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第一篇FordAbandonsElectricVehiclesTheFordmotorcompany’sabandonmentofelectriccarseffectivelysignalstheendoftheroadforthetechnology，analystssay．GeneralMotors。andHonda’ceasedproductionofbattery．poweredcarsin1999,tofocusonfuelcellandhybridelectricgasolineengines,whicharemoreattractivetotheconsumer．Fordhasnowannounceditwilldothesame．Threeyearsago．thecompanyintroducedtheThinkCitytwo—seatercarandagolfcartcalledtheTHINK,orThinkNeighbor．Ithopedtosell5，000carseachyearand10，000carts．Butalackofdemandmeansonlyaboutl，000ofthecarshavebeenproduced，andlessthan1。700cartshavebeensoldsofarin2002．“Thebottomlineiswedon’tbelievethatthisisthefutureofenvironmenttransportforthemassmarket．”TimHolmesofFordEuropesaidonFriday．“Wefeelwehavegivenelectricourbestshot”TheThinkCityhasarangeofonlyabout53milesanduptoasix-hourbatteryrechargetime．GeneralMotors’EVIelectricvehiclealsohadalimitedrange。ofabout100miles．Theveryexpensivebatteriesalsomeanelectriccarscostmuchmorethanpetrol-poweredalternatives．AnelectricToyot~RAV4EVvehiclecostsover$42，000intheUS,comparedwithjust$17，000forthepetrolversion．ToyotaandNissan…arenowtheonlymajorautomanufacturerstoproduceelectricvehicles．“Thereisafeelingthatbatteryelectrichasbeengivenitschance．Fordnowhastomoveonwithitshybridprogram“，andthatiswhatwewillbejudgingthemon，”RogerHigman，aseniortransportcampaigneratUKFriendsoftheEarth，toldtheEnvironmentNewsService．HybridcarsintroducedbyToyotaandHondainthepastfewyearshavesoldwell．HybridenginesOfferGreatermileagethanpetrol—onlyengines,andthebatteriesrechargethemselves.Fordsaysitthinkssuchvehicleswillhelpitmeetplannednewguidelines“onvehicleemissions”intheU.S.However,itisnotyetclearexactlywhatthoseguidelineswillpermit．InJune，GeneralMotorsandDaimlerChryslerwonacourtinjunction，delayingbytwoyearsCalifornianlegislationrequiringcar—makerstooffer100，000zero-emissionandotherlow—emissionvehiclesinthestateby2003．Carmanufacturershopethelegislationwillberewrittentoallowformorelow--emission，ratherthanzero—emission，vehicles．1．WhathavetheFordmotorcompany．GeneralMotor’sandHondadoneconcerningelectriccars?A)Theyhavestartedtoproduceelectriccars．B)TheyhavedoneextensiveresearchonelectricCarsCTheyhavegivenupproducingelectriccars．D)TheyhaveproducedthousandsofelectricCars2．AccordingtoTimHolmesofFordEurope，battery-poweredcarsA)willbethemaintransportationvehiclesinthefutureB)willnotbethemaintransportationvehiclesinthefuture．C)willbegoodtotheenvironmentinthefutureD)willreplacepetrol—poweredvehiclesinthefuture．