VOA慢速英语2010年-EXPLORATIONS - Are EVs, Plug-in Hybrid

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: I’m Shirley Griffith.
STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Starting this Friday, the auto¹ industry will show off more than nine hundred of its latest vehicles at the LA Auto Show in Los Angeles, California. The event provides a look at about fifty hybrid², electric and alternative fuel cars that could soon be available in the United States.
Join us as we discuss the new kinds of cars, and what this means for the future of driving in America.
(MUSIC)SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: At the beginning of the nineteen hundreds, the automobile³ was rare. Many early models ran on electric batteries. It was not until Henry Ford⁴’s gas-powered Model T that the internal combustion⁵ engine and the car became inseparable.
Henry Ford had wanted to develop an electric car. But the technology of the time was not ready. Today, the same problems faced by early automobile pioneers remain. But materials are available to overcome the old problems. The result is that electric batteries and motors may finally power cars of the future. Some experts predict that five to ten percent of cars on the road in twenty twenty will be electric.
President Obama looks at a newly built Chevy Volt⁶ during a visit to a GM factory in Hamtramck, Michigan, in July STEVE EMBER: The heart of any electric car is its battery. A battery stores electricity and makes it available for use by the motor. Partly electric cars are already common in many countries, including the United States and Japan.
Hybrid vehicles run on both electric power and gasoline. The Toyota Prius is the top selling hybrid car in the American market today. Most current hybrid cars use an internal combustion engine to drive the car and to help provide electric power that is stored in a battery. The battery then uses its stored energy to run the car at low speeds.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The race to develop electric cars and other fuel-efficient models took on greater urgency earlier this year. The Obama administration set new rules in the United States. They require two thousand sixteen model vehicles to get an average of fifteen kilometers to a liter of gasoline.
One way to raise the average fuel economy is to increase the number of electric cars on the road. And manufacturers are rushing to get electric vehicles and hybrids⁷ on the market. At this year's LA Auto Show, many models will be on display.
STEVE EMBER: No car in recent years has been as important to a manufacturer as the Chevy Volt is to General Motors. The electric hybrid car is set to be released next year.
GM plans to sell stock to the public soon -- possibly raising as much as seventeen billion dollars. GM has reported over four billion dollars in profit this year. The company suffered huge losses during the economic crisis of two thousand eight and two thousand nine. The Volt could change all that. It could be a sign that GM has recovered from the bankruptcy⁸ and restructuring it went through last year.
GM started taking orders for the Volt in July. The General Electric company has promised to buy twenty-five thousand electric vehicles. This includes one thousand Chevy Volts⁹ next year and thousands more to come.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The Volt is designed to run as an electric car for more than sixty kilometers. After that, a gasoline engine powers the car. The battery and the gas generator¹⁰ let the Volt travel a total of about five hundred sixty kilometers on one charge and tank of gasoline.
What is different about the Volt is that its electric motor always runs the car. Gasoline is used only to generate electricity. GM engineers say they chose this design because it is ten to fifteen percent more efficient. They also used a new, lithium-ion battery that is expected to last longer than batteries in current hybrid cars.
GM is selling the Volt for about forty-one thousand dollars. This is more than two times the cost of other small GM cars. But buyers can get a seven thousand five hundred dollar tax credit from the government for buying a Volt.
In the past, fuel-efficient cars have been small cars that Americans have rejected -- at least when gasoline prices are low. High school and college students are a big market for such vehicles. But a change has taken place in the world of environmentally friendly cars. Several are sports cars.
(SOUND)STEVE EMBER: Tesla is a new carmaker based in Palo Alto, California. The company's chief executive is Elon Musk¹¹. He is also known for leading SpaceX, a space travel company. Tesla's goal is to make more affordable¹² all-electric cars. The Tesla Roadster, however, has attracted a lot of attention for being a fast sports car that costs over one hundred thousand dollars.
The Tesla Roadster Tesla cars were first offered for sale in two thousand eight. The company says there are now one thousand three hundred Roadsters being driven around the world.
The Roadster can reach speeds up to about two hundred kilometers an hour. And it releases zero pollution. It can travel almost four hundred kilometers before it needs recharging, depending on how fast it is driven.
Fisker Automotive is a new carmaker based in Irvine, California. Its costly¹³ sports car is called the Karma. Like the Chevy Volt, the Karma runs on electricity at first. Then it uses gas to power an electric motor. It also has solar panels on the roof. The company says the panels collect enough energy to extend the life of the battery charge. Fisker says the Karma travels about twenty-nine kilometers on a liter of gas and a full electric charge.
