Unit 1 Focus Reading Smart in the City By Frederick J. Staab In the automotive business these days,big is out and small is in. Sales of large sport-utility vehicles are down 45%. Small-car sales have increased 70%. Of course,having suffered from $3-plus-a-gallon gasoline for longer,the rest of the world has been thinking small for years. And there is no production car smaller than the Smart car from DaimlerChrysler. But can a car that is just slightly more than 8 feet long and 5 feet high with 15-inch wheels co-exist with the mastodons that rule the American road? Smart has been building it since 1998,and it is the de facto city cruiser in Europe. So far,a total of 750,000 have hit the streets,with the highest concentration—50,000—being in Rome,a city famous for its narrow streets,frenetic traffic,and high gas prices. With that in mind,I set out to see if one of these diminutive cars could be used as an everyday commuter vehicle. The laboratory for my experiment was midtown Manhattan traffic and the slog of the Long Island Expressway. When I arrived at the garage,I was told to head for level three; the attendant said,“You wont have a problem finding the Smart. Its the only one we have.” Not for long,though. Beginning in 2008,Smart will make its official U.S. debut,with a sticker price of just under $15,000 and mileage estimated in the 50-60 mpg range. For now,this metallic blue “fortwo” with silver accents would be the only one on the mean streets of New York. A quick walk-around made me wonder whether this car was up to the task of being an everyday commuter. It looked really tiny. Attention-getter On the inside,there was,surprisingly,plenty of room for two full-size passengers and a small 1-foot deep shelf for your belongings. If you dont look behind you,the Smart fortwo appears roomy; the windshield and side windows are large,and this one came equipped with an optional,fixed,glass roof that added to the openness. A quick turn of the center-console-mounted ignition key and the 0.7-liter rear-mounted three-cylinder engine came to life. Yes,thats 0.7 of a liter,which nets you about 60 horsepower. Our test car featured the automatic sequential six-speed transmission,which basically is a manual without a clutch pedal. You can leave it in the “A” automatic mode,or you have the choice of shifting with steering wheel-mounted paddles or a stubby back-and-forward shifter on the floor. The transmission takes some time to get used to since there is a bit of a delay between when the pedal is pressed and you actually get moving. I coaxed the fortwo out onto West 44th Street and headed for a couple of laps around New York City before pointing its flat face toward suburbia. Immediately the looks and comments began,mostly smiles or cautious glances at first,until I stopped for a light on Ninth Avenue. A guy waving a flag for a parking garage said,“Wow,I want to get one of those for my son.” I told him he would have to wait until 2008. “Well,how did you get one?” Lets just say I have connections! Expressway-safe After a few more thumbs-up and friendly smiles,both of which one rarely sees in NYC,it was time to head for the Midtown Tunnel,cutting a zigzag pattern through the Fifth Avenue rush-hour sea of cars and trucks. At a traffic light I ended up parking next to a $320,000 Maybach. Its chauffeur looked quizzically at my car,which was about one-quarter the size of his. I told him we were driving cars built by the same company,DaimlerChrysler. “Really?” he said. The hundreds of thousands of New York commuters who use the 70.8-mile Long Island Expressway every day know that during rush hour what should be a half-hour drive can easily become a 60-minute slog,or more. At one point in the stop-and-go I found myself completely surrounded by SUVs. My rearview mirror was filled with the image of a giant Chevrolet logo centered on its grill right above a twisted bumper that may have dealt plain to other smaller cars. Was it coming in for the kill,or only getting a closer look? Smart touts its Tridion Safety Cell and full complement of air bags. They also are proud of the crash-test footage of an E Class and fortwo hitting head-on. But I was hoping not to have to experience those safety features; that would involve too much paperwork and explaining. Crawling traffic meant lots of open-window car-to-car conversations,like with the guy in the Lexus who talked while his girlfriend took pictures of the car. Or was that pictures of me in the car? Hmm. Someone else asked,“Is it legal for you to have that on the road?” As the LIE opened up it was easy for me to stay with and,yes,even pass other drivers. For the best performance,I shied away from the automatic transmission mode and made steady use of the steering wheel-mounted paddles. Prius Mini Rival After a weekend of making new friends and answering questions about when it was coming to the U.S.,it was time