VOA标准英语2014--Chinese Electric Bus Company Charges into US 中国电动公共汽车公司进入美国市场

 

Chinese Electric Bus Company Charges into US 中国电动公共汽车公司进入美国市场

LOS ANGELES — In the heart of southern California, home of packed freeways and major smog problems, help may be on the way from an unexpected source - China. The Chinese company BYD is trying to make an impact while overcoming new obstacles.

Outside the BYD U.S. headquarters in the heart of Los Angeles, Auto¹ Marketing² Manager Lifang Yan agilely³ moved a 12-meter-long BYD electric-powered bus.

“Zero emissions⁴, zero pollution, lower fuel costs, and lower maintenance costs," she said.

BYD, which is short for “Build You Dreams”, is the first Chinese company to manufacture cars in the United States.

Its battery-powered buses should be a dream come true for a city with constant traffic jams and serious air pollution like Los Angeles.  And so far, the company has three small orders from southern California transit⁵ agencies.

But now,  it needs to convince buyers to make larger orders.

The Los Angeles County Transit Authority uses 2,200 propane-powered buses to transport 1.4 million people every day.  Yet, it has also decided⁶ to invest in a small number of electric buses.

“Our goal is to have a cleaner environment. Our goal is to have a quieter environment," said Richard Hunter, the transit authority's head of bus procurement⁷. "Our goal is to be very safe and have a pleasant passenger experience. These goals facilitate our investment into electric buses.”

However, Hunter said the initial order was only for five buses, with extensive testing over the next six to nine months.

The Federal Department of Transportation is also currently testing the performance of BYD’s electric buses to see if they meet U.S. standards.

Testing is not the only hurdle⁸ the company faces.

Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris lobbied BYD to build its factory in his town to bring jobs to the area.

But in October, a worker’s rights group reported the company for violating minimum wage standards - leading to a fine.  An investigation⁹ later proved the accusation¹⁰ false and the fine was revoked¹¹.  The company did pay a small fine for paying some its workers from Mainland China in Chinese currency.

And Mayor Parris came to its defense¹² “You’re mixing two countries. You’re not just mixing two companies and I wasn’t really aware of that.  You know, I was kind of expecting them to just be an American company with a Chinese name, you know.  But that’s not how it works.  But we were able to take care of it very quickly.  You know, it turned out that it wasn’t really a problem and what adjustments needed to be made we made very quickly."

The company said it would add up to 100 local workers this year as it looks to expand.

1 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。

2 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

3 agilely   

adv.敏捷地

参考例句：

• She would have steered agilely up the ladders and left the snakes alone. 她会灵活地顺着梯子爬上去，远远地躲开这些卑鄙龌龊的人。 来自辞典例句
• Consequently, with flexible decision making enterprise can avoid loss agilely. 这样就使得决策更具灵活性，能更好的避免损失。 来自互联网

4 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。

5 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 procurement   

n.采购；获得

参考例句：

• He is in charge of the procurement of materials.他负责物资的采购。
• More and more,human food procurement came to have a dominant effect on their evolution.人类获取食物愈来愈显著地影响到人类的进化。

8 hurdle   

n.跳栏，栏架；障碍，困难；vi.进行跨栏赛

参考例句：

• The weather will be the biggest hurdle so I have to be ready.天气将会是最大的障碍，所以我必须要作好准备。
• She clocked 11.6 seconds for the 80 metre hurdle.八十米跳栏赛跑她跑了十一秒六。

9 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。

10 accusation   

n.控告，指责，谴责

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。

11 revoked   

adj.[法]取消的v.撤销，取消，废除( revoke的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It may be revoked if the check is later dishonoured. 以后如支票被拒绝支付，结算可以撤销。 来自辞典例句
• A will is revoked expressly. 遗嘱可以通过明示推翻。 来自辞典例句

12 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。