【英语时差8,16】耗油卡车（上）

Many a bet has been made, and many a friendly, and not-so-friendly, argument has been waged over whether you get better gas mileage¹ in a pickup² truck with the tailgate up or down. Even those gurus of auto³ advice Click and Clack were thrown by it. The intuitive answer is that it is better to open the tailgate so the air can rush out the back, or use one of those tailgate nets which lets air flow through, supposedly cutting down drag. Well, as aerodynamics engineers have worked to streamline⁴ vehicles, they have certainly looked into the tailgate question. When they did drag tests on pickups, what they found out surprised even them. They discovered there was less drag with the tailgate closed!

1 mileage   

n.里程，英里数；好处，利润

参考例句：

• He doesn't think there's any mileage in that type of advertising.他认为做那种广告毫无效益。
• What mileage has your car done?你的汽车跑了多少英里？

2 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。

3 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。

4 streamline   

vt.使成流线型；使简化；使现代化

参考例句：

• We must streamline our methods.我们必须简化方法。
• Any liquid or gas passing it will have streamline flow.任何通过它的液体或气体将呈流线型的流动。