✸✸ THE busiest pharmacy in Nevada sits in an unremarkable strip mall in the shadows of Las Vegas’s glitzy casinos. Pharmacists accept prescriptions, dispense medicine and take no cash. Across town is the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, which trains people to be chefs, bakers, sommeliers and other food-service workers. There too, most students pay nothing for their classes. The roughly 57,000 members of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 (CWU)—the state’s biggest union, representing employees at most of the casinos on the Vegas Strip and downtown—receive retraining and prescription drugs as benefits,along withcomprehensive health care, pensions and supplemental insurance.
1） sit in 英 [sit in] 美 [sit ɪn] 照看;出席;代替;静坐示威
People can sit in on meetings, even if it's not really in their subject area.
即使不在其研究专题范围之内，人们也可以列席会议。
2） strip 英 [strɪp] 美 [strɪp] vi.剥光;表演脱衣舞;剥除 vt.除去，剥去;剥夺;删除;清除，拆除
n. 长条，条板;带状地带（或森林、湖面等）;（足球队员的）运动服
They stripped completely, and lay in the damp grass
他们脱光衣服，躺在潮湿的草地上。
短语：strip off 英 [strip ɔf] 美 [strɪp ɔf] 去掉[剥去]某物的表皮;<非正>揭开（伪装）;脱掉（衣服）;劈
He stripped off his wet clothes and stepped into the shower.
他脱掉湿衣服走进浴室。
strip away 英 [strip əˈwei] 美 [strɪp əˈwe] 去掉表面的薄覆盖物;<非正>揭开（伪装）
3） dispense 英 [dɪˈspens] 美 [dɪˈspɛns] vt.分配，分给;实施，施行;免除，豁免;配（药）
vi.特许，豁免
The Union had already dispensed £ 40,000 in grants
工会已经拨款4万英镑。
短语：dispense with 英 [disˈpens wið] 美 [dɪˈspɛns wɪð] 摒弃， 省掉;摈除;离
Let's dispense with the usual formalities.
惯常的礼节就省免了吧。
4） along with 英 [əˈlɔŋ wið] 美 [əˈlɔŋ wɪð] 连同;以及;和…一起[一道]，随着;除…以外（还）
I'll go along with you.
我将随同你一起去。
✸✸In addition torepresenting its members, the 82-year-old CWU has grown into apotentpolitical force in Nevada. In the weeksleading up tolast year’s election, 300 CWU workers took temporary leaves of absence—also a contractual benefit—to persuade and register potential voters. According to Bethany Khan, the CWU’s communications director, union members knocked on more than 350,000 doors and talked to over 75,000 voters.
1） in addition to 英 [in əˈdiʃən tu:] 美 [ɪn əˈdɪʃən tu] adv.除…之外
n addition to the tractor, we have acquired a new rice transplanter.
除了拖拉机，我们又添了一台插秧机。
2） potent 英 [ˈpəʊtnt] 美 [ˈpoʊtnt] adj.有效的，强有力的;有权势的;烈性的;有说服力的
Their most potent weapon was the Exocet missile
飞鱼导弹是他们最有攻击力的武器。
3） lead up to 英 [li:d ʌp tu:] 美 [lid ʌp tu] 作为…的准备，导致;使话题（渐渐）转向
I'm leading up to something quite important.
我正要谈到相当重要的部分。
✸✸For much of the 20th century, such campaigns were astapleof Democratic politics. Candidates stumped in union halls and relied on union donations. That helped keep culturally conservative but heavily unionized states such as Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia reliably Democratic long after Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan turned the South red.
1） staple 英 [ˈsteɪpl] 美 [ˈstepəl] n.主食;主要产品;钉书钉，U 形钉;主题，主要部份 vt.
用钉书钉钉住 adj.最基本的，最重要的
Rice is the staple food of more than half the world's population
稻米是全世界一半以上人口的主食。
✸✸But that connection has frayed. Donald Trump muses about turning the Republicans into “the party of the American worker”. Last year, his hostility to free trade and the general perception that Hillary Clinton and her party cared more about immigrants and upwardly mobile professionals than native workers gave Democrats their worst showing among union households since WalterMondale’s49-state loss to Reagan in 1984. In Ohio, for instance, Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney in union households by 23 percentage points. Four years later, Mrs Clinton lost to Mr Trump by 13 points while losing the state.
✸✸Nevadabuckedthis trend. Union efforts helped Hillary Clinton win Nevada on an otherwise disastrous day for Democrats, and also kept the state’s Senate seat Democratic when Catherine Cortez Masto succeeded the retiring Harry Reid. Although Nevada is aright-to-workstate—meaning unions cannot compel workers in unionised sectors to pay dues—last year around 12% of its workers belonged to unions, down from 14% in 2015. Among similar states only Michigan, which did not go right-to-work until 2012, has a more unionised workforce. Union states in Appalachia and the Upper Midwest are white, old and shrinking, while Nevada and the CWU are young, multi-ethnic and growing. Maids and cleaners in Las Vegas average $15.26 an hour, nearly $4 more than they make elsewhere in America.
