Lesson 8 Our Love Affair with Cars
The automobile, marking 100 years as a major focal part of American life, takes its share of criticism. But it also has played a leading role in shaping modern life with its many amenities.1
By George F. Will
It has changed how the landscape is experienced and how cities are shaped. In it uncounted millions of marriages have been proposed and relationships consummated.2From courtship to crime to consumption, from the American economy to the American spirit, almost nothing would be as it is were it not for the handiest thing that ever happened for the hot pursuit of happiness.3So let us praise the automobile, born, sort of 4, 100 years ago.
The auto industry's centennial is being celebrated because in 1896 the Duryea brothers of Springfield, Mass.5, sold 13 cars. Critics, called “carmudgeons, ”who are legion and mostly liberals, ask, “What's to celebrate? ”6
Yes, cars emit exhaust, and 1899 produced America's first recorded traffic fatality, the first of—so far—2.8 million deaths from traffic-related injuries. But horses were lethal, and stifle your nostalgia for those suffocating summers when windows were sealed, but noses were not, against billowing dust of finely ground manure produced by horses7such as those that deposited 60,000 gallons of urine on New York's streets every day.
The mass production of automobiles on moving assembly lines, emulating the disassembly of cattle by meatpacking companies8, increased productivity and wages, enabling workers to buy what they made. To facilitate purchases, automobile companies developed “installment buying, ”and credit unions flourished facilitating it.9This destigmatized indebtedness, which government embraced with gusto, and increased Americans'reluctance to defer gratifications.10
Automobile and oil companies pioneered franchising for dealers of their products11. Credit cards were developed by oil companies to make credit portable. The democratized possession of machines capable of inflicting personal injuries and property damage enormously stimulated the insurance industry.12Supermarkets prospered because car owners could shop once a week. The automobile created vast wealth by increasing the value of land now accessible to people who worked in, but preferred not to live in cities.13
Today, when most commutes are not from suburb to city but from one suburb to another, cars are blamed for suburbs, which are blamed for urban decline and desecration of the countryside.14 Granted15, suburbs sometimes are named for what their developers destroyed (“Forest View, ”“Rolling Acres”16).
The “getaway car”made criminals mobile and gave us movie car chases.17But liberals blame the automobile for myriad crimes, including Wal-Marts, “the mallification of America”and the breakdown of “community.”18Actually, automobiles were conquerors of rural loneliness, especially that of women, when farm families lived an average of five miles from market, six miles from school, 14 miles from a hospital.
Automobiles were indispensable for the establishment in the 1950s of the teen-age nation-within-the-nation.19Before James Dean totaled his Porsche and himself at age 24, he was the archetypical teen-ager, a rebel without a cause but not without a car.20Automobiles solved what Frederick Lewis Allen called “the difficulty of finding a suitable locale for misconduct21.”Hitherto, young swains had been confined to porch swings, with the girls' parents and siblings underfoot.22 Now they could drive away and, more to the point, park.
GM's “ladder of consumption”—Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Cadillac—gave America an ersatz class structure, but one easy to climb.23Sure, '50s cars—from their protuberant, not to say nubile, front bumpers to their tail fins24—looked, as a wit said, “like chorus girls coming and fighter planes going.”And perhaps the “planned obsolescence”25of annual model changes was not entirely, as Detroit insisted, “healthy dissatisfaction.”Perhaps the television program “My mother the Car”indicated that the tendency to anthropomorphize cars had gone a tad far.26
Who cares. Forget the vulgarities, celebrate the virtues of automobility. An open road produces an open society. The automobile has been an emancipating device, celebrated in our literature, from“The Great Gatsby”to “On the Road.”Were Huck to light out for the territories today, he would go in a Ford Explorer.27
“Mason City. To get there you follow Highway 58, going northeast out of the city, and it is a good highway and new.”So begins “All the King's Men28.”In the land of the automobile, every man's a king.
