汽车的前世今生 mimiya 发表于 2005-4-30 8:39:00

The Triumph of the Horseless Carriage 汽车的前世今生   【本段单词】 carriage (n.) 四轮马车 1. In October of 1885, the German inventor Karl Benz climbed aboard the world's first automobile. He made himself comfortable in the driver's seat of his invention, high above the 1)vehicle's three big wheels. The engine 2)rumbled beneath his seat. Unfortunately, as Benz began to drive, the car charged 3)abruptly forward and threw him out onto the ground. Benz' creation continued on without him and 4)crashed into a wall. 1885年10月，德国发明家卡尔·宾士登上世界第一部汽车。他舒舒服服地坐在自己发明的汽车驾驶座上，车子的三只大车轮将驾驶座撑得高高的，引擎在他的座位下隆隆作响。不幸的是，奔驰开始行驶时，车子突然向前冲，将他抛在地上。奔驰的发明在无人驾驶下继续前进，然后撞上一堵墙。 【本段单词】 1) vehicle (n.) 车辆，载具 2) rumble (v.) 隆隆作响 3) abruptly (adv.) 突然地 4) crash (v.) 冲撞 2. It wasn't a great start for the automobile, but Benz was not 1)discouraged. Within a few years, he and others were building cars to sell to the public. These early cars were known as "horseless carriages," and that's exactly what they were. The 2)shaft for the horse 3)harnesses was cut off and a gasoline engine was placed under the back seat. Top speed was about 14 km/h. To today's drivers that seems laughably slow, but back then it was enough to cause one 4)commentator to describe horseless carriages as "5)diabolical and dangerous to life." 这对汽车来说并非很好的开始，可是奔驰并不气馁。几年之内，他与其他人已经在生产要销售给大众的汽车。这些早期的汽车被称为「无马马车」，也的确名符其实。装马具的杆子被削去，后座底下设置了一具汽油引擎。最高速度大约是每小时十四公里。在今日的驾驶人看来，那似乎慢得可笑，不过当年已足够让一位评论家形容无马马车为「像恶魔一样，有害人命。」 【本段单词】 1) discourage (v.) 使沮丧，使泄气 2) shaft (n.) 杆子，柱 3) harness (n.) 马具 4) commentator (n.) 评论家 5) diabolical (a.) 魔鬼的，恶魔的 3. Karl Benz's wife Bertha was not so easily frightened. Along with her two sons, Eugen and Richard, she 1)undertook in 1888 the first-ever long distance car trip, 100 km from Mannheim to Pforzheim. Though they would be driving the 2)latest Benz automobile, Karl would not be 3)accompanying his family on the trip. Perhaps he understood all too well what was 4)in store for them. In the book Top 5)Gear: The History of Automobiles, the trip is described thus: "Along the way they 6)startled people, horses, and other animals. In one village, a shoe maker nailed strips of leather onto the 7)brake shoes. At another village, a hatpin was used to 8)unblock a 9)fuel 10)pipe. Another time, Bertha had to tie an 11)elastic 12)garter onto an engine part to stop it from falling off." 卡尔·宾士的妻子柏莎可不是那么容易被吓到的人。她带着两名儿子尤金与理查，在1888年展开有史以来的第一趟长途汽车旅行--由曼罕到佛兹汉，距离一百公里。虽然她们将驾驶最新型的奔驰汽车，但卡尔并没有陪伴他的家人同行。或许他十分清楚她们将面临何种遭遇。在《最高档：汽车史》一书中，这趟旅程有如下的描述：「沿路上，她们吓坏了人、马匹与其他牲畜。在一个村庄，一位鞋匠将条状皮革钉到刹车器上。在另一个村庄，拿了一枚帽针来疏通油管。又有一回，柏莎必须用弹性吊袜带绑住一个引擎零件，以防它掉落。」 【本段单词】 1) undertake (v.) 从事 2) latest (a.) 最新的，最近的 3) accompany (v.) 陪同，伴随 4) in store 在等待 5) gear (n.) 排档，装备 6) startle (v.) 使惊奇，使吓一跳 7) brake (n.) 刹车 8) unblock (v.) 疏通，除去阻塞 9) fuel (n.) 燃料 10) pipe (n.) 导管，轮送管 11) elastic (a.) 有弹性的，可伸缩的 12) garter (n.) 吊袜带 4. Despite the troubles, Bertha Benz arrived safely, with her faith in her husband's invention strengthened. Others continued to have their doubts about the new machines. People felt the car-driving 1)lunatics were making life on the road 2)miserable for reasonable people. Laws were passed making it 3)illegal for cars to travel faster than a horse could 4)trot, and drivers were expected to turn their car engines off when a horse 5)approached, so as not to scare the animal. During the automobile's early days in Britain, a man was required to walk in front of each car, waving a red flag to warn of the approaching danger. 尽管麻烦不断，柏莎·宾士还是安全抵达，并且加强了她对丈夫发明汽车的信心。其他人还是不断怀疑这种新机器。人们认为开车的疯子让理性的人在马路上得担惊受怕，制定了法律禁止汽车行驶的速度高于马匹小跑的速度，而且在马匹靠近时，驾驶还得关掉汽车引擎，以免惊吓到牠。英国最早有汽车的时候，每部车前面都得有个人，挥舞红旗警告有危险靠近了。 【本段单词】 1) lunatic (n.) 疯子 2) miserable (a.) 痛苦的，凄惨的 3) illegal (a.) 非法的 4) trot (v.) （马）小跑，快步 5) approach (v.) 接近，靠近 5. 