亚马逊第二总部：香饽饽还是烫手山芋？

自从亚马逊宣布另寻新址建立第二总部以来，众多城市便一拥而上，各出奇招，吸引亚马逊前来安家，迄今已有238个城市加入了混战。但从当地居民的角度讲，亚马逊第二总部能给他们带来什么好处，又有什么负面影响呢？

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

ballyhoo[?bæli'hu?] 大吹大擂

resentment[r?'zentm?nt] 怨恨，愤恨

pit [p?t] 使…有伤痕，与…较量

charade[??'rɑ?d] 易识破的伪装

crack [kræk] 优秀的；一流的

forgo [f??'ɡ??] 作罢停止，放弃

The downside of the race to be Amazon's second home（729 words）

By Richard Florida

The bids to host Amazon's much ballyhooed second headquarters are in from dozens of cities across the US and Canada. With its promise of 50,000-plus jobs and billions in investment, it has been hailed as one of the biggest urban development opportunities in recent memory.

However, things are not working out exactly as the ecommerce group may have hoped. Resentment among city leaders is growing at what looks like a big, well-capitalised company taking advantage of cities and their taxpayers.

Pitting communities against each other in a bidding war to see who can cough up the most financial incentives is not good for Amazon's brand. There will be one winner and many more unhappy losers. Even the winning city is likely to feel taken, when its people realise that they have given away the store in tax and financial incentives.

The process increasingly looks like a charade: Amazon's crack site selection team has likely already identified a very short list of places that have sufficiently large labour markets, talent pools, airport access and other amenities its new headquarters needs. Why put so many cities through this?

Amazon is one of the most highly valued companies in the world, and Jeff Bezos, its founder and chief executive, is one of its richest people. By forcing cities to forgo public funds that could be used for much-needed investment in schools, parks and transit, it is making itself hard to love. Amazon has raked in more than $1bn in public tax and financial incentives in the past five years or so, one of the largest sums of any company.

Technology companies are no longer seen as heroic innovators, but as latter-day robber barons who treat workers poorly, make cities less affordable and more unequal. Uber just had its licence renewal in London refused, while one city after another is clamping down on Airbnb. A growing chorus of pundits and politicians from across the political spectrum is calling for tougher regulations on tech companies.

“The pitchforks are out for big tech,” is how one congressman from a high-tech district put it to me recently.

It is in Amazon's interest, therefore, to recalibrate and take a higher road. The company should issue an “Amazon pledge” that it will not accept any tax or financial incentives, but invest alongside cities to create better jobs, build more affordable housing, and develop better schools, transit, and other badly needed public goods, along with paying its fair share of taxes.

This goes not just for the city where its new headquarters will be built, but for the countless localities across the US, and indeed the rest of the world, where Amazon has distribution centres, offices, and other facilities. Whatever Amazon gives up in tax and financial incentives will be peanuts compared with the reputational benefits.

This Amazon pledge could be based around three pillars. The first would be to ensure that all of its jobs are good jobs. Tech companies such as Amazon treat their engineering and management talent like gold, lavishing high salaries and all manner of perks on them, from on-site gyms and cafeterias to day-care centres, but they hardly pay the people who work in them a living wage. Amazon should swear off the use of low-paid contract labour and commit to paying all its workers, including both its service employees and its blue-collar warehouse workers, family-supporting wages.

The second pillar would be to ensure that its new employees and existing residents can afford to live near its facilities. Amazon should work with communities to build affordable housing, both for its own workforce and for locals who would otherwise be displaced.

The third pillar would be to make sustained investment in community assets. Instead of setting up self-contained, gated campuses for itself, it should invest alongside communities to develop shared public goods in transit, schools and more.

Mr Bezos is rumoured to be fed up with the presidency of Donald Trump. Some have wondered if he is using this competition to send a message about what really ails America — perhaps by choosing Toronto or another non-American city with more and better public investment in healthcare, schools and transit.

But if he really wants to send a message — and build a stronger brand for his company and a lasting legacy for himself — he should say no to public handouts and become a partner in building stronger, more inclusive communities across the US and North America.

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1.Why do dozens of cities across the US and Canada compete for Amazon's second headquarters ?

A.Because Amazon can help to create better jobs and develop better public goods.

B.Because Amazon will provide family-supporting wages to its blue-collar employees.

C.Because Amazon will provide an injection of money into the local infrastructure.

D.Because Amazon has pledge to bring 50,000-plus jobs and billions in investment.

答案(1)

2. Which of the following statements about Amazon is true ?

A.Amazon is currently the most highly valued companies in the world.

B.Amazon has built up distribution centres and offices across the global.

C.Amazon has issued a pledge that it will not accept any tax incentives.

D.Amazon's site selection team has decided their new headquarter's locality.

答案(2)

3. Why does the author describe tech companies as latter-day robber barons？

A.Because they are reluctant to provide better jobs and public goods for local people.

B.Because they force local people to give away the store in tax and financial incentives.

C.Because they treat workers poorly, push up living expenses and increase inequality.

D.Because they refuse to offer equal pay to its service employees and warehouse workers.

答案(3)

4. What should Amazon do to improve community assets according to the author?

A.Investing alongside communities to develop shared public goods.

B.Setting up self-contained campuses to produce top-class talents.

C.Providing all its workers with family-supporting wages and perks.

D.Working with communities to build affordable housing for locals.

答案(4)

* * *

(1)答案：D.Because Amazon has pledge to bring 50,000-plus jobs and billions in investment.

解释：美国和加拿大的众多城市都在竞争成为亚马逊第二总部的所在地，亚马逊承诺第二总部将带来五万个以上的工作岗位以及几十亿美元的投资。

(2)答案：B.Amazon has built up distribution centres and offices across the global.

解释：“亚马逊承诺”不仅是为了新总部所在的城市，也是为了所有建有亚马逊配送中心、办公室和其他设施的城市，这样的城市在全世界数不胜数。

(3)答案：C.Because they treat workers poorly, push up living expenses and increase inequality.

解释：科技公司不再被视为英勇的创新者，而成了现代周扒皮，他们给工人的待遇很差，抬高了城市的生活成本，增加了不平等。

(4)答案：A.Investing alongside communities to develop shared public goods.

解释：亚马逊应该对社区资产进行持续投资，来发展交通、教育等领域的公共设施。