apple's saying it's going to build a new campus, and that comes after they just spent billions of dollars on a fancy new headquarters in Cupertino. They're not saying yet where this new campus will be built. They did say it will initially be focused on technical support for customers. And it's possible they're doing this because the cost of living out in Silicon Valley is frankly very high. So they're looking for, you know, cheaper land, lower property values.

And it's interesting. They made this announcement after Amazon made this huge splash with plans to build a second headquarters somewhere in the U.S. The big emphasis in this announcement is just that Apple wants everyone to know that it's spending money and creating jobs in the U.S. And I'm sure that's because it has faced a lot of criticism over outsourcing to China in particular and for keeping a large portion of their profits overseas.

MCEVERS: So is that going to change now, too?
SYDELL: Well, it's hard to say. We don't know all the details yet, but they say they're going to be paying some $38 billion in taxes, money that they're bringing back into the country. And that number suggests they'll be bringing back a lot of overseas cash. And they've got a lot to bring back. Apple's most recent report said they had $250 billion overseas. For years, CEO Tim Cook has been very critical of U.S. tax laws, and he's been sensitive to criticism that Apple's been dodging U.S. taxes. With today's announcement, he said, quote, "we have a deep sense of responsibility to give back to our country and the people who make our success possible."

MCEVERS: And Apple says all these moves will add up to a $350 billion contribution to the U.S. economy over five years. Does that sound plausible to you?
SYDELL: Well, let's be clear what we're talking about here.
MCEVERS: OK.
SYDELL: Apple isn't saying, you know, that it's going to spend $350 billion in the U.S.
MCEVERS: Right.
SYDELL: What it is saying is that the impact of what it's doing is going to contribute that much money to the economy, but that's a very hard thing to measure or predict. More specifically, they are doing things like pledging more investment in what they call their manufacturing fund. So $5 billion will go to that. And this fund helps other manufacturers that supply Apple be innovative and grow.
MCEVERS: How much of what Apple is doing can we attribute to the new tax law which lowered the corporate tax rate?
SYDELL: Well, it is definitely part of it - the part about the taxes Apple will pay on the money it's going to bring back from overseas. They're bringing back, as we said, $38 billion in taxes. That's a direct impact from the tax bill. It brought down the amount of tax Apple would have to pay for bringing profits back into the U.S. The rest - it's hard to say. Keep in mind Apple is a very successful company, and they could have done any of these other things at any time. However, it could be that Apple's just feeling more political pressure to show that it's a patriotic company and it's supporting American workers.
MCEVERS: NPR Tech Correspondent Laura Sydell, thank you.
SYDELL: You're welcome.

Adapted from 苹果为美国经济作贡献

◆VOCABULARY

1. outsource v. (business 商) to arrange for sb. outside a company to do work or provide goods for that company 交外办理；外购。例如：We outsource all our computing work. 我们把全部计算机技术工作包给外边去做。

2. dodge v. to avoid doing sth., especially in a dishonest way（尤指不诚实地）逃避。
(动词 + 名词短语) 例如：He dodged his military service. 他弄虚作假逃避了服兵役。
(动词 + -ing短语) 例如：She tried to dodge paying her taxes. 她想方设法逃税。

3. plausible adj. (of an excuse or explanation 借口或解释) reasonable and likely to be true 有道理的；可信的。例如：
?Her story sounded perfectly plausible. 她的说辞听起来言之有理。
?The only plausible explanation is that he forgot. 唯一合理的解释就是他忘掉了。

4. impact n. impact (of sth.) (on sb. / sth.) the powerful effect that sth. has on sb. / sth. 巨大影响；强大作用。例如：
○the environmental impact of tourism旅游事业对环境的巨大影响
○Her speech made a profound impact on everyone. 她的讲话对每个人都有深远的影响。
○Businesses are beginning to feel the full impact of the recession. 工商企业开始感受到了经济衰退的全面冲击。

◆QUESTIONS
Read the passage. Then listen to the news and fill in the blanks with the words you hear.

Apple made a big announcement today. It is going to (Q1) _________________________________ in the United States and (Q2) _________________________ here over the next five years. NPR's Laura Sydell is with us to talk about what Apple is doing and why it is doing it now. Hey, Laura.

LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE: Hello.
MCEVERS: So what else is in this big announcement?
SYDELL: Well, I'd say one of the most interesting things in the announcement is that Apple's saying it's going to (Q3) ________________________, and that comes after they just spent billions of dollars on a fancy new (Q4) _____________________ in Cupertino. They're not saying yet where this new campus will be built. They did say it will initially be focused on (Q5) ______________________ for customers. And it's possible they're doing this because the cost of living out in Silicon Valley is frankly very high. So they're looking for, you know, cheaper land, lower property values.

And it's interesting. They made this announcement after Amazon made this huge splash with plans to (Q6) __________________________ somewhere in the U.S. The big emphasis in this announcement is just that Apple wants everyone to know that it's (Q7) _________________________ and (Q8) _________________________in the U.S. And I'm sure that's because it has faced a lot of (Q9) ____________________ over outsourcing to China in particular and for keeping a large portion of their profits overseas.

