With rising oil prices inflating the cost of almost everything, people are looking for other ways to power vehicles, and even for alternatives to vehicles.
油价的上涨带动了成本的上扬，人们期待著其它能源能够替代汽车燃油，或者是代替汽车的其它交通工具。
Ten or 20 years from now, the car you drive or the bus you ride may be powered by something other than gasoline.
10年或者20年之后，人们驾驶的车辆，或者搭乘的巴士，可能不再使用汽油。
The soaring price of petroleum is adding new urgency to efforts to build vehicles that run on cheaper, cleaner fuel.
飙升的油价加重了制造使用廉价和清洁燃油车辆的紧迫性。
Hybrids are one step in that direction. For example, the Toyota Prius runs on gasoline with help from an electric motor.
混合动力车是向这个方向迈进的一步。例如，丰田汽车公司的普锐斯汽车，除汽油动力外，还配置了一台电力马达。
Ron Smith is a Toyota salesman in Los Angeles, where the Prius is especially popular. "We get two or three a day, and they are usually spoken for before they come in," said Smith. "And as soon as they come in, we have salesmen fighting for who is going to sell it to who. That is a good position to be in."
普锐斯车在洛杉矶非常风行，丰田公司在当地的推销员罗恩·史密斯说：“我们每天运来两、三辆普锐斯轿车，通常这些车还没有到，就已被人定走。新车一到，推销员就争抢著要把它们卖给自己的客户。这是一个销售热点。”
Smith says the Prius has become a status symbol for people who want to show support for the environment. More than one million have been sold since 1997. But experts say the hybrid is just an interim step on the way to vehicles that use no petroleum-based fuel at all.
史密斯说，普锐斯车已经成为人们支持环保的一种象征。从1997年到现在，已经售出了一百多万辆。但是专家们说，混合动力车只是一个过渡，最终的目标是生产出完全不使用石油燃料的汽车。
General Motors is hoping that the Chevrolet Volt, powered mostly by electricity, will someday boost sales for its company. G.M. plans to put the Volt on the market in 2010, or as soon as an affordable lithium-ion battery can be developed.
通用汽车公司希望，以电力为主要动力的雪佛兰伏特车，终有一天会促进公司的销售。通用计划2010年将伏特车推向市场，或者，在大众买得起的锂离子电池研发成功后，立即上市。
Some of that research is taking place at Argonne National Laboratory, near Chicago, where Don Hillebrand directs the Center for Transportation Research.
有些研究工作在芝加哥附近的阿贡国家研究室进行。负责那里交通研究中心的唐·希勒布兰德说：
"This will have the effect of driving the cost of gasoline down, because the demand will go down," said Don Hillebrand.
“这将使汽油价格下降，因为对汽油的需求降低了。”
Cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells are another option. In Japan, Honda has begun the first commercial production of a hydrogen fuel-cell car, the FCX Clarity. Todd Mittleman of American Honda explains how it works.
氢燃料箱电池车是另一种选择。日本本田汽车公司已经推出了第一辆氢燃料箱电池车。本田公司在美国的负责人米特尔曼说：
"It is a car that stores hydrogen on board, and, mixing the hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen in the fuel cell stack, creates electricity," said Mittleman. "So, in essence, it is an electric car."
“这种汽车可以将氢储存在车上，然后将氢和大气中的氧气在电池箱中混合，产生电力。因此，这实际上是一种电力车。”
There are very few places for drivers to refuel a hydrogen car, because there is no infrastructure yet for distributing hydrogen. But Mittleman says hydrogen cars are worth the wait. "It is zero emissions, there is no carbon," he said. "And hydrogen is the most plentiful element in the universe."
驾驶氢燃料车的难题是，能够加氢的地方不多，因为目前还没有输送氢的基础设施。但是米特尔曼说，氢燃料车值得等待。他说：“它的废气排放量是零，不排放碳，而且氢是宇宙中含量最丰富的物质。”
Honda recently leased its first five hydrogen cars to celebrities in Los Angeles, and plans to put 200 more on the roads over three years.
