英闻天下——214 Beijing's New Emission Standard Begins Feb 1

 　　The capital will raise its automobile-emission² standards on Friday, making them the strictest in the nation. The Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau said the move is expected to reduce auto¹ pollution by 40 percent to better improve the hazardous³ air quality in Beijing.

 

　　While Beijing citizens hail the government's effort to lower pollution, they also worry that if the new standard will raise the costs of new vehicles.

 

　　Most purchasers won't have trouble since the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau has approved more than 1,300 models that meet the standard and some 4S shops started selling some approved vehicles last year.

 

　　Lei Haidong is sales manager at Zhen Haotai Shanghai Volkswagen 4s store in Beijing,

 

　　"Since last October, all models we sell are in line with the new standard including the new Lavida, Polo, Passat, Tiguan and everything. The prices aren't higher compared to the old model. And we don't foresee a supply shortage because we started the transition early."

 

　　High-end brands such as BMW have also finished the transition to new standard vehicles with no rise in prices. Cheng Xu is sales manager of the Hua Debao BMW dealership⁴

 

　　"The new standard will indeed set higher technological⁵ requirement for car manufacturers. But since BMW is an international brand and already has had the technologies in possession for quite some time, so the cost won't fall on customers' shoulders."

 

　　However, domestic car makers⁶ like Geely don't seem to be rushing to put updated vehicles in stores. Sales manager surnamed Zhang who declined to reveal his full name works for the Geely Zhong Qi Shuang Hui dealership.

 

　　"As of now, we don't sell vehicles observing the new standard and we haven't got any information on when we will have new models to sell."

 

　　Although automobiles⁷ meeting the stricter emission standards require a higher standard of fuel, car owners don't have to worry about higher gas prices for the next couple of months, because Beijing finished upgrading fuel supplies in gas stations with cleaner fuel almost a year ago.

 

　　According to an employee at the Yongding Gas Station in western Beijing, fuels sold in Beijing gas stations match the new emission standard cars well. There is number 92 gasoline and a higher quality type, number 95.

 

　　However, most Chinese cities don't have supplies of cleaner gasoline, so for situations when car owners have to run new standard vehicles outside Beijing on low quality fuels, Li Kunsheng, director at the Beijing Environmental Protections bureau, has some advice.

 

　　"We did tests. The filter won't break down after running on gasoline with a sulfur⁸ content 15 times higher than that of Beijing's for 30 thousand kilometers, but it needs the engine to run on cleaner fuels for some time to fully⁹ recover from the damage."

 

　　For CRI, I'm Wang Wei.

1 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。

2 emission   

n.发出物，散发物；发出，散发

参考例句：

• Rigorous measures will be taken to reduce the total pollutant emission.采取严格有力措施，降低污染物排放总量。
• Finally,the way to effectively control particulate emission is pointed out.最后，指出有效降低颗粒排放的方向。

3 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

4 dealership   

n.商品特许经销处

参考例句：

• The car dealership has a large inventory of used cars. 这家汽车经销商拥有数量庞大的二手车。
• A key to this effort is the experience in the dealership. 达到这个成果的关键是销售的体验。

5 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

6 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 automobiles   

n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• When automobiles become popular,the use of the horse and buggy passed away. 汽车普及后，就不再使用马和马车了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Automobiles speed in an endless stream along the boulevard. 宽阔的林荫道上，汽车川流不息。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 sulfur   

n.硫，硫磺（=sulphur）

参考例句：

• Sulfur emissions from steel mills become acid rain.炼钢厂排放出的硫形成了酸雨。
• Burning may produce sulfur oxides.燃烧可能会产生硫氧化物。

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。