1)Eventually, though, the public was 2)won over. Early in the 20th century in America, businessman Henry Ford 3)devised a method of 4)mass-producing cars on an 5)assembly line. He was able to produce large numbers of vehicles very quickly. A Model T Ford, for example, could be 6)assembled in about an hour. And Ford was able to sell his cars at affordable prices. Ford wanted the black, box-shaped Model T to become the world's first "7)universal" car, and he pretty well succeeded. By 1927, more than 15 million Model Ts had been made and sold. The 8)notorious bank robber John Dillinger was one satisfied customer. He sent a letter to Ford which read: "I want to thank you for making an excellent car. If I am ever 9)captured, it will be by someone in another Ford." 不过到了最后，大众还是被说服了。二十世纪初在美国，商人亨利·福特设计了一种用装配线上大量制造汽车的方法。他可以非常快速地生产大量的汽车。举例而言，大约一小时即可组装完成一辆福特Ｔ型车。福特因此可以用低廉的价格销售汽车。福特希望黑色、盒状的Ｔ型车成为全球首部「环球」汽车，结果他也算是相当成功了。到了1927年，已经有一千五百多万辆Ｔ型车生产及售出。恶名昭彰的银行大盗约翰狄林杰就是一位满意的客户。他写了一封信给福特说：「我想要感谢你制造出一部好车。万一我被逮了，一定是被开着另外一辆福特汽车的人给逮住的。」 【本段单词】 1) eventually (adv.) 最后，终于 2) win over (v.) 争取到，说服 3) devise (v.) 设计 4) mass-produce (v.) 大量生产 5) assembly line (n.) 装配线 6) assemble (v.) 组装 7) universal (a.) 普遍的，通用的 8) notorious (a.) 恶名昭彰的 9) capture (v.) 捕捉，逮捕 6. Ford helped 1)transform the car from a 2)suspicious 3)novelty into an absolutely necessary tool of modern life. Especially in America, owning a car became a symbol of success, and a central part of the culture. The entire 4)landscape was transformed by the millions of cars that people were buying and driving. 5)Concrete was poured endlessly to build roads and bridges and parking lots. 6)Traffic signals, 7)parking meters, and gas stations were 8)erected. 9)Billboards, 10)motels and major changes in people's 11)lifestyles followed. 福特将汽车由惹人怀疑的新奇事物，转变为现代生活绝对必需的工具。尤其是在美国，拥有汽车已成为成功的象徵，也是美国文化的核心部分。整个陆地景观因为人们购买与驾驶的数百万辆汽车而改变。混凝土一直在倾倒，用来兴建道路、桥梁及停车场。红绿灯、停车计时表与加油站纷纷设立。广告牌，汽车旅馆以及人们生活方式的重大改变接踵而至。 【本段单词】 1) transform (v.) 改变 2) suspicious (a.) 可疑的 3) novelty (n.) 新奇的事物 4) landscape (n.) 景观，地貌 5) concrete (n.) 混凝土 6) traffic signal (n.) 红绿灯，交通号志 7) parking meter (n.) 停车计时表 8) erect (v.) 建立，设立 9) billboard (n.) 广告牌 10) motel (n.) 汽车旅馆 11) lifestyle (n.) 生活方式 7. Compared with the early horseless carriages, these modern vehicles were 1)awesomely fast and powerful. Traveling on America's rapidly 2)expanding highway system, a man in a car could go anywhere he wanted, at his own 3)pace and on his own time, with no need to 4)consult a train or bus schedule. The car suited Americans' ideas of themselves as free and independent. Cars became an American 5)passion. 与早期的无马马车相较，这些现代车辆的速度与马力惊人。在美国快速成长的高速公路系统上旅行，开车的人可以去他想去的任何地方，以他自己的速度、依自己的时间，无须参考火车或巴士时刻表。汽车切合美国人认为他们自由与独立的想法。汽车成为美国人的最爱。 【本段单词】 1) awesomely (adv.) 令人敬畏地 2) expand (v.) 扩展 3) pace (n.) 步调 4) consult (v.) 查阅 5) passion (n.) 热情 8. Even so, the questions raised by the early 1)critics of the horseless carriages had not gone away. Are cars most accurately seen as beautiful, useful, exciting and necessary? Or are they just dirty, noisy, expensive and dangerous? It's easy to both love and hate them. People 2)appreciate what a marvelous thing it is to be able to jump in a car, start it up and just go, and at the same time 3)lament the pollution and the accidents and the 4)traffic and the 5)various unhappy changes in the society that cars have brought. The American 6)humorist Will Rogers once 7)addressed himself to Henry Ford and expressed the feeling like this: "Mr. Ford, it will take a hundred years to tell whether you have helped us or hurt us, but you certainly didn't leave us like you found us." 即使如此，早期批评者对于无马马车所提出的问题仍未消失。汽车究竟应该看成是美观、实用、刺激、有必要，还是只是肮脏、吵闹、昂贵又危险？汽车很容易让人又爱又恨。人们知道只要跳上车、发动即可出发，是多么神奇的事，但同时又抱怨汽车造成污染、交通事故、车流，以及社会上各种不幸的改变。美国谐星威尔罗杰斯曾经向亨利福特致词，如此表达他的感受：「福特先生，要花上一百年的时间才能知道你到底帮了我们还是害了我们，不过你确确实实让我们和从前不一样了。」 【本段单词】 1) critic (n.) 批评者 2) appreciate (v.) 了解 3) lament (v.) 哀悼，悲叹 4) traffic (n.) 车流，大流量 5) various (a.) 各色的 6) humorist (n.) 幽默大师 7) address oneself to (v.) 向……说话 阅读全文 | 回复(0) | 引用通告 | 编辑