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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The Democrats1' proposed Green New Deal calls for America to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions2 from U.S. transportation, an ambitious goal that would require - among many other things - phasing out cars that run on gasoline. That may sound like a major shift. But many analysts4 say that transition is already underway. NPR's Camila Domonoske reports.
CAMILA DOMONOSKE, BYLINE5: If you're driving a car in America, odds6 are it runs on gasoline, which means it has an internal combustion7 engine. You put in fuel. Tons of tiny explosions move some pistons8, turn a crank shaft9. The car starts moving, and carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. But your next car might run off batteries instead. Sam Abuelsamid is an auto10 analyst3 with Navigant.
SAM ABUELSAMID: Probably in the mid-2020s timeframe it becomes comparable or cheaper to actually buy and operate an EV than an internal combustion vehicle.
DOMONOSKE: Some analysts say the rise of EVs - or electric vehicles - could take decades instead. After all, right now electric vehicles are a tiny percentage of cars. But many new electric vehicles are about to come to market. And analysts and auto executives agree a change is happening. It's not just activists11 talking. The internal combustion engine has some advantages, like fueling up.
BILL VISNIC: Five minutes - bang, you're back on your way.
DOMONOSKE: Bill Visnic is with the Society of Automotive Engineers.
VISNIC: Right now we don't have that ability to replicate12 that with electric vehicles.
DOMONOSKE: Plus, right now electric cars are more expensive up front. But electric vehicles are cheaper to operate. They're very low-maintenance. And those upfront costs are projected to go down. Government regulations are giving electric vehicles a boost, too, especially in Europe and China.
TOM MURPHY: And they are fun to drive.
DOMONOSKE: That's Tom Murphy, a managing editor at Ward's Auto, which ranks the world's best engines.
MURPHY: They're enjoyable. They're quiet. And there's loads of torque.
DOMONOSKE: Instant acceleration13. In short, the electric vehicle market is revving14 up dramatically. Even people who love the internal combustion engine see the writing on the wall, like John Woods, who owns a '72 Porsche.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR ENGINE REVVING)
DOMONOSKE: He says this is the sound of the past.
JOHN WOODS: It's the beginning of automotive, you know, engineering. But the electric car will be the future because you can get more power, more speed and use no emissions.
DOMONOSKE: Say that is the future - what happens to all the internal combustion engines already on the road? One possibility - they might get replaced quite quickly with electric vehicles. That's what environmental activists want for the sake of climate change.
And Dan Neil, the automotive columnist15 for The Wall Street Journal, argues people might choose to switch to electric vehicles even if their old car runs perfectly16 fine.
DAN NEIL: They're such better machines than the machines they're replacing.
DOMONOSKE: High gas prices would speed that up. And some European cities have proposed bans on internal combustion vehicles, which would also accelerate change but could be hard on low-income drivers. That's the fast option. Then there's the slow timeline - Abuelsamid, the auto analyst.
ABUELSAMID: You know, if every new vehicle sold were electric, you know, starting today, it would still take 20 to 25 years to replace the entire vehicle fleet with electric vehicles.
DOMONOSKE: If gas-powered vehicles stay on the road for their full lifespans, the transition would take much longer than the 10 years the Green New Deal calls for. Is that a problem?
MARY NICHOLS: We can't turn them all into planters or sculptures. So I think we're going to have to provide for them to continue to exist.
DOMONOSKE: Mary Nichols is the head of the California Air Resources Board. She's a powerful regulator who has influenced the rise of electric vehicles. She emphasizes modern cars are cleaner than they used to be. She's been fighting air pollution since 1971.
NICHOLS: In that time, the air emissions from internal combustion engines have been slashed17 by over 90 percent twice.
DOMONOSKE: They're more efficient, too, which helps with climate change. And there's one last possibility. Maybe the combustion engine has a very long life ahead of it in the hybrids18 that run off electricity or fossil fuels. Then pistons and crankshafts might exist well into an electric-dominated future. Camila Domonoske, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF ODDISEE'S "AFTER THOUGHTS")
1 democrats | |
n.民主主义者,民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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2 emissions | |
排放物( emission的名词复数 ); 散发物(尤指气体) | |
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3 analyst | |
n.分析家,化验员;心理分析学家 | |
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4 analysts | |
分析家,化验员( analyst的名词复数 ) | |
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5 byline | |
n.署名;v.署名 | |
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6 odds | |
n.让步,机率,可能性,比率;胜败优劣之别 | |
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7 combustion | |
n.燃烧;氧化;骚动 | |
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8 pistons | |
活塞( piston的名词复数 ) | |
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9 shaft | |
n.(工具的)柄,杆状物 | |
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10 auto | |
n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车 | |
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11 activists | |
n.(政治活动的)积极分子,活动家( activist的名词复数 ) | |
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12 replicate | |
v.折叠,复制,模写;n.同样的样品;adj.转折的 | |
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13 acceleration | |
n.加速,加速度 | |
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14 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 | |
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15 columnist | |
n.专栏作家 | |
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16 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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17 slashed | |
v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 );鞭打;割破;削减 | |
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18 hybrids | |
n.杂交生成的生物体( hybrid的名词复数 );杂交植物(或动物);杂种;(不同事物的)混合物 | |
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