3.Whichautomanufacturersarestillproducingelectricvehicles?A)ToyotaandNissanB)GeneralMotor’sandHondaC)FordandToyotaD)HondaandToyota4．Accordingtotheeighthparagraph，hybridcarsA)offerfewermileagethanpetroldrivencarsB)runfasterthanpetroldrivencarsC)runmoremilesthanpetroldrivencarsD)offermorebatteriesthanpetroldrivencars5．Whichofthefollowingistrueaboutthehopeofcarmanufacturersaccordingtothelastparagraph?A)Low-emissioncarsshouldbebanned．B)Onlyzero-emissioncarsareallowedtorunonmotorways．C)Thelegislationwillencouragecarmakerstoproducemoreelectriccars．D)Thelegislationwillallowmore10w．emissiontobeproduced「答案解析」1.C第一段第一个句子告诉我们福特汽车公司放弃了电动汽车，第二段说通用汽车公司和本田汽车公司停止生产电动汽车。2.B第四段第一个句子是TimHolmes对电动汽车未来的评价，他认为未来的交通运输的大众市场不可能是电动汽车。3.A答案的依据是第六段最后一句。4.C答案的依据是倒数第二段第二句。5.D答案的依据是文章的最后一句：thelegislationwillbewrittentoallowforlow-emission,ratherthanzero-emission,vehicles.第一篇福特放弃电动汽车分析人士评论，福特汽车公司放弃电动汽年的举动有力地证明了这种技术是行不通的。通用汽车公司和日本本田汽车公司早于1999年就停止了电池动力汽车的生产，转而开发燃料电池和电池内燃混合机，这对消费者更有吸引力。福特宣布它现在也要做同样的尝试。3年前，福特推出名为ThinkCity的双排座汽车和Think或ThinkNeighbor系列高尔夫车，希望能销售5000辆汽车、10000高尔夫车。但由于需求不足，截至2002年仅生产了大约1000辆汽车，售出的高尔夫车还不足1700辆。“关键是我们认为电动车不能代表大众市场环保交通的未来”，福特欧洲区的TimHolmes于周五说，“我们感觉自己对电力车已做了昀好的尝试。”ThinkCity系列的运行里程仅53英里，电池充电需6小时。通用公司的EVI电力车也仅能运行100英里。昂贵的电池也意味着电动汽车的造价比汽油动力车高出许多。日本丰田产的RAV4EV系列电动车在美国的售价达42000美元，而同系列的汽油动力车仅售17000美元。丰田和日产汽车公司是现在仅存的两大电动车制造商。“应该说电池动力车已经获得了充分的机会。福特现已转向电池内燃混合机开发项目，我们应据此评价他们的发展。”RogerHigman，英国FriendsoftheEarth组织的一位高级交通运动代表这样对《环保新闻》评论说。日本本田和丰田公司推出的混合机汽车在过去几年取得了良好的销售业绩。混合动力车比汽油机车运行里程更长，电池又可自行充电。福特表示，他们认为这样的机车有助于达到美国新制订的车辆排放规定。不过，这些规定究竟允许怎样的排放物现在还不十分清楚。六月份通用和戴姆勒克莱斯勒公司赢得一项法庭裁决，可推迟两年执行一项加州法令，该法令要求汽车生产商在2003年前向该州提供10万辆零排放和其他低排放汽车。制造商希望修改此法令，允许他们生产更多低排放而不是零排放的汽车。第二篇WorldCrudeOilProductionMayPeakaDecadeEarlierThanSomePredictInafindingthatmayspeedeffortstoconserveoil,scientistsinKuwaitpredictthatworldconventionalcrudeoilproductionwillpeakin2014.Thispredictionisalmostadecadeearlierthansomeotherpredictions．TheirstudyisinACS’Energy＆Fuels1．IbrahimNashawiandcolleaguespointoutthatrapidgrowthinglobaloilconsumptionhassparkedagrowinginterestinpredictingpeakoil．Peakoilisthepointwhereoilproductionreachesamaximumandthendeclines.Scientistshavedevelopedseveralmodelstoforecastthispoint,andsomeputthedateat2020orlater.OneofthemostfamousforecastmodelsiscalledtheHubbertmodel2.Itassumesthatglobaloilproductionwillfollowabellshapedcurve3.Arelatedconceptisthat4ofPeakOil.ThetermPealOilindicatesthemomentinwhichworldwideproductionWillpeak,afterwardstostartonirreversibledecline．TheHubbertmodelaccuratelypredictedthatoilproductionwouldpeakintheUnitedStatesin1