通用汽车公司（GM）21日晚公布了一份关乎存亡的“求生计划”。通用汽车首席执行官瓦格纳宣布，GM将关闭12家装配厂以及零部件仓库等支持性工厂，并裁员3万人。此次计划破除了之前通用汽车公司将破产的传闻。请看外电报道： Wagoner said the job cuts will come primarily through attrition and early-retirement packages to mitigate the impact on workers. GM has an annual attrition rate of about 7 percent, Wagoner said. The average hourly worker is around 49 years old, he said. Attrition 的本意是“磨损、消耗”，如，“消耗战”可表达为a war of attrition。在报道中，attrition指的是“人员自然缩减”，就是由于退休、死亡而造成的人员减少，而不是人为的辞退。 例如：By a quite practice of attrition we were able to reduce our staff size and cut our annual expenses while not firing anyone and risking a decrease in employee morale. （通过正常的人员自然损耗,我们得以减少员工人数并削减年度费用, 同时也避免了因采取解聘而导致员工士气下降的风险。） （中国日报网站编）