auto industry 汽车工业

is still powering forward  仍然继续前进

The U.S. auto industry is still powering forward despite the pandemic. In fact, America is making about as many cars as normal.美国的汽车工业在新冠疫情之下仍然继续前进。事实上，美国制造的汽车和正常情况下一样多。

a totally smooth road 万事大吉

are fighting to keep them fully staffed 在努力保证充足的人员配备

But it hasn't been a totally smooth road. Carmakers aren't just fighting to keep their plants safe; they're also fighting to keep them fully staffed.但这并不代表该行业就万事大吉了。汽车制造商们不仅在努力保护工厂安全，也在努力保证充足的人员配备。

a surprising labor shortage 劳动力短缺严重

NPR's Camila Domonoske reports on a surprising labor shortage.记者卡米拉·多莫诺斯克报道了汽车行业劳动力短缺严重。

has, quite literally, a bird's-eye view of 了解...的整体情况

Jimmy Crawford has, quite literally, a bird's-eye view of the U.S. auto industry.吉米·克劳福德了解美国汽车工业的整体情况。

skeleton crews 必需的人员;骨干员工

There was just nobody there, really skeleton crews.厂里没有人，只有少量工厂运作所必需的人员。

sales went down some 销售额小幅下降

For weeks, America stopped making cars and trucks, but Americans didn't stop buying them. Sales went down some but not as much as you'd expect.几个星期以来，美国停止生产汽车和卡车，但美国人并没有停止购买车辆。汽车销售额小幅下降，但没有预期下降得那么多。

work overtime to catch up with demand加班加点地工作以满足需求

dealerships are running low 汽车经销商越来越少

absenteeism  /ˌæbsənˈtiːɪzəm/  [ U] the fact of being frequently away from work or school, especially without good reasons （经常性无故的）旷工，旷课

So now dealerships are running low, and plants are working overtime to catch up with demand. One challenge is absenteeism.现在经销商越来越少，工厂加班加点地工作以满足需求。员工缺勤是工厂面临的一个挑战。

play hooky 逃学

be quarantined 被隔离

bring to mind 让人想起

The word might bring to mind people playing hooky, but it also covers lots of good reasons people can't work, like not having child care or waiting for COVID-19 test results or even being quarantined.这可能会让人想起逃学的人，但是员工缺勤的理由很多，比如儿童缺乏看护、等待新冠检测结果，甚至有人被隔离。

confirm nearly a hundred positive cases total 确认近100人感染新冠

By late August, the plant had confirmed nearly a hundred positive cases total.

截至8月底，该工厂总共有近100人确认感染新冠。

create gaps on the production line 造成生产线上缺乏人手

haven't been easy to fill 难找到人来填补空缺的位子

That meant that a lot of people had to be quarantined to keep their colleagues safe, which created gaps on the production line that haven't been easy to fill.

这意味着很多人必须被隔离，以保证同事们的安全，这就造成生产线上缺乏人手，很难找到人来填补空缺的位子。

variable workforce 灵活劳动力

temporary workers 临时工人

We have struggled somewhat finding - and really, we don't call them temporary workers; we call them variable workforce.我们一直在努力寻找人手，我们不称他们为临时工人;我们称他们为灵活劳动力。

is sending a few office workers to help with production 也让文职员工帮助生产

Like several other plants, Toyota Mississippi is sending a few office workers to help with production. Some have factory experience but not all.和其他几家工厂一样，丰田密西西比工厂也让文职员工帮助生产。其中有些人有工厂工作经验，但并不是所有人都有经验。

shop floor experience 车间工作经验

We've even trained some people that previously did not have the shop floor experience to work in certain what we call freshman processes that are maybe a little bit easier.我们甚至训练了一些以前没有实际操作经验的人，让他们在适合新员工的生产线上工作，这样使他们的工作更简单些。

has done it over strenuous objections 不顾强烈反对，已经这么做了

For some plants, this is very unusual. One General Motors plant has done it over the union's strenuous objections.对于某些车间来说，这是很不寻常的。通用汽车的一家工厂不顾工会的强烈反对，已经这么做了。

be in a pinch 在紧急情况下

But Lauder says, for Toyota, this isn't new. Twenty years ago, she was in accounting and was trained to help build transmissions if the company was in a pinch.但兰黛说，对丰田来说，这并不是新做法。20年前，她是一名会计，接受过一个培训，内容是在公司紧急情况下帮助建立传输设备。

even with all the uncertainty 尽管存在种种不确定性

Even with all the uncertainty, the plant still hit its production targets for August. Still, this is obviously not plan A for how to build cars.尽管存在种种不确定性，该厂仍实现了8月份的生产目标。不过，这显然不是制造汽车的首选计划。

the optimal /ˈɒptɪməl/ way 最佳方式

Nobody wants to do this. This is not the optimal way to run production, to be running with salaried workers.没有人愿意这样做。让文职人员和工人一起工作并不是搞生产的最佳方式。

during a contagious pandemic 在疫情蔓延的时候

be intimidating  吓人的；令人胆怯的

staffing shortages 员工短缺

She says staffing shortages are partly because auto plant jobs can be difficult in the best of times and particularly intimidating during a contagious pandemic.她说，员工短缺的部分原因是，在经济形势最好的时候，汽车厂的工作就可能很困难，而在疫情蔓延的时候工作显得尤其艰难。

我要详细咨询