2007年VOA标准英语-California Car Culture Spurs Advanced Auto Desi

By Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles
14 June 2007

The U.S. auto¹ industry is based in Detroit, and auto manufacturing is done in the Midwest and elsewhere.  But California, with its endless freeways, is the center of car culture.  Mike O'Sullivan reports, it is also a center for advanced auto design, where vehicles of the future are taking shape.

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Ford concept model

Californians love their cars, as they have since the automobile³ was introduced more than a century ago.

Today the region is home to more than a dozen design shops where new concepts are explored.  The Mazda Miata, Honda CRX, and Toyota Celica were all conceived here.

Some designers are trained at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.  Its graduates work for more than a dozen companies with advanced design shops in the region.

Auto designer Stewart Reed chairs the Art Center's transportation department.

"It's an extremely vibrant⁴ marketplace of both products and ideas," said Mr. Reed.  "It's a center of arts and architecture and entertainment and high technology, so it's a great place to have a design school."

Art Center graduate Franz Von Holzhausen heads Mazda's North American design center in the city of Irvine.  The company sums up its marketing⁵ approach in the motto "zoom⁶ zoom."

"'Zoom zoom' is really a personal feeling, and for me, my feeling of 'zoom zoom' is the emotion of motion, and it's really that kind of exuberance⁷ you get when you're a little kid of just getting out there and having fun," he said.

He says adults can get the same thrill on the highway.  Many Californians want to pull away from the pack with customized vehicles.

Race car driver Steve Saleen markets high performance Ford Mustangs, customized here at his factory. 

The shop sells 100 cars a month.

Saleen customized Ford Mustangs

The Ford Mustang remains⁸ a popular seller, but down the road at Ford, a team of designers is working on models that may go into production in 10 to 15 years.  Ford's John Clinard says designers can see trends in advance in California.

"There's a saying that as you migrate across time zones from east to west in the U.S., each time zone represents about five years of forward thinking," he said.  "o we're as far west as you can go.  This is it.  This is where the forward thinking is centered."

Technology is changing, but whether future cars are powered by gasoline, hydrogen, or other kinds of fuel, consumers will want cars that look good and are fun to drive, says Leslie Kendall of the Peterson Automotive Museum.

"People are in love with their cars," she noted⁹.  "People love the mobility¹⁰ that cars afford them, and they're not willing to give that up any time soon."

And wherever the cars are manufactured, many will be designed in California, which Kendall calls the center of car culture.

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 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 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

5 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

6 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

7 exuberance   

n.丰富；繁荣

参考例句：

• Her burst of exuberance and her brightness overwhelmed me.她勃发的热情和阳光的性格征服了我。
• The sheer exuberance of the sculpture was exhilarating.那尊雕塑表现出的勃勃生机让人振奋。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。