PBS高端访谈:大众汽车深陷"排放门"

 　　JUDY WOODRUFF: The scandal, and the fallout, over Volkswagen's cheating of emissions¹ standards grew today. Just last week, the EPA alleged² there was deceitful software in half-a-million cars. Today, Volkswagen raised that number significantly and tried to restore customer trust.

　　Volkswagen revealed that as many as 11 million diesel³-powered cars worldwide could be affected⁴ by software that was designed to cheat on emissions tests. Most of those cars are thought to be in Europe, the automaker's primary market. The revelation caused Volkswagen stock to plummet⁶ for a second day. The company lost almost 19 percent of its stock value, or $17 billion, Monday. The price plunged⁷ another 20 percent during trading in Frankfurt today.

　　The CEO of Volkswagen America, Michael Horn, gave a frank apology last night at an event in Brooklyn.

　　MICHAEL HORN, CEO, Volkswagen America: So, let's be clear about this. Our company was dishonest. We have totally screwed up.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: A year-long investigation⁸ by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency uncovered the software. It switches on a car's emissions controls when a smog test is taking place. But the controls turn off again when the test is over, leaving cars emitting up to 40 times the legal pollution limits.

　　The software is installed in Volkswagen Jettas, Beetles⁹, Golfs and Passats and Audi A3s sold in the U.S. since 2008. The Justice Department has reportedly opened a criminal investigation of the automaker. Investigations¹⁰ are also being launched in France, Germany and South Korea.

　　For more, we turn to John Stoll. He is Detroit bureau and global automotive editor for The Wall Street Journal. He has been following developments in this story closely.

　　John Stoll, welcome.

　　You have been covering this story closely. And you have covered other auto⁵ industry problems. Where does this one rank?

　　JOHN STOLL, The Wall Street Journal: It's up there.

　　I mean, this is one, because of the volume of vehicles we're talking about and the sort of transatlantic implications — 11 million is not a small number when you talk about the U.S. car park. About 85 million vehicles are sold a year. So, yes, that's spread over several years of production, but that's a large sum of cars. And Volkswagen right now is the biggest automaker in the world, as of the first half of 2015, huge aspiration¹¹, and obviously, in Germany, they're a big employer.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Explain exactly what Volkswagen did to these cars to make them game this emissions test.

　　JOHN STOLL: Right.

　　From what we understand — and a lot of this was explained in the story that you had — is the software is known as sort of a masking device. It works when the compliance¹² testing is undergone, when that's ongoing¹³. The emissions information says what the test needs it to say, so that it passes regulatory tests.

　　And then in real-world condition, it emits far more of the harmful emissions such as NOx into the air than is legally allowed. And so it's pretty sophisticated software that can detect when it's being tested. And, you know, I'm sure there's going to be forensics of who exactly designed the software and authorized¹⁴ it and whether or not this is more widespread.

　　But, at the moment, the EPA has been pretty explicit¹⁵ on how this thing works.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, you raise the question. This was something that was deliberately¹⁶ done by someone. I mean, who had to know? How high up the company is it thought that this went?

　　JOHN STOLL: You know, I have talked to a lot of people about that. It's hard to believe that — well, I would say that in order to pull this off, the circle could be relatively¹⁷ tight.

　　You know, the pressure is high when it comes to meeting engineering standards. Diesel is a very important part of Volkswagen's play, not only in Europe, but in the United States. And they needed to get these cars back on the market about six or seven years ago in order to keep its momentum¹⁸ going.

　　In order to meet that objective, one could imagine that the circle would remain pretty tight and need-to-know basis. I have talked with executives who were at the company at the time who have since left, said they knew nothing about this and would imagine that this originated in Germany, but that's speculation¹⁹ at this point.

　　The interesting thing — and this is probably the silver lining²⁰ and the bright light at the end of the tunnel — is Volkswagen is committing to full transparency. And we learned last year in the GM ignition crisis what that really could mean, is a full, hundreds and hundreds pages of self-revelation, usually done by an outside law firm or investigator²¹, that will probably answer more of these questions, who knew what when, who authorized it and why. But that could be several weeks, if not months in coming.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, we're talking about potentially significant amount of damage to the environment. We said, what, 40 times the pollution level is what these cars were emitting.