From Pacific Stars and Stripes, July 2, 1996
I. New Words
automobility [ˌɔːtəumɔˈbiliti] n. the driving or use of automobiles
billow [ˈbiləu] v. literary to rise and roll in waves
centennial [senˈteniəl] n．百年纪念
defer [diˈfəː] v. to delay something until a later date
emancipate [iˈmænsipeit] v. to free from bondage, oppression, or restraint;to liberate
emulate [ˈemjuleit] v．仿效
facilitate [fəˈsiliteit] v. to make easy or easier
gratification [ˌgrætifiˈkeiʃən] n. feeling satisfied and pleased
handy [ˈhændi] a. useful and simple to use
indispensable [ˌindisˈpensəbl] a．必不可少的
inflict [inˈflikt] v. to make someone suffer something unpleasant
legion [ˈliːdʒən] a. numerous
liberal [ˈlibərəl] n. a person who supports or allows gradual political or social changes
Mason City 梅森城
misconduct [misˈkɔndʌkt] n. impropriety
nostalgia [nəˈstældʒə] n． 怀旧；怀昔
stifle [ˈstaifl] v. to stop someone from breathing
suffocate [ˈsʌfəkeit] v．使窒息
II. Background Information
汽车文化
现代世界，没有一个国家没有汽车，但是没有一个国家形成像美国那样的汽车文化。
美国人的一生与汽车密切关联。孩子从小就在汽车相伴下成长，车里行、车里玩，短途上学乘车，长途旅游也坐车。车在他们的生活中无处不有，无处不在。长大工作后，美国人也整天开着汽车上下班，去商场购货，去运动场观看球赛，去朋友家参加聚会。
对于一个美国人而言最兴奋的时刻可能就是拥有一辆自己的汽车。带上自己心爱的朋友，坐进驾驶室，系好安全带，放上一段最爱听的音乐，然后穿过市区，驶入被称为“自由大道”的高速公路。风驰电掣，尽情飞奔，那是一种无比兴奋、无比得意的感觉。年轻人会欣喜发狂，往往把音响的音量调得很高，身体舞动，摇头晃脑。
美国许多爱车者喜欢自己清洗和修理汽车。一般周末家务分工是女内男外：女方在屋内忙于清扫、烹调，女孩守在妈妈身旁跟着学干家务。男方在屋外干庭院活（yard work）、修剪草坪、清洗检修汽车，男孩跟在爸爸的身边充当助手。
对于受实利主义（materialism）价值观支配的美国人来说，汽车是地位的象征（status symbol），是财富和成功的炫耀（display of wealth and success）。汽车的型号、牌子和新旧程度往往标志着一个人的社会地位和富裕程度。富人们多半开的是豪华轿车和名牌轿车，如劳斯莱斯（Royce Rolls）、卡迪拉克（Cadillac）、宝马（BMW）、梅塞德斯-奔驰（Mercedes-Benz）。中产阶级通常开的是价值一、两万美元美国造或日本造的新车，如雪佛兰（Chevrolet）、庞蒂亚克（Pontiac）、本田（Honda）。开着布满锈斑和伤痕的破旧车的一般是穷人、大学生。
从事商务、医疗、法律业务工作的专业人员十分注重车的档次，为不失身份，他们随着自己经济地位的变化，不断更新自己的汽车。
汽车对于美国人而言是福也是祸，既为他们带来自由和方便，也给他们造成麻烦和灾祸。
美国汽车消耗的油量占全国用油总量的63%，美国一年“汽车排放污染”（motor vehicle emissions）造成3万人死亡，“过度污染”（excess pollution）所造成疾病的医疗费用高达84亿美元，车祸（car accidents）直接引起的死亡人数也很惊人。据统计，每年死于汽车轮下的人数占死亡总数的2%,1991年是41,508人，2006年为42,636人。
III. Notes to the Text
1. But it also has played a leading role in shaping modern life with its many amenities.—但是，汽车也提供了许多方便，在塑造现代社会生活方面起了主导作用。（amenity—something such as a piece of equipment, shop or park that makes it easier to live somewhere）
2. In it uncounted millions of marriages have been proposed and relationships consummated． 在汽车里，无数对男女进行求婚，彼此关系得以结合。（①propose marriages—to ask someone to marry you; ②relationship—a situation in which two people spend time together or live together and have romantic or sexual feelings for each other; ③consummate—to make a marriage or a relationship complete by having sex)
3. ...almost nothing would be as it is were it not for the handiest thing that ever happened for the hot pursuit of happiness. —……汽车是人们热衷追求幸福的最简便的工具，如果没有它，几乎一切都不会像现在这样。（①in hot pursuit—following someone quickly and closely because you want to catch them; ②Pay attention to the inverted structure indicating subjunctive mood in the underlined part of the sentence.）
4. sort of —informal somewhat; about
5. the Duryea brothers of Springfield, Mass. —马萨诸塞州斯普林菲尔德镇杜里埃兄弟
6. Critics, called “carmudgeons, ”who are legion and mostly liberals, ask, “What's to celebrate? ”—被称做“讨厌汽车者”的批评者数量众多，多数是自由主义者，他们问道：“有什么可庆祝的？”[carmudgeon—a nonce word（临时造的词）coined from “car+curmudgeon (a bad tempered person)”]
7. But horses were lethal, and stifle your nostalgia for those suffocating summers when windows were sealed, but noses were not, against billowing dust of finely ground manure produced by horses...—但骑马会丧命的，你不会怀念那些令人窒息的夏日：在那些日子里，大风吹来一阵又一阵充满细碎马粪的灰尘，窗子可以紧闭挡住，可鼻孔却要呼吸，不能封住。（①finely—into very small or very thin pieces; ②ground—being broken up into powder or very small pieces）
