汽车专业英语_课件第1章.ppt

　　France too had joined the motoring scenario by 1890 when two Frenchmen Panhard and Levassor began producing vehicles powered by Daimler engine, and Daimler himself, possessed by the automobile spirit, went on adding new features to his engine. He built the first V-Twin engine with a glowing platinum tube to explode the cylinder gas－the very earliest form of sparking plug. 　　For many years after the introduction of automobiles, three kinds of power sources were in common use: steam engines, gasoline or petrol engines, and electric motors. In 1900, over 2,300 automobiles were registered in New York, Boston, Massachusetts, and Chicago. Of these, 1,170 were steam cars, 800 were electric cars, and only 400 were gasoline cars. 　　In ten years from the invention of the petrol engine, the motorcar had evolved itself into amazing designs and shapes. By 1898, there were 50 automobile-manufacturing companies in the United States, a number that rose to 241 by 1908. In that year, Henry Ford revolutionized the manufacture of automobiles with his assembly-line style of production and brought out the Model T, a car that was inexpensive, versatile, and easy to maintain. The introduction of the Model T transformed the automobile from a plaything of the rich to an item that even people of modest income could afford; by the late 1920s the car was commonplace in modern industrial nations. 　　Automobile manufacturers in the 1930s and 1940s refined and improved on the principles of Ford and other pioneers. Cars were generally large, and many were still extremely expensive and luxurious; many of the most collectible cars date from this time. 　　　　The increased affluence of the United States after World War Ⅱ led to the development of large,while most companies in Europe made smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. Since the mid-1970s, the rising cost of fuel has increased the demand for these smaller cars, many of which have been produced in Japan as well as in Europe and the United States.