(MUSIC)SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Not all new, fuel-efficient cars are electric or hybrid. Diesel¹⁴ engines have long been used in trucks and buses that travel long distances. Diesel fuel is more dense¹⁵ than gasoline. It produces more energy when it burns. High levels of sulfur¹⁶ in diesel made from petroleum¹⁷ have meant diesel engines produce a strong smell. Newer, more refined diesel solves this problem.
Don Hillebrand is the director of transportation research at the Energy Department's Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, Illinois. His team of engineers works on new diesel technology. He says until recently, American car makers¹⁸ have not offered many diesel cars in the United States.
DON HILLEBRAND: "Many of the American-based companies make outstanding diesel engines, but they only sell them overseas. They don't actually sell them in North America."Don Hillebrand also says diesel can help in lowering the use of carbon-based fuels.
DON HILLEBRAND: "The diesel can give you an extra thirty percent fuel economy, which is a substantial amount of carbon reduction and a substantial amount of cost savings¹⁹."The Ford Motor Company makes diesel vehicles for the European market and could sell them in the United States. And GM has said it will manufacture a diesel passenger vehicle for the American market soon.
STEVE EMBER: Yet, gasoline engines remain the most common in passenger vehicles in the United States and are expected to remain so. Some manufacturers are pushing cars to new levels of fuel efficiency.
GM is offering the Chevrolet Cruz Eco. It has a gas-powered engine that is more fuel efficient than most hybrid models. The car travels about seventeen kilometers on a liter of gas.
And then there is extreme fuel efficiency. The Edison2 is an experimental car that was one of the winners of the ten-million-dollar Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize. The prize was given to teams that could design a vehicle that could travel one hundred miles or more on one gallon of gas. That is at least forty-three kilometers a liter.
Oliver Kuttner led the Edison2 team. He says electric cars have a problem with weight. He says their batteries weigh too much. He believes very light-weight cars are more efficient than electric cars can ever be. The Edison2 car uses E85 fuel that is mostly ethanol, a form of alcohol.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: But all-electric cars that the public can afford to buy are no longer something for the distant future. Japanese carmaker Nissan has said it will offer its LEAF for sale next month.
Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn stands next to a Nissan Leaf, a fully²⁰ electric car The LEAF has no gas engine. It runs completely on stored electric power. The company has not released exact performance details. But Nissan says the LEAF will run for about one hundred sixty kilometers between charges. The company says ninety-five percent of drivers travel fewer than one hundred sixty kilometers a day.
The Chevy Volt and the Nissan LEAF are among five cars competing for the 2011 Green Car of the Year award. The other finalists are the Ford Fiesta, the Hyundai Sonata²¹ Hybrid and the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid. The prize is given by Green Car Magazine which has been writing about cars, energy and the environment for eighteen years. The winner will be announced at the LA Auto show on Friday.
(MUSIC)STEVE EMBER: This program was written and produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And I'm Shirley Griffith. Go to voaspecialenglish.com for pictures and MP3s of our programs. And follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and iTunes at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

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 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。

3 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

4 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。

5 combustion   

n.燃烧；氧化；骚动

参考例句：

• We might be tempted to think of combustion.我们也许会联想到氧化。
• The smoke formed by their combustion is negligible.由它燃烧所生成的烟是可忽略的。

6 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。

7 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

8 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

9 volts   

n.（电压单位）伏特( volt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The floating potential, Vf is usually only a few volts below ground. 浮置电势Vf通常只低于接地电位几伏。 来自辞典例句
• If gamma particles are present, potential differences of several thousand volts can be generated. 如果存在γ粒子，可能产生几千伏的电位差。 来自辞典例句

10 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

11 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。

12 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

13 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

14 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

15 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

16 sulfur   

n.硫，硫磺（=sulphur）

参考例句：

• Sulfur emissions from steel mills become acid rain.炼钢厂排放出的硫形成了酸雨。
• Burning may produce sulfur oxides.燃烧可能会产生硫氧化物。

17 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

18 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

20 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

21 sonata   

n.奏鸣曲

参考例句：

• He played a piano sonata of his own composition.他弹奏了一首自作的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• The young boy played the violin sonata masterfully.那个小男孩的小提琴奏鸣曲拉得很熟练。