A Country on Wheels

As cultural symbols go, the American car is quite young.

作為文化象征的美國汽車還相當年輕。

The Model T Ford was built at the Piquette Plant in Michigan a century ago, with the first

rolling off the assembly line on September 27, 1908.

福特T型汽車一個世紀前才在密歇根的皮科特工業園區生產出來，1908年9月2日，第一輛福特T

型車從流水線上下線。

Only eleven cars were produced the next month. But eventually Henry Ford would build

fifteen million of them.

第二個月也僅生產了11輛。但是亨利·福特最終建造了1500萬輛。

Modern America was born on the road, behind a wheel.

現代美國誕生於公路上，誕生於車輪下。

The car shaped some of the most lasting aspects of American cluture: the roadside diner,

the billboard, the motel, even the hamburger.

汽車塑造了美國文化中最永恒的幾個方面：路邊小餐館、廣告牌、汽車旅館，甚至漢堡。

For most of the last century, the car represented what it meant to be American-going

forward at high speed to find new worlds.

上世紀的大部分時間裏，汽車代表了成為美國人的意義--高速前進，尋找新的生活。

The road novel, the road movie, these are the most typical American ideas, born of abundant

petrol, cheap cars and a never-ending interstate highway system, the largest public works

project in history.

公路小說、公路電影，這些都是最典型的的美國觀念，誕生於豐富的汽油，廉價的汽車和永無止境

的州際高速公路系統，而公路系統則是歷史上最大型的公共工程項目。

In 1928, Herbert Hoover imagined an America with "a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage."

1928年，赫伯特·胡佛設想的美國是“每個鍋裏都有雞，每個車庫都有車”。

Since then, this society has moved onward, never looking back, as the car transformed America

from a farm-based society into an industrial power.

從那時起，美國社會一直在向前發展，從不回頭，因為汽車將美國從一個以農業為基礎的社會轉變成了工業強國。

The cars that drove the American Dream have helped to create a global ecological disaster. In America

the demand for oil has grown by 22 percent since 1990.

驅動美國夢的汽車也“幫助”制造了一場全球生態災難。自從1990年，美國對石油的需求增長了22%。

The problems of excessive energy consumption, climate change and population growth have been

described in a book by the American writer Thomas L. Friedman. He fears the worst, but hopes for the best.

美國作家托馬斯·L·費裏德曼在一本書中描述了能源過度消耗、氣候變化和人口增長等問題。

他對此做最壞的打算，卻抱最大的希望。

Friedman points out that the green economy is a chance to keep American strength.

費裏德曼之處綠色經濟是保持美國實力的機會。

"The ability to design, build and export green technologies for producing clean water, clean

air and healthy and abundant food is going to be the currency of power in the new century."

“在新世紀，設計、建造和出口綠色技術以生產幹凈的水、空氣以及健康、豐富的食物的能力將

成為國家實力。”

2018年浙江卷C

A Country on Wheels【車輪上的國家】