2011年理工类职称英语阅读理解及必考词汇预测集锦.doc

2011年理工类职称英语考试阅读理解 福特放弃电动汽车 分析人士评论，福特汽车公司放弃电动汽车的举动有力地证明了这种技术是行不通的。 通用汽车和日本本田公司早于1999 年就停止了电池动力汽车的生产，转而开发燃料电池和电池内燃混合机，这对消费者更吸引力。福特宣布它现在也要做同样的尝试。 3年前，福特推出名为Think City 的双排座汽车和Think 或Think Neighbor 系列高尔夫车。但由于需求不足，截至2002年仅生产了1 000 辆汽车，售出1 700辆高尔夫车。 “关键是我们认为电动车不能代表大众市场环保交通的未来”，福特欧洲区的Tim Holmes 于周五说，“我们感觉自己对电力车的两倍多。”日本丰田产的RAV4EV 系列电动车在美国的售价达42 000 美元，而同一系列的汽油动力车仅售17 000 美元。 丰田和日产汽车公司是现在仅存的两在电动车制造商。 “应该说电池动力车已经获得了充分的机会。福特现已转向电池内燃混合机开发项目，我们应据此评价他们的发展。”Roger Higman, 英国Friends of the Eath组织的一位高级交通运动代表这样对《环保新闻》评论说。 日本本田和丰田公司推出的混合机汽车在过去几年取得了良好的销售业绩。混合动力车比汽油机车运行里程更长，电池又可自行充电。福特表示，他们认为这样的机车有助于达到美国新制订的车辆排放规定。 不过这些规定究竟允许怎样的排放现在还不十分清楚。六月份通用和戴姆勒克莱斯勒公司赢得一项法庭裁决，可推迟两年执行一项加州法令，该法令要求汽车生产商在2003 年前向该州提供10万辆零排放和其他低排放汽车。制造商希望修改此法令，允许他们生产现多低排放而不是零排放的汽车。Ford Abandons Electric Vehicles The Ford motor company’s abandonment of electric cars effectively signals the end of the road for the technology, analysts say. General Motors and Honda ceased production of battery-powered cars in 1999, to focus on fuel cell and hybrid electric gasoline engines, which are more attractive to the consumer. Ford has now announced it will do the same. Three years ago, the company introduced the Think City two-seater car and a golf cart called the THINK, or Think neighbor. It hoped to sell 5,000 cars each year and 10,000 carts. But a lack of demand means only about 1,000 of the cars have been produced, and less than 1,700 carts have been sold so far in 2002. “The bottom line is we don’t believe that this is the future of environment transport for the mass market,” Tim Holmes of Ford Europe said on Friday. “We feel we have given electric our best shot.” The Think City has a range of only about 53 miles and up to a six-hour battery recharge time General Motor’s EVI electric vehicle also had a limited range, of about 100 miles. The very expensive batteries also mean electric cars cost much more than petrol-powered alternatives. An electric Toyota RAV4 EV vehicle costs over $42,000 in the US, compared with just $17,000 for