1） bucked 英 [bʌkt] 美 [bʌkt] adj.快 v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的过去式和过去分词 );抵制;猛然震荡;马等尥起后蹄跳跃
When he tried to ride the horse, it bucked wildly.
当他试图骑上这匹马时，它突然狂暴地跃了起来。
2） right-to-work adj.工作权利的；保障就业权的，保障劳动权利的，享有工作权的 n.工作权利
In the U. S, some 19 states currently have right-to-work laws.
美国约有19个州已制定了工作权利法。
✸✸But anyone thinking that Nevada providesa blueprintfor organised labour’s resurgence will probably be disappointed. Nevada depends heavily on a single sector: leisure and hospitality, which employs overa quarter ofits workforce. That sector, in turn, is dominated by a finite number of huge properties in a single city, Las Vegas, which itself is a virtual island surrounded by in hospitable desert. Casinos in Atlantic City can bus workers in from Philadelphia, an hour away. Travel an hour outside Las Vegas and you will find yourselfparchedin an oven-baked moonscape. This isolation gives management and labour a strongincentiveto work together. Union members havegone on strike, of course, but both sides seem to understand that a poisonous relationship risks wrecking the state’s main industry.
1） a blueprint 蓝图;设计图
The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.
文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。
2） a quarter of 英 [ə ˈkwɔ:tə ɔv] 美 [e ˈkwɔrtɚ ʌv] 四分之一的
He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.
他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。
3） parch 英 [pɑ:tʃ] 美 [pɑ:rtʃ] vt.& vi.（使）焦干， （使）干透 vt.使（某人）极口渴
Hot and dry enough to burn or parch a surface.
热而且干，足以燃烧或者烤干某个表面。
4） incentive 英 [ɪnˈsentɪv] 美 [ɪnˈsɛntɪv] n.动机;诱因;刺激;鼓励 adj.刺激性的;鼓励性质的
There is little or no incentive to adopt such measures
几乎没有什么激励政策来促使人们采取这些措施。
短语：incentive bonus 英 [inˈsentiv ˈbəunəs] 美 [ɪnˈsɛntɪv ˈbonəs] 激励奖金
incentive bonus 英 [inˈsentiv ˈbəunəs] 美 [ɪnˈsɛntɪv ˈbonəs] 激励奖金
incentive pay 英 [inˈsentiv pei] 美 [ɪnˈsɛntɪv pe] 奖励工资;奖励[计件]津贴
incentive payment 英 [inˈsentiv ˈpeimənt] 美 [ɪnˈsɛntɪv ˈpemənt] 奖金
5） go on strike英 [ɡəu ɔn straik] 美 [ɡo ɑn straɪk]开始罢工[课]
Thanks to kindhearted bus drivers that day, they did not go on strike.
那天多亏了古道热肠的公交车司机们，他们没有罢工。
✸✸For now, Nevada’s casinos and convention centres in Las Vegas generate enough cash to leave everyone reasonably happy. Not all casinos are unionised, but even those that are not must pay prevailing union-negotiated wages if they want to retain skilled workers. The lack of direct foreign competition helps, too. A carmaker canshut downa plant and open another in Mexico or another state if an industrialdisputegoes badly. The owner of a casino on the Las Vegas Strip cannot: what’s built in Vegas stays in Vegas.
1） shut down 英 [ʃʌt daun] 美 [ʃʌt daʊn] 停工;完全关闭;停下
Smaller contractors had been forced to shut down
规模较小的承包商已被迫歇业。
2） dispute 英 [dɪˈspju:t] 美 [dɪˈspjut] vt.& vi.辩论，争论 vt.就…进行争论，辩论;对…的真实或有效进行争论，怀疑;争夺，竞争;抵抗，抵制 n.争端;辩论;（劳资）纠纷;罢工 vi. 争执;激烈争辩;争吵;吵架
He disputed the allegations
他对指控表示怀疑。
短语：dispute over 英 [disˈpju:t ˈəuvə] 美 [dɪˈspjut ˈovɚ] 争论，就…争执
dispute about the terms of a bargain 讨价还价
dispute settlement body 英 [disˈpju:t ˈsetlmənt ˈbɔdi] 美 [dɪˈspjut ˈsɛtlmənt ˈbɑdi] 争端解决机构
dispute resolution 英 [disˈpju:t ˌrezəˈlu:ʃən] 美 [dɪˈspjut ˌrɛzəˈluʃən] [计]争论的解决