MCEVERS: So is that going to change now, too?
SYDELL: Well, it's hard to say. We don't know all the details yet, but they say they're going to be paying some $38 billion in taxes, money that they're bringing back into the country. And that number suggests they'll be bringing back a lot of (Q10) _________________. And they've got a lot to bring back. Apple's most recent report said they had $250 billion overseas. For years, CEO Tim Cook has been very critical of U.S. tax laws, and he's been (Q11) _____________________ to criticism that Apple's been dodging U.S. taxes. With today's announcement, he said, quote, "we have a deep sense of responsibility to give back to our country and the people who make our success possible."

MCEVERS: And Apple says all these moves will add up to a (Q12) _______________________ contribution to the U.S. economy over five years. Does that sound plausible to you?
SYDELL: Well, let's be clear what we're talking about here.
MCEVERS: OK.
SYDELL: Apple isn't saying, you know, that it's going to spend $350 billion in the U.S.
MCEVERS: Right.
SYDELL: What it is saying is that the impact of what it's doing is going to contribute that much money to the economy, but that's a very hard thing to (Q13) _____________________. More specifically, they are doing things like pledging more investment in what they call their manufacturing fund. So $5 billion will go to that. And this fund helps other manufacturers that supply Apple be (Q14) _____________________________.
MCEVERS: How much of what Apple is doing can we attribute to the new tax law which lowered the corporate tax rate?
SYDELL: Well, it is definitely part of it - the part about the taxes Apple will pay on the money it's going to bring back from overseas. They're bringing back, as we said, $38 billion in taxes. That's a direct impact from the tax bill. It brought down the amount of tax Apple would have to pay for bringing profits back into the U.S. The rest - it's hard to say. Keep in mind Apple is a very successful company, and they could have done any of these other things at any time. However, it could be that Apple's just feeling more (Q15) ___________________________________ to show that it's a patriotic company, and it's supporting American workers.
MCEVERS: NPR tech correspondent, Laura Sydell, thank you.
SYDELL: You're welcome.

◆KEY

Apple made a big announcement today. It is going to (Q1) invest a lot more money in the United States and (Q2) create 20,000 jobs here over the next five years. NPR's Laura Sydell is with us to talk about what Apple is doing and why it is doing it now. Hey, Laura.

LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE: Hello.
MCEVERS: So what else is in this big announcement?
SYDELL: Well, I'd say one of the most interesting things in the announcement is that Apple's saying it's going to (Q3) build a new campus, and that comes after they just spent billions of dollars on a fancy new (Q4) headquarters in Cupertino. They're not saying yet where this new campus will be built. They did say it will initially be focused on (Q5) technical support for customers. And it's possible they're doing this because the cost of living out in Silicon Valley is frankly very high. So they're looking for, you know, cheaper land, lower property values.

And it's interesting. They made this announcement after Amazon made this huge splash with plans to (Q6) build a second headquarters somewhere in the U.S. The big emphasis in this announcement is just that Apple wants everyone to know that it's (Q7) spending money and (Q8) creating jobs in the U.S. And I'm sure that's because it has faced a lot of (Q9) criticism over outsourcing to China in particular and for keeping a large portion of their profits overseas.

MCEVERS: So is that going to change now, too?
SYDELL: Well, it's hard to say. We don't know all the details yet, but they say they're going to be paying some $38 billion in taxes, money that they're bringing back into the country. And that number suggests they'll be bringing back a lot of (Q10) overseas cash. And they've got a lot to bring back. Apple's most recent report said they had $250 billion overseas. For years, CEO Tim Cook has been very critical of U.S. tax laws, and he's been (Q11) sensitive to criticism that Apple's been dodging U.S. taxes. With today's announcement, he said, quote, "we have a deep sense of responsibility to give back to our country and the people who make our success possible."

MCEVERS: And Apple says all these moves will add up to a (Q12) $350 billion contribution to the U.S. economy over five years. Does that sound plausible to you?
SYDELL: Well, let's be clear what we're talking about here.
MCEVERS: OK.
SYDELL: Apple isn't saying, you know, that it's going to spend $350 billion in the U.S.
MCEVERS: Right.
SYDELL: What it is saying is that the impact of what it's doing is going to contribute that much money to the economy, but that's a very hard thing to (Q13) measure or predict. More specifically, they are doing things like pledging more investment in what they call their manufacturing fund. So $5 billion will go to that. And this fund helps other manufacturers that supply Apple be (Q14) innovative and grow.
MCEVERS: How much of what Apple is doing can we attribute to the new tax law which lowered the corporate tax rate?
SYDELL: Well, it is definitely part of it - the part about the taxes Apple will pay on the money it's going to bring back from overseas. They're bringing back, as we said, $38 billion in taxes. That's a direct impact from the tax bill. It brought down the amount of tax Apple would have to pay for bringing profits back into the U.S. The rest - it's hard to say. Keep in mind Apple is a very successful company, and they could have done any of these other things at any time. However, it could be that Apple's just feeling more (Q15) political pressure to show that it's a patriotic company, and it's supporting American workers.
MCEVERS: NPR tech correspondent, Laura Sydell, thank you.
SYDELL: You're welcome.

时长：3.3分钟

语速：205wpm

来源：刘立军宋葳 2018-02-28

练习 | NPR新闻：苹果宣布未来五年为美国经济贡献力量

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