Business Channel 2007-08-18&08-20, 福特回收360万辆汽车

Scripts:

On a windy night in 2005, 74-year-old Dolly Mohlis woke up smelling smoke, weaken by arthritis¹, she sent her husband Earl to find the source while she called 911. Earl looked into the garage and couldn't believe what he saw. Dolly's 1996 Ford² F-150 truck was on fire in the garage attached to their home.

This is where you saw flames, er?

Well, it was more like, (right there), right down to... This hood³ was shut. The glass was in there yet. (right, right, yeah, yeah.)She was coming out here, right there. Right there is where she was coming out.

You saw the front of that pickup⁴ truck burning. That's what you saw.

You bet, yeah. She was burning.

Earl opened the garage door to try to get the truck out, but the wind approaching 50 miles an hour fanned the flames and they quickly enveloped⁵ the house. Fire Department in their rural east Iowa town couldn't get there quickly enough. Dolly , on the phone inside, was suddenly trapped.

It was burning so fast, the wind was blowing 50 miles an hour from the northwest. I said to Dolly , you gotta get out the house. She did, she came, she came around and then she never made it.

What caused the fire? Earl Mohlis now believes it began inside his wife's pickup truck under the hood in a tiny switch that was part of the cruise control mechanism⁶. After the fire, he learned Ford had been recalling cruise control switches in other vehicles for years. But he did not know that Ford's similar to his pickup truck were catching⁷ fire even when they were turned off and the engine was cold.

Two years ago, CNN began airing a series of investigative reports on Ford cars and trucks suddenly erupting in flames. "(screaming)My house is on fire, please!" Our reports exposed what turned out to be a tiny electrical switch in the cruise control system that could burst into flame even hours after the car was turned off. "Here's the part." Ford had been recalling the parts in some cars and trucks back in 1999. But as we reported two years ago, as many as 3.7 million Ford cars and trucks were still on the road with similar cruise control switches inside, none under the recall. Earlier this month, a dramatic announcement from Ford, every single car and truck it built with the switches are being recalled. 3.6 million vehicles on the road will need to have their cruise control wiring replaced or repaired.

Keeping them honest, we asked Ford for an interview about the recall. Instead, a spokesman told us by phone that Ford is voluntarily announcing this huge recall in part because Ford could not be confident about the long-term durability⁸ of the switches. He also says media reports like CNN's have created fear among Ford owners. And the spokesman said the newly recalled vehicles do not have a higher than normal fire incidence. CNN has also learned federal investigators⁹ were continuing to observe what one federal safety official confided¹⁰ were elevated levels of suspect fires in Ford cars and trucks that had not been recalled. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had documented more than 600 fires since the cruise control switch was first introduced in 1992. The safety official also says investigators with NHTSA were in discussions with Ford about safety concerns when Ford suddenly announced the massive recall last week. Ford has denied and continues to deny its cruise control switch started the fire that killed Earl Mohlis's wife of 34 years. But this spring, Ford settled Mohlis's wrongful death lawsuit¹¹. Neither Mohlis nor Ford released terms of the settlement. But the hog¹² farmer told the Des Moines register he still cries for his wife Dolly every day.

Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.

1 arthritis   

n.关节炎

参考例句：

• Rheumatoid arthritis has also been linked with the virus.风湿性关节炎也与这种病毒有关。
• He spent three months in the hospital with acute rheumatic arthritis.他患急性风湿性关节炎，在医院住了三个月。

2 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

3 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

4 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

5 enveloped   

v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was enveloped in a huge white towel. 她裹在一条白色大毛巾里。
• Smoke from the burning house enveloped the whole street. 燃烧着的房子冒出的浓烟笼罩了整条街。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

7 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

8 durability   

n.经久性，耐用性

参考例句：

• Nylons have the virtue of durability.尼龙丝袜有耐穿的优点。

9 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 confided   

v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等）

参考例句：

• She confided all her secrets to her best friend. 她向她最要好的朋友倾吐了自己所有的秘密。
• He confided to me that he had spent five years in prison. 他私下向我透露，他蹲过五年监狱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

12 hog   

n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占

参考例句：

• He is greedy like a hog.他像猪一样贪婪。
• Drivers who hog the road leave no room for other cars.那些占着路面的驾驶员一点余地都不留给其他车辆。