NPR News | 面对aid delays的小企业们

NPR 上 Business 版满屏就是疫情期间的小企业，今天来看其中一篇讲 aid delays 的。

先听新闻大致了解内容，
不确定的话可以听个2遍；
再看后面的 transcript 文字，
transcript 里 highlight 的表达最后有对应的解释 + 例句。

With Survival At Stake, Small Business Owners Frustrated By Aid Delays

Danielle Kurtzleben

April 7, 2020 2:16 PM ET

[ Transcript ]

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Small businesses are fighting for survival. They’re hoping for a lifeline in a new $350 billion rescue program, but they are frustrated over crashing websites and restrictions on who can apply. NPR’s Danielle Kurtzleben reports.

DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE:

Greg Hunnicutt has almost entirely
shut down his construction business
in Houston. At his one job site he has left, he’s trying to keep his workers safe.

GREG HUNNICUTT:

My plumber was in with his helper doing some work. No one else was there. He finished. My electrician is there now doing some work. It’s just him and his helper. So I’m – what I’m trying to accomplish here is reducing how people interact.

建筑公司老板让一个工序完成以后，再安排另外的工人来完成下一个工序，为的就是尽量减少人员互动。

KURTZLEBEN:

When the new small business rescue program opened on Friday,
Hunnicutt tried to apply online at his bank
, Wells Fargo.
He couldn’t get through
. I checked back in with him this week to see how it was going.

HUNNICUTT:

Well, it’s not.

KURTZLEBEN:

Yesterday he hadn’t heard back, and today he said the bank told him the application process hadn’t started yet. His business needs the money.

HUNNICUTT:

I paid my guys two weeks. Well, that was two weeks ago. I paid them for two weeks. Starting today, this week they haven’t been paid. It’s going to be difficult keeping people without some kind of relief since we really are not working, not making any money.

建筑公司老板暂时没能申请到这个新的 small business rescue program。他现在没工资可以付给员工，都没有生意收入，想在没有资助的情况下去留住人手实在很难。

KURTZLEBEN:

Administration officials have said that banks loaned out hundreds of millions of dollars on the program’s first day, but Hunnicutt is one of dozens of small businesses that have reached out to NPR about difficulties in applying. Some, like him, are waiting to hear back. Others say
crashing websites
have stopped them from applying. At one point yesterday Chase had a note on its site asking businesses not to call. In addition, the program’s structure may prove to be too restrictive, according to Stephanie O’Rourk, a partner at accounting firm CohnReznick. She spoke to NPR via Skype.

STEPHANIE O’ROURK:

The problem is – with the program is that it doesn’t align with the reality of the situation that a lot of businesses are going through right now.

他不是唯一一个，很多其他小企业的老板也申请不到这个 rescue program，网站都崩了；而且这个 program 的体系也不符合小企业现有的需求和情况。

KURTZLEBEN:

For example, she says, three-quarters of the money must be used to pay workers
in order for that portion of the loan to be forgiven
. But for some businesses, non-payroll expenses are so high that it could be hard to spend that much of the money on employees. Chelsea Altman is co-owner of five restaurants in New York City.

CHELSEA ALTMAN:

So, like, in New York state or New York City, your rent is very high. So
there is a chance that
even with the 75% going to labor and then the other 25% is supposed to go to your rent, there’s times when that won’t
make rent coverage
.

可能都租金都没法负担得起。

KURTZLEBEN:

All of this comes at a time when businesses are desperately in need of money. A recent survey from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that 1 in 4 businesses say
they are two months or less from closing permanently
, and 1 in 10 say it’s one month. Washington knows the stakes are high. On Tuesday Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was going to ask Congress for $250 billion more for small businesses. Hunnicutt also knows the stakes go beyond the survival of his construction company.

现阶段是企业最需要钱的时候。很多公司离关门可能就不到两个月的时间了。

HUNNICUTT:

My fear about all of this is all these systems are going to get overloaded. You know, I had a conference call with my employees. I said,
file for unemployment
now because Texas unemployment is going to be overwhelmed, you know? And so, like, do it now just to get in, you know? No one, you know, was ready for this.

KURTZLEBEN:

He told NPR that he’s now seeking out other banks to try to get the loans.

建筑公司老板担心这些制度没法负荷企业的需求。所以现在他都让员工先去申请失业，不然之后可能会因为申请的人太多导致登记不上。现在他也在找其他银行看看能不能拿到贷款。

Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR News.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2020/04/07/828788990/with-survival-at-stake-small-business-owners-frustrated-by-aid-delays

* 本报道源于 National Public Radio，如有侵权，请联系删除。

[ 表达总结 ]

1
. Aid delay

款助的延迟

几个不同的类似表达：

Why did Trump delay security aid to Ukraine?
delay 用作动词，delay the aid to

There are lots of reasons the aid can be held up or frozen.
换词来表达也可以，being held up 或者 being frozen，更具体一些。

2
. shut down his construction business

关掉他的建筑公司

shut down 本身有 cease business or operation，也就是不再运营；所以如果想说公司要关门不再运营了，可以用 shut down one’s business。

比如：

The States can’t shut down non-essential businesses without harming essential ones.
Delaware has announced a shutdown of all nonessential business and activities in the state.
Shut down local businesses

3
. Hunnicutt tried to apply online at his bank, but he couldn’t get through.

可以积累 get through 的用法。如果想说这个“网站上不去阿”，语境下一个 get through 就可以了。

4
. Crashing websites

崩了的网站

Crash 可以用作动词也可以用作名词。

比如：

State unemployment websites are crashing amid record number of claims.
Why do websites keep crashing?
The reason behind a website crash

5
. Forgive a loan

免除债务

If a country or organization forgives a debt/loan, it says that the money does not have to be paid back.

Loan forgiveness
Student loan forgiveness program

6
. There is a chance that …

表示 “有可能”

There is a chance that death rates could go up.

有时候如果想要问别人“能不能”，但是又不想太pushy，chance也可以用的：

Is there any chance we could reschedule for Friday?
Is the any chance we can get the documents sooner?

7
. Make rent coverage

付得起租金 / 负担得起租金

之前在 Closed All At Once: Restaurant Industry Faces Collapse 这篇 NPR 报道里，有过类似的表达：

Insurance won’t cover losses. There’s rent, utilities.

“付得起” 也可以直接用 cover，比如 cover utilities / cover your rent。

8
. They are two months or less from closing permanently.

他们离关门还有两个月不到的时间。

“离 … 还有多久时间” 这个句式表达可以积累模仿。

9
. File for unemployment

提交失业申请

File 作为动词有 to make an official request for something，需要正式手续的都可以用。

比如：

File a tax return 提交报税申请
File a report online 线上提交报告
File a complaint 提交诉状

往期阅读：

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