2020年经济学人 氢能--再看一眼玩具箱(1)

Conventional wisdom holds that battery-powered cars are the future of motoring.

传统观点认为，电池驱动汽车是汽车驾驶的未来。

But Hyundai, a big South Korean vehicle-maker¹, is not so sure.

但是韩国大型汽车制造商现代汽车却不这么认为。

Over the past few months it has been running a worldwide public-relations campaign

在过去几个月，该公司一直在进行全球性的公关活动，

extolling² the virtues³ of an alternative source of electrical power—fuel cells.

吹捧一种可替代电源——燃料电池的优点。

Instead of storing and then releasing electricity gathered from the mains in the way that a battery does,

电池是储存并释放从电源收集的电力，和电池不同，

a fuel cell generates current from a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen comes from the air.

燃料电池通过氢和氧之间的化学反应产生电流。氧气来自空气。

The hydrogen, suitably compressed, is stored in a tank on board the vehicle, and is replenished⁴ at a filling station, like petrol.

经过适当压缩的氢气被储存在车辆上的油箱内，并在加油站加气，就像加汽油一样。

Unlike a battery, a fuel cell does create exhaust. But that exhaust is simply the reaction product of hydrogen and oxygen, namely water.

和电池不用，燃料电池确实会产生废气。但这种废气只是氢和氧的反应产物，即水。

Hyundai's campaign features members of BTS, a mop-topped South Korean boyband,

现代汽车的广告代言人是BTS的成员，BTS是韩国男团

staring dreamily into the middle distance amid backdrops of natural beauty. As a reminder⁵ of fuel cells' environmental advantages, water is everywhere.

成员们在自然美景的背景下，凝视着远方。为了暗示燃料电池的环境优势，水无处不自。

It falls as snow. It roils⁶ in oceans. It floats gently through forests as mist.

它像雪一样落下。它在海洋中激荡。它像薄雾般在森林中缓缓飘过。

The marketing⁷ may be silly, but Hyundai is serious. The firm already sells battery-powered vehicles,

这种市场营销可能有些愚蠢，但韩国现代是认真的。该公司已经开始销售电动汽车，

but it is hedging its low-carbon bets by developing hydrogen ones as well.

但它还通过开发氢汽车来避免其低碳投资的损失。

The advertising⁸ campaign is designed to sell the Nexo, the firm's second fuel-cell car, which was launched last year.

该广告活动是为了销售Nexo，该公司在去年推出的第二款燃料电池汽车。

And Hyundai is not the only company keeping its options open in this way.

现代并不是唯一一家以这种方式公开其方案的公司。

On June 5th Toyota, maker of the Prius, the world's best selling battery-hybrid vehicle,

6月5日，全球最畅销混合电动汽车，普锐斯的制造商丰田宣布

announced a joint⁹ venture with several Chinese carmakers to develop fuel-cell technology.

与几家中国汽车制造商成立合资企业，开发燃料电池技术。

An updated version of Toyota's Mirai, another hydrogen-powered car, is due out later this year.

丰田旗下另一款氢汽车Mirai的升级版将于今年晚些时候推出。

Hydrogen is enjoying a purple patch, then, and not just among carmakers.

氢气不仅只在汽车制造商中享有盛誉。

It is being touted¹⁰ as a means of propelling buses and lorries, and even ships and aircraft.

它被吹捧为推动公共汽车和卡车，甚至船舶和飞机的一种手段。

There is talk of it replacing natural gas as a source of heat, of it being used to store the surplus output of solar and wind power stations,

有说它可以替代天然气成为一种热源，可以被用来储存太阳能和风力发电站的剩余产出，

of it being employed as a chemical feedstock and even of it replacing coke as a means of extracting metallic¹¹ iron from its ore.

可以被用作一种化工原料，甚至可以替代焦炭成为从矿石中提取金属铁的一种方式。

If all this came to pass, then hydrogen would become a dominating factor in human life in the way that hydrocarbons¹² currently are.

如果这一切都实现了，氢就会像现在的碳氢化合物一样成为人类生活中的一个主导因素。

It would, in other words, usher¹³ in a hydrogen economy.

换句话说，它将会开辟一个氢能经济。

1 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

2 extolling   

v.赞美( extoll的现在分词 )；赞颂，赞扬，赞美( extol的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He never stops extolling the virtues of the free market. 他不停地颂扬自由市场的种种好处。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They kept extolling my managerial skills. 他们不停地赞美我的管理技能。 来自辞典例句

3 virtues   

美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处

参考例句：

• Doctors often extol the virtues of eating less fat. 医生常常宣扬少吃脂肪的好处。
• She delivered a homily on the virtues of family life. 她进行了一场家庭生活美德方面的说教。

4 replenished   

补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 )； 重新装满

参考例句：

• She replenished her wardrobe. 她添置了衣服。
• She has replenished a leather [fur] coat recently. 她最近添置了一件皮袄。

5 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

6 roils   

v.搅混（液体）( roil的第三人称单数 )；使烦恼；使不安；使生气

参考例句：

• The sea roils again, waves surging high, crash! 海又动荡，波浪跳起来，轰！ 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译
• The national turmoil generally roils a country's financial markets. 国家的混乱广泛的搅乱一国的财金市场。 来自互联网

7 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。

8 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

9 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

10 touted   

v.兜售( tout的过去式和过去分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• She's being touted as the next leader of the party. 她被吹捧为该党的下一任领导人。
• People said that he touted for his mother and sister. 据说，他给母亲和姐姐拉生意。 来自辞典例句

11 metallic   

adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的

参考例句：

• A sharp metallic note coming from the outside frightened me.外面传来尖锐铿锵的声音吓了我一跳。
• He picked up a metallic ring last night.昨夜他捡了一个金属戒指。

12 hydrocarbons   

n.碳氢化合物，烃( hydrocarbon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Hydrocarbons (HC), like carbon monoxide, represent unburned and wasted fuel. 碳氢化合物(HC)像一氧化碳一样，为未燃尽的和被浪费掉的燃料。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• With this restricted frequency range it is not applicable to hydrocarbons. 这个较紧缩的频率范围不适用于烃类。 来自辞典例句

13 usher   

n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员

参考例句：

• The usher seated us in the front row.引座员让我们在前排就座。
• They were quickly ushered away.他们被迅速领开。