本田最近把五辆氢燃料车租给了洛杉矶的名人，并计划在三年内再推出200辆。
If new kinds of engines are one solution, new fuels are another.
如果新式引擎是解决问题的途径之一，那么，新型燃料就是另外一个途径。
Biofuels like corn-based ethanol show promise. But corn farmers have been diverting their crops from food sales to ethanol production, and the price of corn-based food has spiked.
从玉米提炼的乙醇就很有前途。可是种植玉米的农民不再把玉米作为粮食出售，而是提供给乙醇生产，这导致使用玉米的食品价格飞涨。
So scientists are looking for other sources of ethanol. One is a grass called sorghum. Bill Rooney runs the sorghum project at Texas A&M University. "If we are talking about a sugar platform, one that is very similar to sugar cane, we can use sweet sorghums to do that in the very near future," said Rooney.
因此，科学家们开始寻找其它原料制造乙醇，其中之一就是高粱。美国德克萨斯州农工大学高粱项目负责人比尔·鲁尼说： “如果谈到从糖提炼燃料这个问题，有一种植物和甘蔗非常类似，它就是甜高粱。我们很快就可以利用甜高粱提炼燃料了。”
And then there is algae. Its oil can be used for fuel. Algae can also help eliminate greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, says David Baltensperger, who heads Texas A&M's Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. "We can pump excess CO2 from manufacturing processes or whatever into the ponds, and the algae converts it because it needs it for photosynthesizing," said Baltensperger.
另外还有水藻，它的油质可以用做燃料。德州农工大学土壤及农作物学系主任巴尔汀伯格说，水藻还可以消除温室排放的废气，包括二氧化碳。他说：“我们可以将生产过程中产生的二氧化碳抽到水塘里，水藻可以把它转化，因为水藻需要二氧化碳进行光合作用。”
And there are other ideas.
Indonesian researcher Dibyo Pranomo is a supporter of a fast-growing weed called jatropha. The seed is poisonous for humans. But it can be blended with gasoline or diesel fuel to make biofuel. Indonesia plans to have 10 million hectares of jatropha plantations by 2009. And Air New Zealand will test a jet fuel made from jatropha later this year.
Of course, the cheapest alternative to gasoline may be to avoid burning fuel at all. Chuck Wilsker leads the Telework Coalition, a nonprofit organization in Washington. It supports people who use technology - like computers and telephones - to work from someplace other than the office.
当然，最省钱的替代方法就是根本不用油。查克·维尔斯克是华盛顿一家非营利组织“远程上班联盟”的负责人。这个组织提倡人们利用电脑、电话等技术设备，在家上班，而不必到办公室去。
Wilsker has an office on Capitol Hill, but he conducts almost all of his business at his home 40 kilometers away. He says some 30 million Americans telecommute at least part-time, and that the number could reach 50 million within the next few years.
维尔斯克本人在国会山有一个办公室，但是他几乎在40公里以外的家中处理所有业务。他说，大约三千万美国人至少有一部分时间是远程上班。他说，这个数字在未来几年内还会增加到五千万。
According to Wilsker, telework is an international movement.
维尔斯克说，远程上班是一个国际潮流。
"I have had calls from Israel, from people who were putting together telework groups," said Chuck Wilsker. "I had e-mails from Brazil, have had calls from France, have had calls from Finland - people around the world who are actually taking a look."
他说：“我曾经接到来自以色列的电话，那里的人们也在推动远程上班。我也收到过来自巴西的电子邮件，以及从法国和芬兰打来的电话。世界各处的人们实际上已经注意到了这个问题。”
So the ultimate solution to the high cost of fuel may be a hybrid of new ways to power vehicles and innovative approaches to conserving fuel.
所以，最终解决高油价的方法可能是混合动力车，以及节油新途径。 |