　　JOHN STOLL: As much as that. That's right.

　　And this is a very harmful substance. And these are very harmful emissions. There's no doubt. And I think particularly the people who buy Volkswagen diesels²² — and this is generalizations²³ — but they are not only looking for a fuel economy bump, they're not only looking for a way to save fuel consumption and money. They are buying into the promise that they are reducing emissions, that these are safer for the environment, that the promise of — quote, unquote — “clean diesel emissions” is actually what they advertise it to be.

　　And that's what makes this so egregious²⁴, at least on the surface. A lot of people are saying, hey, this ranks up there with some of the most egregious corporate²⁵ scandals in recent history because of the length of time that the deception²⁶ went on. And they went up very far in terms of regulators of saying they didn't know it was going on. They didn't know why there was a disparity between real-world emissions and testing.

　　And then only about a month ago, within the last month, they have come clean on this issue.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: John Stoll, any evidence? What are people saying about whether this could have extended to other diesel manufacturers?

　　JOHN STOLL: Thus far, we haven't heard from everyone in the diesel market. But thus far, a lot of automakers have come out and said they have done their forensics. They have asked the questions of the people internally, the engineers that they need to, and they're pretty confident that they are not employing the same software.

　　I will give you a quick for instance. I called General Motors today. They have a lot of diesels on the market in Europe. And they wanted to popularize a smaller car diesel in the United States. They say they have already looked into this and they are 100 percent confident that what they have displayed to regulators is the truth is actually the truth.

　　So, I think we will see more of this roll on, but you better believe that there's a lot of automakers, regulators and outside researchers looking into that exact question. And I think this isn't the last of that story that we have heard, but maybe the worst case of it.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, it sounds like there's certainly more to be reported on here.

　　John Stoll with The Wall Street Journal, thank you.

1 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

2 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

3 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

6 plummet   

vi.(价格、水平等)骤然下跌；n.铅坠；重压物

参考例句：

• Mengniu and Yili have seen their shares plummet since the incident broke.自事件发生以来，蒙牛和伊利的股票大幅下跌。
• Even if rice prices were to plummet,other brakes on poverty alleviation remain.就算大米价格下跌，其它阻止导致贫困的因素仍然存在。

7 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

8 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

9 beetles   

n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them. 甲壳虫把粪粒埋起来，然后在里面产卵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This kind of beetles have hard shell. 这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

11 aspiration   

n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出

参考例句：

• Man's aspiration should be as lofty as the stars.人的志气应当象天上的星星那么高。
• Young Addison had a strong aspiration to be an inventor.年幼的爱迪生渴望成为一名发明家。

12 compliance   

n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从

参考例句：

• I was surprised by his compliance with these terms.我对他竟然依从了这些条件而感到吃惊。
• She gave up the idea in compliance with his desire.她顺从他的愿望而放弃自己的主意。

13 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

14 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

15 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

16 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

17 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

18 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

19 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

20 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

21 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

22 diesels   

柴油( diesel的名词复数 )； 柴油机机车（或船等）

参考例句：

• The diesels roared, the conductors jumped aboard, and off the train went. 内燃机发出轰鸣声，列车员跳上车厢，火车开走了。
• The diesels catch and roar, a welcome sound. 柴油机开动，发生了怒吼，这是令人鼓舞的声音。

23 generalizations   

一般化( generalization的名词复数 )； 普通化； 归纳； 概论

参考例句：

• But Pearlson cautions that the findings are simply generalizations. 但是波尔森提醒人们，这些发现是简单的综合资料。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 大脑与疾病
• They were of great service in correcting my jejune generalizations. 他们纠正了我不成熟的泛泛之论，帮了我大忙。

24 egregious   

adj.非常的，过分的

参考例句：

• When it comes to blatant lies,there are none more egregious than budget figures.谈到公众谎言，没有比预算数字更令人震惊的。
• What an egregious example was here!现摆着一个多么触目惊心的例子啊。

25 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

26 deception   

n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计

参考例句：

• He admitted conspiring to obtain property by deception.他承认曾与人合谋骗取财产。
• He was jailed for two years for fraud and deception.他因为诈骗和欺诈入狱服刑两年。