Chen's英語教室

2015/01/01，昨晚有沒有許下考好多益的願望呢?

趕快趁空檔練習一下，在新的一年的第一天

就有好的開始喔

這是提升基本工資的中段篇，尚未練習的同學

可以回到前篇，先將該記下的單字及片語

以及最後面的問題練習完後

再開始看這篇喔。(Part 1 請點我)

The pay for fast-food jobs was bad then and still is, he said. “What we’re asking for is realistic. We took in $1,200the other day at lunch hour at my Burger King. The six workers there cost them $60 or so for that hour.So I see they can pay us $15,” Mr. Wise said. As leader of the Fight for 15 campaign, Mr. Wise is sometimes a calming presence,sometimes an inspiring activist. When the movement needed an emissary to address the N.A.A.C.P.’s national convention to persuade the group to endorse a higher wage, it sent Mr. Wise, who is not paid for his work for the movement.

When 1,200 members of the movement gathered in July for a convention, Mr. Wise led a crucial segment that rallied votes behind a risky plan to commit civil disobedience. And last week, Mr. Wise oversaw a nationwide conference call in which workers, gathered at meetings in 50 cities, loudly approved plans for Thursday’s strike — the eighth in a wave of one-day strikes. “My kids are living in poverty. It’s hard getting just the basic necessities, and they truly are the reason I fight,” Mr. Wise told the workers in the conference call. “It makes me angry, and you should be angry, that these billion-dollar corporations are robbing from my kids and your kids. So we’re going to have to stand up and fight back.” 

In September, they fought back. Mr. Wise led a sit-in outside a McDonald’s here, and 52 workers were arrested. Nearly 500 fast-food workers and supporters were arrested nationwide that day. The ones in Kansas City wore red T-shirts that read, “We Are Worth More,” and sang civil rights songs. At first, Mr. Wise resisted the push to head the national effort. He eventually gave in, with a sense that this was a role he has been preparing for his whole life. “I feel like that’s what I was supposed to do,” he said.

Kendall Fells, national organizing director of Fight for 15, said, “Terrance is a natural-born leader, and he is doing a good job bringing in other leaders.”

<單字及片語> 

realistic    = practical (實際的)

campaign  = movement (活動)

inspiring   = affecting (鼓舞的)

emissary   = messenger (使者/傳話人)

address      = speak to (發表演說/演講)

convention  = meeting (會議)

persuade    = convince (說服)

      * Persude 用於說服人改變"行動" (action)

      * convince 用於說服人改變"想法" (mind) 

endorse   =  support/uphold (擁護)

crucial    =  important/decisive (關鍵的)

segment = section/part (段落)

disobedience = (抗命)  obedience = 服從 (n.)

conference call  = 電話會議

poverty = 貧窮 (n.)

necessities = 必需品 (原形為necessity)

nationwide = 全國性的

to head =  to lead (領導)

<討論題目>

3. Do you agree or disagree with the movement? please explain why.

4. What would you do if you are the C.E.O. of one of the big corporation?