经济学人:逐步加速 特斯拉将打入大众市场(上)

 　　Bussiness 商业

　　Tesla: Revving¹ up, a bit 特斯拉：逐步加速

　　The electric car manufacturer increases deliveries. 特斯拉公司扩大生产。

　　ELON MUSK², a Silicon³ Valley entrepreneur, has had two bits of good news recently about his various bets on new technology. 近日，硅谷企业家ELON MUSK投资的各种新技术中有两个好消息。

　　SpaceX, his privately-held launch company, last month became the first successfully to reuse a rocket to put a satellite into orbit. 他的私人火箭发射公司——太空探索技术公司（SpaceX）——上个月成为第一个成功利用回收火箭并将其再次发射的公司。

　　And this week Tesla, his electric-car manufacturer, at last hit its production targets. 而本周，他的电动汽车制造公司特斯拉（Tesla）在最后关头达到了其生产目标。

　　Some analysts⁴ doubted Tesla would meet its goals after a series of production difficulties. 鉴于一系列生产困难，一些分析师不认为特斯拉可以实现其目标。

　　But the carmaker said first-quarter deliveries were just over 25,000 vehicles, a record for the firm and a 69% increase over the same period in 2016. 但汽车制造商表示，第一季度交货量为2.5万辆，同比增长69%，创历史新高。

　　Some 13,450 were its sleek⁵ Model S saloons and about 11,550 were the firm's new SUV, the Model X. 其中约13，450辆是S型轿车，约11550辆是该公司的新SUV—X系列。

　　This puts Tesla on track to produce the 50,000 vehicles it has promised to make in the first half of this year. 这使得特斯拉公司有望生产5万辆车——这也是他们今年上半年的目标。

　　That is good progress. 这是一个好兆头。

　　But Tesla is going to have to crank production up by an awful lot more to make the 500,000 cars a year which Mr Musk wants to see pouring off the production line by 2018,  但特斯拉公司必须要提高产量，Musk先生期望在2018年完成50万辆的生产，这还远远不够，

　　let alone the 1m intended for just two years later. 他想要的是在2年后达到100万辆。

　　To reach those volumes, Tesla is counting on its forthcoming Model 3. 为了实现目标，特斯拉主打即将推出的3系车。

　　Priced at around $35,000, the new car will cost around half that of the other two models. 价格在35000美元左右，花费仅为其他两个系列的一半。

　　Due to begin production later this year, the Model 3 is supposed to take Tesla into the mass market,  随着年末3系列的投产，特斯拉公司将打入大众市场，

　　where it will face stiff competition from plug-in vehicles produced by existing mass manufacturers, including GM, Nissan and BMW. 与通用、尼桑和宝马三大老牌生产商展开激烈的竞争。

1 revving   

v.（使）加速( rev的现在分词 )；（数量、活动等）激增；（使发动机）快速旋转；（使）活跃起来

参考例句：

• The team are revving up for next week's game. 这个队伍对下周的比赛跃跃欲试。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Since the introduction of new techniques, the production has been revving up. 自从新技术的引进，产量一直都在增加。 来自互联网

2 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。

3 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

4 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

5 sleek   

adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢

参考例句：

• Women preferred sleek,shiny hair with little decoration.女士们更喜欢略加修饰的光滑闪亮型秀发。
• The horse's coat was sleek and glossy.这匹马全身润泽有光。