原題：Some Low-wage US Workers Getting Raise in 2015
About 2.4 million low-paid workers in the United States are getting a pay raise on New Year's Day as new minimum wage laws
take effect.
In the United States, the minimum pay is $7.25 an hour, which translates to a yearly salary of $15,080.
But 20 of the country's 50 states and the national capital of Washington passed new laws in recent months or had already imposed requirements that now will boost wages above the national level, to an average of $8 an hour, or $16,640 annually.
The wage increases are expected to pump about $1.5 billion annually into the accelerating U.S. economy, the world's largest, because low-wage workers tend to spend most of their paychecks.
President Barack Obama last year called for a federal minimum wage of $10.10 an hour, but encountered stiff opposition from Republican opponents in Congress and the proposal failed.
Numerous new state laws also took effect Thursday in the United States, including one in California that requires college students to
give affirmative consent to their partners before engaging in sex. In Michigan, the sale of cough and cold medicines for the purpose of making the drug
methamphetamine is now banned, while New York is requiring its residents to recycle old computers and televisions rather than throwing them in the trash.
http://www.voanews.com/content/some-low-wage-us-workers-getting-raise-in-2015/2581968.html【語彙】
take effect：発効する
pump A into B：AをBに注ぎ込む
paycheck：給料、小切手
call for：～を要求する
federal：連邦の
stiff opposition：断固とした反対
give one's consent to ～：～に同意する
affrimative：肯定的な
methamphetamine：メタンフェタミン（国内では覚せい剤扱いとされる興奮作用をもつ物質 wikipediaより） ※暗記不要
【構文】
The wage increases are expected to pump about $1.5 billion annually into the accelerating U.S. economy, the world's largest, because low-wage workers tend to spend most of their paychecks.例によって無生物主語なので、因果関係を説明するように訳します。
accelerate U.S. economyやspend most of their paychecksは直訳すると意味がわかりにくいので意訳します。
解答例「低賃金労働者は給与のほとんどを消費に充てるため、賃金上昇によって年間約150ドルが流れ込み、世界最大のアメリカ経済の更なる拡大を加速するだろうと予想されている。」
GTA風解答例「俺たちクソ貧乏人はなけなしの金をストリップやハッパに使っちまう！こうして一部の資本家様が牛耳るステイツ拡大の肥やしになるってわけだ！Crap！！」
【コメント】
中間層を優遇するより貯蓄率の低い低賃金労働者のベースアップした方が国益になるんですねー。なるほどなるほど。
あ、ちなみに今回の記事からタイトルにつけた★の数は指名手配度・・・ではなく英文の難易度を表します。３段階評価の予定。
誤訳や不明点などあれば積極的にコメント欄でご指摘頂けると助かります。m(__)m
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