商业报道:2009年最闪亮新车

Detroit Auto¹ Show highlights

CNN's Colleen McEdwards reports on this year's auto show in Detroit, Michigan。

Well this has been one of the worst years ever in the global auto industry, but in the United States, the manufacturers here are feeling most of the pain. And at this year's Detroit auto show: Ford², General Motors and Chrysler are really focusing on stretching the consumer dollar. They say they've seen the lights. They figured out that consumers worldwide want safe, innovative³ and reasonably priced cars.

General Motors made a big splash with the Chevy Volt⁴, and here it is, right here a plug-in electric car. But here is the ironic⁵ thing about this car, one of the plant that is gonna build this car is on hold because of General Motors' money problems. But still the company insists it's gonna hit the market on schedule next year.

This year's Auto Show is as much about who isn't here as who is. Most of the luxury European carmakers simply stayed home, and many of the Japanese carmakers like Nissan and Suzuki, stayed away because they said they didn't have enough money to spend here. Honda is here, but it's keeping things pretty lowkey, it's not holding any big splashy events.

You know people at this year's Auto Show are talking as much about the problems in the industry as they are about the new products. But there are some new ones being rolled out and a lot of them have to do with green technology, electric cars, hybrid⁶ cars. In fact, Ford made a big splash by announcing that it's gonna bring more hybrid and electric models to markets in the next 4 years and it had plan to originally because it really wants to try to seize on the green technology. One of them is gonna be this baby, it is a plug-in hybrid, and it is gonna be on the market near 2012.

Ford threw in a little old-fashioned muscle as well, revving⁷ up the crowd, introducing its new Mustang, right alongside all those quiet hybrids⁸. This is an industry full of contradictions right now and questions, will the public accept plug-in cars if they are to be the savior of the US auto industry in the future of the industry? And with so many important global automakers not even showing up here, will these big events like the Detroit auto show become a thing of the past in an industry that's running on borrowed money and borrowed time.

Colleen McEdwards, CNN, Detroit.

1 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

2 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

3 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

4 volt   

n.伏特，伏

参考例句：

• You may use 100 and 110 volt appliances in your room.您可以在房间使用100及110伏特的电器。
• The common service voltage of electric power in our country is 220/380 volt.我国普通供电电压为220/380伏。

5 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。

6 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

7 revving   

v.（使）加速( rev的现在分词 )；（数量、活动等）激增；（使发动机）快速旋转；（使）活跃起来

参考例句：

• The team are revving up for next week's game. 这个队伍对下周的比赛跃跃欲试。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Since the introduction of new techniques, the production has been revving up. 自从新技术的引进，产量一直都在增加。 来自互联网

8 hybrids   

n.杂交生成的生物体( hybrid的名词复数 )；杂交植物（或动物）；杂种；（不同事物的）混合物

参考例句：

• All these brightly coloured hybrids are so lovely in the garden. 花园里所有这些色彩鲜艳的杂交花真美丽。 来自辞典例句
• The notion that interspecific hybrids are rare is ill-founded. 有一种看法认为种间杂种是罕见的，这种看法是无根据的。 来自辞典例句