第二十篇ExploreroftheExtremeDeep（理工B）-孙老师课堂.doc

2014年全国职称英语等级考试试题及参考答案 ’ll Be Bach为新增文章） 理工A级：第三十四篇至第五十篇 孙老师特别提示： 此50篇阅读理解只为大家熟悉文章中文意思，万一考到好有准备，请大家一定不要做这50篇的练习，避免受到误导，练习务必以课上历年考试原卷为准。具体说明专业课临终关怀为大家讲解。 理工C级： Ford Abandons Electric Vehicles（理工C） The Ford motor company’s1 abandonment of electric cars effectively signals the end of the road for the technology, analysts say. General Motors2 and Honda3 ceased production of battery-powered cars in 1999, to focus on fuel cell4 and hybrid electric gasoline engines5, which are more attractive to the consumer. Ford has now announced it will do the same. Three years ago, the company introduced the Think City two-seater car and a golf cart called the THINK or Think Neighbor6. It hoped to sell 5,000 cars each year and 10,000 carts. But a lack of demand means only about 1,000 of the cars have been produced, and less than 1,700 carts have been sold so far in 2002. “The bottom line7 is we don’t believe that this is the future of environment transport for the mass market,” Tim Holmes of Ford Europe said on Friday. “We feel we have given electric our best shot8.” The Think City has a range of only about 53 miles and up to a six-hour battery recharge time. General Motors’ EVI electric vehicle also had a limited range, of about 100 miles. The very expensive batteries also mean electric cars cost much more than petrol-powered alternatives. An electric Toyota9 RAV4 EV vehicle costs over $42,000 in the US, compared with just $17,000 for the petrol version. Toyota and Nissan10 are now the only major auto manufacturers to produce electric vehicles. “There is a feeling that battery electric has been given its chance. Ford now has to move on with its hybrid program11, and that is what we will be judging them on,” Roger Higman, a senior transport campaigner at UK Friends of the Earth, told the Environment News Service. Hybrid cars introduced by Toyota and Honda in the past few years have sold well. Hybrid engines offer