to fire up the fortwo and head back to New York City. The trip included a Bohemian woman in a Toyota Prius eyeing the Smart and,I bet,wondering if I was getting better gas mileage than she was. (They are about the same. According to the Environmental Protection Agency,the $21,725 Prius is estimated to get about 60 mpg in city driving and 51 mpg on the highway.) And then there was a bit of excitement when a slow-moving Buick created a rolling roadblock that called for a quick lane change. Time to hit the throttle and turn all 60 of those horses loose! After clunking over steel construction plates on 37th Street,my Smart commuter experience came to a successful end. I hadnt been run over by a Hummer nor laughed off the road. So can a Smart fortwo be used as an everyday commuter car? The answer to that is yes,but the bigger question (no pun intended) is,will Americans go for a vehicle as small as the fortwo when they can buy more traditional cars for less? Only time will tell. The new-model fortwo scheduled to appear on U.S. roads in 2008 will be larger. About 3 to 6 inches larger,that is,in order to meet the latest crash-test requirements. (1017 words) This article is adapted from BusinessWeek Online Thursday August 24,8: 08 am ET Ⅰ. New Words and Expressions 1. utility /jutiliti/n. 功用，效用 2. mastodon /mstdn/ n. 庞然大物 3. cruiser /kruz/ n. 巡游车 4. frenetic /frinetik/ a. 狂乱的，发狂的 5. diminutive /diminjutiv/ a. 小的 6. slog /sl/ vt. 猛击 7. expressway /ikspreswei/ n. 快速路 8. debut /deibju/ n. 首次演出，初次露面 9. metallic /mitlik/ a. 金属(制)的； 10. windshield /windild/ n. 挡风玻璃 11. optional /ｐnl/ a. 可选的 12. mount /maunt/ vt. （安）装 13. coax /kuks/ v. 耐心驾驶，小心翼翼驾驶 14. connections /knekn/ ［pl.］熟人，关系(户) 15. thumb-up v. 翘拇指 16. zigzag /ziz/ adj. “之”字形的,Z字形的 17. quizzical /kwizikl/ adj. 疑问的,嘲弄的 18. tout /taut/ v. 招徕顾客，极力赞扬 19. crawl /krl/ vi. 爬行，缓慢(费力)地行进 20. shield /ild/ n. 防护物，护罩 21. paddle /pdl/ n. (叶)桨，叶轮 22. throttle /rtl/ n. 油门 23. clunk /klk/ v. 发出沉闷声 24. pun /pn/ n. 双关语 Ⅱ. Technical Terms 1. SUV—sport utility vehicle 运动型多功能车 2. de facto 事实上的 3. make an official debut 正式推出 4. in the 50-60 mpg range 在每加仑跑50~60英里的范围 5. side window 边窗 6. ignition key 点火钥匙 7. rear-mounted three-cylinder engine 后置的三缸发动机 8. clutch paddle 离合器杆 9. back and forward shifter 前后变速杆 10. automatic transmission mode 自动变速方式 11. cut a zigzag pattern 呈“之”字形 12. in the stop-and-go 时停时走的 13. rearview mirror 后视镜 14. twister bumper 绞型保险杆 15. air bag 气囊 16. crash-test footage 碰撞测试连续镜头 17. hit head-on 迎头撞上 18. safety feature 安全特点 19. Environmental Protection Agency 环保署 20. gas mileage 每英里耗油量 21. quick lane change 快速变道 Exercises Ⅰ. Fill in the blanks with the information provided in the text. 1. is in the automotive business in the recent years. 2. The writer embarked on outside his laboratory. 3. This new test car model is typical of . 4. When the writer stepped into fortwo,he was surprised to find that fortwo was . 5. Peoples reaction to fortwo was when the writer was driving down the street in downtown New York City. 6. The traffic during the rush hours in the 70.8-mile Long Island Expressway is like . 7. Challenges that a Smart fortwo will be confronted with in the days to come are such as . 8. It is implied that most Americans have a preference for cars from the last paragraph. Ⅱ. Translate the following phrases into Chinese. 1. sales of large sport-utility vehicles 2. streets with the highest concentration 3. used as an everyday commuter vehicles 4. make an official debut 5. optional glass roof added to the openness 6. sequential six-speed transmission 7. rush hour sea of cars and trucks 8. a crash-test footage of an E Class 9. hit the throttle 10. turn all 60 of those horses loose 11. be run over by Hummer 12. to meet the crash-test requirements Ⅲ. Describe a Smart car in no less than 120 words,giving details about its uniqueness and features. Ⅳ. Further discussion 1. As a Smart fortwo has been put on the market,what do you think of its prospect in the automobile market? 2. What attracts you most among all the features of a Smart fortwo? Extended Reading History of Automobile Industry In the year 1769,a French engineer by the name of Nicolas J. Cugnot invented the first automobile to run on roads. This automobile,in fact,was a self-powered,three-wheeled,military tractor that made the use of a steam engine. The range of the automobile,however,was very brief and at the most,it could only run at a stretch for fifteen minutes. In addition,these automobiles were not fit for the roads as the steam engines made them very heavy and large,and required ample starting time. Oliver Evans was the first to design a steam-engine-driven automobile in the U.S. A Scotsman,Robert Anderson,was the first to invent an electric carriage between 1832 and 1839. However,Thomas Davenport of the U.S. and Scotsman Robert Davidson were amongst the first to invent more applicable automobiles,making use of non-rechargeable