听播客学英语 204 日产费加罗出售

 　　In the early 1990s, the Nissan car company in Japan built a small sports car called the Nissan Figaro. There is a picture of one on the website. It has a retro look. That means that it was designed to look old-fashioned – as if it had been built in the 1950’s. Some people love them. Other people hate them.

　　Recently the Nissan Figaro has become a cult¹ car in Britain. That means that Figaro owners think of themselves as a very special group of people, superior to ordinary folk who drive ordinary cars like the Ford² Focus or the Renault Megane. They look after their Figaros with great care, and probably polish them every Sunday. They belong to special clubs for people who own Figaros. There are even rumours³ that the famous guitarist Eric Clapton has a Nissan Figaro. Nissan built only 20,000 Figaros, and sold only a few of them in Britain. Recently, car dealers⁴ have started importing used Figaros from Japan to sell here. (Why from Japan? Because in Japan, people drive on the left , as we do in Britain.)

　　I am sure that you would like to have a Nissan Figaro, wouldn’t you? There was a story in the newspapers recently about a young man called Jack⁵ Neal. Jack wanted a Figaro. He found one on the internet auction⁶ site, e-Bay. It was pink, and he fell in love with it. So he clicked the button which said “Buy Now”, and the car was his. The next morning Jack told his parents what he had done. “I have bought a car”, he told them. They were surprised, because Jack is only three years old. Had he really bought a car? Then they received an e-mail from e-Bay to say that they now had to pay ?9,000. So it was definitely true. Jack’s father telephoned the company that was selling the car to explain what had happened. Fortunately, they saw the funny side, and agreed to re-advertise the car. Have you ever bought something by mistake, like young Jack Neal did? If so, send me an e-mail, and I will include your story in a future podcast.

1 cult   

n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜

参考例句：

• Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书，但有一定的崇拜者。
• The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。

2 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

3 rumours   

n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传

参考例句：

• The rumours were completely baseless. 那些谣传毫无根据。
• Rumours of job losses were later confirmed. 裁员的传言后来得到了证实。

4 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

5 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

6 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。