世界500强CEO访谈 第10期:通用里克瓦格纳 开发新型燃料汽车(1)

 　　Reporter: With the situation with layoffs¹ and the lack of profit... why would GM want to continue to pour money into a development project such as the Volt² (electric car) or any other advanced car, and will you continue to do that

　　记者：在很多工人面临下岗、公司面临低利润的困境下，为什么通用汽车还要继续投资诸如雪佛兰Volt (电车）或者是其他高级汽车的发展项目呢？你们将会继续这样做下去吗？

　　Wagoner: Taking your second question first. Yes, we certainly will continue it and the reason we’re doing it is because-certainly we have to make some adjustments given current weak market conditions—but we’re focused on the future and convinced that we’re in a period of change in the auto³ industry. Things like battery development and applying batteries to cars, as we’re planning on doing with the Volt, is important for the next 100 years of the auto industry.

　　瓦格纳：我首先回答第二个问题：是的，我们当然会继续做下去，这样做的原因是因为……当然，考虑到现如今疲软的市场 环境，我们会作适当的调整，但是我们这是着眼未来并且相信，我们现在正处于汽 车工业的一个改革阶段。我们现在正在对雪佛兰Volt所做的，包括电池的发展以及将电池应用到汽车上的事情，对于未来 100年的汽车工业的发展是很重要的。

　　Reporter: You say 100 years. Is it sooner than that Are you looking too far ahead maybe

　　记者：您说的是100年，不会比那早吗？100年距离现在会不会有些太远了？

　　Wagoner: Well, hopefully we’ll begin to build these in about two years, maybe a little more than two years. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we had about 100 years of an auto industry in which 98 percent of the energy to power the vehicles has come from oil. We’re really going to change that over the next time period. Very different I think from a paradigm⁴ we’ve all grown up with.

　　瓦格纳：希望我们可以在两年的时间内开始着手做这些事情，也可能会稍多于两年。我想说的是，我们的汽车工业已经有差不多100年的历史了，而其中98%的汽车能源都来自于石油。在接下来的这个时间段，我们真的想要改变这一局面，我想那将与我们所熟悉的模式有很大的区别。

　　Reporter: You are of course still making gasoline powered cars. Will they continue into the long-range future or is the era over

　　记者：你们现在仍然在制造以汽油为动力的汽车，这一现象会一直持续到将来还是在这个时代即将结束了呢？

　　Wagoner: Well, my crystal ball is not that clear, but I suspect for a long time we’ll continue to offer gasoline powered vehicles. If we want to move away from the heavy reliance on oil, we're going to have to begin to introduce these new technologies. You know the rate at which they grow—I mean, I hope they grow fast because I see the demand for oil growing quite strong because of the developments in placing like China and India —so I think it’s in all of our interests to promote the development of these industries. But I guess we’re going to have to see can we get them to market Can we get them to be cost efficient Can we meet the consumer expectations And if we can, I think they will grow pretty rapidly

　　瓦格纳：这个我不太确定，但是我猜我们在很长一段时间内仍会制造汽油动力的汽车，如果我们想摆脱对汽油的严重依赖的话，那我们就必须要开始引进那些先进的技术。您知道它们的增长速度是怎样的，我的意思是，我希望它们很快地增长因为我们看到了由于中国和印度等国家的发展，人们对于石油的需求急剧增长，所以我认为，促进这些产业的发展是对我们都有利的。但是我们必须要考虑，我们能够让它们上市吗？我们能够使它们物有所值吗？我们能够达到消费者的期望值吗？如果我们能做到的话，那我想这个产业就会发展得很快。

　　Reporter： If you’re a betting man—and you probably are - would you bet on hydrogen fuel cells; would you bet on electricity; would you bet on a plug-in hybrid⁵ What do you think

　　记者：如果您是一个喜欢打赌的人，可能您本身就是，那您是愿意将赌注压在氢燃料电池、电力或是插件程序上吗？ 您是怎样认为的呢？

　　Wagoner: Well, at this point we’re betting on all three because we think different technologies might work best in different conditions. Urban conditions, suburban⁶, whatever. And at this point our crystal balls aren’t clear enough to tell us for sure which technologies will work. And frankly⁷, a lot of the things we learn about creating electrically driven vehicles, driven by a battery, you also need to know that to apply to a fuel cell powered vehicle - a lot of the electronics. So a lot of the learning we，re doing really applies to all those kinds of vehicles. So we think today it’s a good use of our money to work hard on all three of those.

　　瓦格纳：嗯，现在我们同时倾向于这三个方向，因为我们认为不同的技术在不同的条件下可能会发挥到最好，不管是城市条件、郊区条件还是什么的。我们并不能明确地知道哪种技术将会发挥作用。坦率的说，关于制造电力动力的交通工具、电池动力的交通工具，我们已经有所了解，我们还需要了解那些以应用到燃料电池为动力的汽车上，所以我们现在正在学习的很多内容都可以应用到那些种类的交通工具上。因此，我认为现在投资这三类汽车都是值得的。

1 layoffs   

临时解雇( layoff的名词复数 )； 停工，停止活动

参考例句：

• Textile companies announced 2000 fresh layoffs last week. 各纺织公司上周宣布再次裁员两千人。
• Stock prices broke when the firm suddenly announced layoffs. 当公司突然宣布裁员时，股票价格便大跌

2 volt   

n.伏特，伏

参考例句：

• You may use 100 and 110 volt appliances in your room.您可以在房间使用100及110伏特的电器。
• The common service voltage of electric power in our country is 220/380 volt.我国普通供电电压为220/380伏。

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 paradigm   

n.例子，模范，词形变化表

参考例句：

• He had become the paradigm of the successful man. 他已经成为成功人士的典范。
• Moreover,the results of this research can be the new learning paradigm for digital design studios.除此之外，本研究的研究成果也可以为数位设计课程建立一个新的学习范例。

5 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

6 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

7 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。