周六国资委主任肖亚庆在十二届全国人大四次会议记者会上表示不会出现新一轮下岗潮。请看本报昨日的报道：

    The country’s economic restructuring will not lead to the kind of mass layoffs that took place in the 1990s, the State assets regulator said Saturday.

    China will focus on mergers and restructuring, not bankruptcies, Xiao Yaqing, the head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), told a news conference.

    报道中的layoff是名词“下岗”，动词词组是lay off，除了“解雇、裁员”还可以是“停止”的意思。例如：

    The bank is going to lay off 500 staff in Asia to weather the financial crisis.

    为应付金融危机，该银行将裁减亚洲区500名员工。

    I think you’d better lay off fatty foods for a while.

    我认为你最好暂时别吃油腻食物。