At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week, there are hundreds of new cars on display that achieve high fuel efficiency and reduce pollution. Also on hand are representatives of the private X Prize Foundation, which is sponsoring a competition to create a vehicle that is both super efficient and appealing to consumers.
在底特律举行的2008北美国际汽车展上，来自美国、欧洲和亚洲的汽车生产商展出了数百种高能效、低污染的新车。不过，同样引人注目的是私营的X奖基金会在这次车展上举行的一场别开生面的比赛活动。
The competition aims at promoting the development of vehicles that use far less gasoline than those currently on the road. Part of the push comes from environmental concerns and part comes from the fact that petroleum is selling for close to $100 a barrel.
这次比赛活动的目的是推动开发比现在路上跑的车耗油量低很多的车型。推动这次活动的部分原因是各界对环境的关注，另外也是因为石油价格攀升到接近每桶100美元的水平。
Automotive X Prize Executive Director Donald Foley says backers of the competition want to move the industry away from vehicles that rely on petroleum-based fuels.
汽车X奖基金会执行董事唐纳德.福利表示，这次比赛活动的赞助人希望汽车工业摆脱靠汽油驱动汽车的局面。
"We know that oil is a finite resource and even though the reserves today are considerable, we know that they are dwindling. By having fuel efficient vehicles using less and less of that oil, we know we are going to reduce our dependence on that one form of energy," he said.
他说：“我们知道石油是有限的资源。即使目前的储量仍很可观，但是石油储量正在减少。如果有了耗油量越来越少的燃油效率更高的汽车，我们都知道那将会减少我们对石油这种能源的依赖。”
The X Prize Foundation is best known for the 2004 competition to design a human-piloted space craft that would leave the earth's atmosphere and return twice within a two-week period. The $10 million prize went to aircraft designer Burt Rutan and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who gave financial backing to the project.
X奖基金会过去举办的赛事要数2004年发起的太空飞机设计竞赛，要求参赛的太空飞机飞离大气层并在两个星期内两次往返地球。当时，飞机设计师伯特.鲁坦和出资赞助这个项目的微软公司共同创始人保罗.艾伦获得了1千万美元的奖金。
The Automotive X Prize is focused on developing a vehicle that can get 100 miles per gallon, or 43 kilometers per liter. The vehicles chosen for the final competition will compete in a cross country race in 2009 and 2010 that will test speed, urban driving and overall performance. Competition rules require that a vehicle must comfortably carry four adult passengers, meet U.S. auto safety standards and be ready for a production run of at least 10,000 cars.
今年的汽车X奖侧重于开发每加仑汽油能跑100英里或每公升汽油能开43公里的汽车。被选中参加最后决赛的汽车将在2009年和2010年进行横跨美国的长途比赛，测试车的行使速度，在都市道路上的行使状况，以及汽车的整体性能。比赛章程规定，参赛车必须能舒适地乘坐四名成人，达到美国的汽车安全标准，并能批量生产1万辆以上。
Donald Foley says the winning car must have real market appeal. "Our competition is not about concept cars. We want real, affordable, practical vehicles that people want to buy," he said.
福利说，获胜的车型必须具有真正的市场吸引力。“我们的比赛并不涉及所谓的概念车，我们要的是人们真正需要的、而且负担得起的实用的汽车。”
Already more than 50 teams from seven nations have signed up to compete. Ulrik Poulsen from Denmark is one of the people with his eyes on the prize. His Connecticut-based company has developed a device using wheel-mounted disks that can turn any vehicle into a hybrid that uses both gasoline and electricity for power.
来自世界7个国家的50多个代表队报名参加这个比赛。在众多希望夺得大奖的人当中，来自丹麦的乌尔里克.波尔森是其中之一。他设在康涅狄克州的公司开发了一种装置，使用一种轮装圆盘，能把任何一种车变成既能使用汽油，也能使用电能的混合动力车。
"They are attached externally on to the rear wheels of an existing vehicle. They can actually be installed in three to four hours, with the vehicle standing on the ground. It does not even have to be on a lift," he said.
“圆盘装在现有车型两个后轮的外端，而且只用3到4个小时就能安装完毕。安装的时候，只需让汽车停在地面就行，甚至不需要把汽车顶起来。”
Poulsen's team plans to select a light-weight passenger vehicle already on the market and equip it with the hybrid system for the competition. Win or lose, he hopes the competition will draw attention to his product.
波尔森的团队计划选择一种已经在市场上销售的轻型客车，安装上他们的混合系统，参加比赛。他希望，比赛无论输赢，都能吸引人们对他们产品的关注。
That is also a motivation for another competitor, automotive entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin, who has already developed a luxury car that meets the X Prize criteria and which could be available for purchase by the time the competition gets underway next year.
这也是另外一位竞争者的设想。汽车企业家马尔科姆.布里克林已经开发了一种能达到X奖标准的豪华车，这种车在比赛明年进行的时候就能上市。
"One of the things that the X Prize is looking for is cars that can get 100 miles to a gallon and can be manufactured. With a little bit of luck, when the X Prize is ready, this car will be coming off the assembly line. So it will go right from the assembly line to the race," he said.
“X奖看中的一条就是新车型每加仑汽油能开100英里，而且还必须能批量生产。如果幸运的话，在X奖颁奖的时候，这种车就能批量下线了。所以，新车将直接从生产线下来去参加比赛。”
Beyond the monetary award that comes with the X Prize and the profits he may gain from sales of his vehicle, Bricklin says the venture represents something more important. "My vision is a world in which we do not end up buying oil from people who do not like us, for starters, and at the same time have a cleaner world for my kids and my grandkids," he said.
布里克林说，除了要获得X奖基金会提供的奖金和销售汽车的利润外，这次开发还有更重要的意义。“我的愿景是生活在这样一个世界里：我们不必从那些不喜欢我们的人那里购买石油，与此同时，给我们的下一代留下一个更清洁的世界。”
If such a vision comes true, the streets of the future may be filled with vehicles that produce little pollution and transport people and cargo safely and inexpensively.
如果这样一种愿景能成为现实的话，未来道路上行使的车辆将产生很少的污染，并能安全、经济地运载乘客和货物。 |