豆知识 2010-01-10&01-16 福特同步—让汽车更人性化

 At a stoplight, have you looked around your fellow drivers? If so, you’ve seen them doing two things: bobbing their head to the music or talking on a cell phone. It’s what we do in our cars. The problem is that we have these awesome¹ devices but they don’t work well with our cars. We spend too much time trying to get everything to work together. It’s not our fault. The devices have evolved, but our cars have been slowed to catch up. 

 

Now, Ford² and Microsoft have teamed up to solve this problem with the technology called SYNC. It gives you control of your phone and mp3 player using your voice, which means you don’t need to constantly fiddle³ with your devices while you drive.

 

To see how it works, meet Derek. He doesn’t tell many people, but he keeps playlists of Hair Bands from the 80s on the mp3 player. Derek’s work keeps him in the car for a few hours a day, and he knows the drill. Every time he gets in, he has to connect the devices and get everything ready for the ride. But even when they’re connected, he constantly has to dial new numbers and select songs. It’s a pain, but he is used to it. Recently he decided⁴ that it was time for a new car and learned about SYNC. It sounded like a perfect way to have the latest and greatest without spending much money. It wasn’t until he went to the dealership⁵ and tested it out that he fell in love and drove a car home that day. 

 

Derek got started with music. He connected his mp3 player to the USB jag on his car’s stereo. And with a simple push of a button could control his mp3 player with his voice. He could navigate⁶ by song, artist, album and even playlist using simple voice commands, like this, “play playlist Hair Bands 1987”. SYNC even understands Spanish and French-Canadian. Now he can change music while keeping his hands on the wheel and his eyes on the road.

 

Soon the phone connection was the object of his affection. By pairing his phone with SYNC using bluetooth, he never had to touch his phone to use it. The connection was automatic every time he entered the car. Cars get automatically transferred to the car’s audio system. 

 

When someone called Derek when he was driving, all it took was a touch of a button in front and answer immediately, and even have text messages read to him over the car’s speakers. Derek could navigate his phonebook, and make a call by saying “call John Smith”. For him, it means driving with control, control of his music, his conversations and his vehicle. 

 

If you are at a stoplight and happen to see Derek, he’s not talking to himself. He is telling SYNC to play the 1987 Hair Bands playlist just one more time.

 

SYNC works with most bluetooth-enabled devices and mp3 players. It’s optional on most Ford cars, crossovers, trucks and SUVs.

1 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

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 fiddle   

n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动

参考例句：

• She plays the fiddle well.她小提琴拉得好。
• Don't fiddle with the typewriter.不要摆弄那架打字机了。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 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。

6 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。