《JEFF资料库》大学英语读写译-新题型练习三.pptVIP

Exercise 3 for New Reading Pattern Jeff Cheung Amazon’s Hiring Spree Shows Difficulties for American Middle Class A. President Obama on Tuesday traveled to Chattanooga, Tenn., to one of?Amazon’s brand-new fulfillment centers, part of the e-commerce giant’s massive expansion effort that will enable faster delivery of goods and add 5,000 full-time?jobs?across the country. B. The topic of the President’s speech was creating jobs for the middle class, but the choice of an Amazon fulfillment center as a setting for such a speech was curious given how little the firm pays its workers. C. Amazon?says?the median pay for jobs inside its fulfillment centers is “30% higher than that of people who work in traditional retail stores,” though the company doesn’t share the arithmetic （算法）that leads it to this conclusion. D. Amazon?has previously said?it pays workers in its fulfillment centers roughly $11 per hour, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median retail worker?makes $10.15 per hour, while the median cashier?makes $9.12 per hour. E. In other words, while Amazon is paying above the industry average, it’s not paying its workers a 30% premium. (Amazon did not return requests for comment.) Furthermore, at 40 hours per week, an $11-per-hour salary comes to just $22,880 per year,?which is below the federal poverty level for a family of four. F. None of this is criticism of Amazon. The company deserves praise for heavily investing in its business and hiring full-time workers at a time when many other firms are playing it safe. Even an extremely healthy economy is going to include jobs that don’t pay very well.? G. But the fact that President Obama has chosen an Amazon fulfillment center as the backdrop for a speech on how to bring back strong, middle-class jobs illustrates the difficult position the government finds itself in as it tries to encourage a more robust recovery. H. In fact, new jobs like those found in Amazon fulfillment centers aren’t an antidote （