electric batteries in 1842. Development of roads made travelling comfortable and as a result,the short ranged,electric-battery-driven automobiles were no more the best option for travelling over longer distances. Charles Ketterings invention of the electric starter in 1912 turned the process of starting automobiles faster and easier at the same time,doing away with the hand tools. Crude oil being discovered in Texas,the automobiles driven by engines that ran on gasoline became even more affordable,as the prices of gasoline reduced. The prices of electric automobiles were going through a constant rise,in spite of the fact that these were less efficient than the gasoline automobiles. Jean Joseph tienne Lenoir was the first to invent an internal combustion engine that ran on petroleum and attached it to a three-wheeled carriage,and successfully traversed a distance of fifty miles in 1863. Karl Benz manufactured the first automobile (a three-wheeled car) that was affordable and compatible for travelling over long distances for its internal combustion engine that ran on gas,in 1886.Later in 1887,Gottlieb Daimler was the first to invent the predecessor of the modern automobile with an engine that had a vertical cylinder in addition to a gasoline-driven carburetor. First building a two-wheeled automobile (“Reitwagen”),Daimler was again the first to build a four-wheeled automobile in 1886. The engines manufactured by Daimler were improved upon and these portable and fast engines made automobiles the way we see them today. The advanced engines turned the slow,expensive automobiles of yester year a thing of the past,and cars became more affordable as both the prices of gasoline and petroleum as well as the manufacturing costs reduced through their mass manufacture at the assembly lines of factories. Penhard and Levassor in 1889,and Peugeot in 1991 became the earliest mass manufacturers of the modern automobiles。 The automobile industry finally came of age with Henry Ford in 1914 for the bulk production of cars. This led to the development of the industry and it first began in the assembly lines of his car factory. The several methods adopted by Ford made the new invention (that is,the car) popular amongst the rich as well as the masses. By then,U.S. dominated the automobile markets around the globe with no notable competitors. However,after the end of the Second World War in 1945,the automobile industry of other technologically advanced nations such as Japan and certain European nations gained momentum and within a very short period,beginning in the early 1980s,the U.S. automobile industry was flooded with foreign automobile companies,especially those of Japan and Germany. The current trends of the global automobile industry reveal that in the developed countries the automobile industries are stagnating as a result of the drooping car markets,whereas in the developing countries,such as India and Brazil,the automobile industry has been consistently registering higher growth rates every passing year for their flourishing domestic automobile markets. As per reports of International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers or OICA(the association of the companies involved in world auto industry),for fiscal end in 2006,auto manufacturers in U.S. have been overtaken by those in Japan,in terms of total volume of auto units manufactured worldwide. 　　However,struggling General Motors of U.S. still remains a worldwide leader of world auto industry,ahead of rapidly growing Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan,by a substantial margin. (714 words) From: http://www.economywatch.com/world-industries/automobile/ Ⅰ. New Words and Expressions 1. ample /mpl/adj. 充裕的 2. carriage /krid/ n. 客车 3. crude /krud/oil n. 原油 4. predecessor /predises/ n. 前身 5. substantial /sbstnl/ adj. 相当大的,可观的 6. margin /mａdin/ n. 差额 7. cylinder /silind/ n. 汽缸 Ⅱ. Technical Terms 1. steam engine 蒸汽机 2. short ranged,electric battery-driven automobiles 短程电瓶汽车 3. non-rechargeable electric batteries 一次性电瓶 4. combustion engine 内燃机 5. vertical cylinder 立式汽缸 6. gasoline-driven carburetor 燃气汽化器 7. four-wheeled automobile 四轮汽车 8. thing of the past 过去的事情 9. register higher growth rate 呈现更高的增长率 10. flourishing domestic automobile market 繁荣的国内汽车市场 11. total volume of auto units manufactured worldwide 世界汽车总产量 12. bulk production 大批生产 Exercises Ⅰ. Do the following statements agree with the information given in Text B? Trueif the statement agrees with the information Falseif the statement contradicts the information Not Givenif there is no information on this 1. A British engineer by the name of Nicolas J. Cugnot invented the first automobile in the late 18th century. 2. The firstly invented steam engine cars were fit for the road in spite of the fact that it took much time to start off. 3. Electric-battery-driven automobiles were the best option for travelling over longer distances thanks to the development of roads. 