万花筒 2010-02-03&02-05 丰田"召回门"

Until just days ago, Toyota may enjoy one of the best reputations in the car business with sales to match. Now the company has a huge problem on its hands, potentially dangerous accelerator problems, and recall of millions of vehicles. Tonight, Toyota is scrambling¹ to fix the problem and contain the damage. NBC's George Lewis reports.

 

Its image is like this that Toyota drifts, a brand new Camery flipped² over in a ditch in Louisville, Kentucky after the driver Todd Allen said it accelerated suddenly and went out of control. He's in a hospital intensive care unit.

 

"When they went to stop, it just accelerated and just flew off the cliff."

 

Toyota ran four page ads in Sunday newspaper saying "sticking accelerator pedals have occurred in some of our vehicles. We believe we are close to announcing an effective remedy." For Rhonda Talbot that remedy can't come soon enough. She's had her Toyota Camery a year now and says she's been in seven accidents.

 

I have my foot on the brake and coming into slow stop but for some reason the car then lurchs forward.So for the time being, she's leaving her Toyota in the driveway.

 

The experts say that if you get into a situation like Rhonda's, the best thing to do is stop on the brake with both feet, shift the car into neutral, then try to steer³ out of the way of traffic and come to a stop and finally turn off the ignition.

NBC's Ian Williams reports from Tokyo that Toyota is feeling the heat.

 

There have been no cars recalled here in Japan but that has been damage, damage to the pride and reputation of a company widely regarded as a national icon⁴. Toyota built that repution on the quality of its cars and the news from the US has shocked many people here. The question: whether Toyota sacrifices quality in a rush to become the world's biggest car maker⁵?

 

A crisis management expert says Toyota it doesn't just have a quality control problem, it has a transparency problem.

Customers have right to wonder if the cars are safe because Toyota has not been as forthcoming as they should have been in telling the customers what's going on.

 

This as the horror stories about Toyota's acceleration⁶ problems are also accelerating.

 

George Lewis, NBC News, Los Angeles.
 

1 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。

3 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

4 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

5 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

6 acceleration   

n.加速，加速度

参考例句：

• All spacemen must be able to bear acceleration.所有太空人都应能承受加速度。
• He has also called for an acceleration of political reforms.他同时呼吁加快政治改革的步伐。