4. Invention of the electric starter in 1912 turned the process of starting automobiles faster and easier. 5. Ford adopted several effective measures to make cars accessible to the masses. 6. European cars gained momentum in the car industry ever since the invention of automobile. 7. The developing countries,such as India and Brazil,have been consistently registering higher growth rates every passing year for the high demand in their domestic markets. 8. The United States retains its leadership in the world auto industry now,followed by Japan by a small margin. Ⅱ. Extended questions 1. What measures do you think three U.S. auto giants will take to recover their market share worldwide? 2. What will the following paragraphs probably talk about? Unit 2 Focus Reading History of ENCAP (European New Car Assessment Program) Tentative Steps From the 1970s,a number of European governments had been working through the European Experimental Vehicles Committee (EEVC) on assessing various aspects of car secondary safety. By the early 1990s,this research had resulted in the development of full-scale crash-test procedures,for protection of car occupants in frontal and side impact,and a component-test procedure for assessing the protection of pedestrians hit by the fronts of cars. By 1994,proposals for the adoption in European legislation of the EEVC test proposals were being strongly resisted by the car industry. In June 1994,the UK Department of Transport considered the setup of an NCAP in the UK,which could later expand across Europe. The program would be more comprehensive and based on the test procedures developed by the EEVC. In July 1995,those interested in expanding the program to Europe met at the European Commission to discuss how this might be taken forward. From the beginning,the program was ambitious,more comprehensive and there was a determination to ensure that full advantage was taken to ensure that the testing and assessment was scientifically based. For the first phase of tests,seven super-mini sized cars were chosen and the manufacturers were asked to supply information about those cars.As to comparative testing,it was clear that the testing had to be carried out to a higher standard than was necessary for legislation. Because of this,a detailed test protocol was developed. In terms of the development of the Assessment Protocol,access to the latest research and personal contacts with most of the Worlds experts proved invaluable. A unique feature of the assessment procedure is related to the inclusion of information from an expert inspection carried out on each car. The prime purpose of the inspection is to extend the validity of the assessment to cover a wider range of car occupant sizes,seating positions and impact situations. In November of 1996,the Swedish National Road Administration (SNRA),the Federation Internationale de IAutomobile (FIA) and International Testing were the first organizations to join the program. This resulted in Euro NCAP being formed. Its inaugural meeting was held in December 1996. Very first results and the first 5-star car In February 1997,the first results were presented at a press conference. With the formation from Euro NCAP,results were presented for Adult Occupant Protection and Pedestrian Protection ratings. The release of these first results caused considerable media interest,which was fuelled by the strong negative response from the car manufacturers. On the same day,the car manufacturers heavily criticized Euro NCAP,its tests and its ratings. One of the many claims was that the assessment criteria were so severe that no car could achieve four stars,for occupant protection. In July 1997,the results from the second phase of tests were published and Euro NCAP was pleased to be able to announce that the Volvo S40 had become the first 4-star car for occupant protection. Gradually Euro NCAP expanded its membership,and more European governments,ADAC and Thatcham on behalf of British insurers joined in with their support for the organization. As new car models replaced those already tested,the improvements in their occupant star ratings could be clearly seen. Unfortunately,improvements were far slower for pedestrian protection. In 1999,operational control of Euro NCAP moved from the UK to a full time Secretariat based in Brussels.In June 2001,a further milestone was reached when the Renault Laguna became the first car to be awarded 5 stars for occupant protection. Since 2001,standards have risen so that it is more common to achieve this rating and increasingly manufacturers see five stars in adult occupant protection as the goal for all their new models. New Child Protection Rating On 27th November in 2003 at a launch event in Athens,Euro NCAP announced the introduction of a New Child Protection Rating. Surveys have shown that over 60% of child