8. The mass production of automobiles on moving assembly lines, emulating the disassembly of cattle by meatpacking companies—移动的装配线上汽车的批量生产是模仿肉类加工公司肢解肉牛的办法（meatpacking—the preparation of dead animals so that they can be sold as meat）
9. . . . automobile companies developed “installment buying, ”and credit unions flourished facilitating it. —汽车公司推出了“分期付款购物”，信用合作社的兴旺为购车提供了方便。（①installment buying—buying something by a series of small regular payments; ②credit union—a cooperative association that makes loans to its members at low rates of interest）
10. This destigmatized indebtedness, which government embraced with gusto, and increased Americans' reluctance to defer gratifications.—这使得借款不足为耻，政府对此又热切支持，美国人便更加不愿意推迟享受。（①destigmatize—to reduce or eliminate the feeling of shame; ②indebtedness—owing money; ③with gusto—with a lot of eagerness and energy）
11. ...pioneered franchising for dealers of their products—……首先为他们产品的经销者们推出了特许权销售（franchise—to give or sell permission to sell a company's goods or services）12. The democratized possession of machines capable of inflicting personal injuries and property damage enormously stimulated the insurance industry.—大众拥有了这种能够造成人身伤害和财产损失的机器，这极大地刺激了保险行业的发展。（democratized—popular, owned by the public）
13. The automobile created vast wealth by increasing the value of land now accessible to people who worked in, but preferred not to live in cities.—汽车使土地增值，创造了大量的财富，因为那些在城市工作而不喜欢在城市居住的人现在可以到郊区购地居住。（accessible—easy to obtain or use）
14. Today, when most commutes are not from suburb to city but from one suburb to another, cars are blamed for suburbs, which are blamed for urban decline and desecration of the countryside.—今天，大多数的上班路线不是从郊区到城市，而是从一个郊区到另一个郊区，所以郊区因为城市衰落和乡村环境恶化而受到指责，而汽车也因此受到批评。（①commute—the journey to work every day; ②desecration—the damage of something holy）
15. granted—的确（It is used when you think what someone said is true.）
16. Forest View, Rolling Acres—森林风景线，绵延起伏的原野（acres —informal a large amount of space）
17. The “getaway car”made criminals mobile and gave us movie car chases.—“逃窜汽车”使得罪犯具有机动性，为我们提供了电影上的汽车追逐场面。（①getaway car—a car used by criminals to escape after a crime; ②movie car chases—referring to police cars chasing criminal cars in the movies）
18. But liberals blame the automobile for myriad crimes, including Wal-Marts, “the mallification of America”and the breakdown of “community.”—但是，自由主义者认为汽车造成各种各样的问题：沃尔玛连锁零售公司的出现、“美国商城化”和“社区”的破裂。（①myriad—literary too many to count, numerous; ②mallification of America—the act of covering America with malls）
19. Automobiles were indispensable for the establishment in the 1950s of the teen-age nation-within-the-nation.—汽车对50年代青少年国中之国的形成起了不可缺少的作用。（the nation-within-the-nation—In the 1950's the fast cultural change in America, combined with rising prosperity, brought about a greater separation of values between parents and teenagers than had been seen in the past. With the money came more freedom because teens were given cars or could buy cheap old ones. Separated from their parents more than in times past, teens could develop peer-supported values and habits. The author refers to this kind of culture as a“nation-within-a-nation.”）
20. Before James Dean totaled his Porsche and himself at age 24, he was the archetypical teen-ager, a rebel without a cause but not without a car. —詹姆斯·迪安在24岁毁坏了他的保时捷汽车并且结束了自己的生命之前，他曾经是个非常典型的青少年，一个没有事业但不能没有汽车的反叛者。[①James Dean—詹姆斯·迪安（1931—1955）早逝的好莱坞电影明星，曾是美国等地一些青年的偶像；②Porsche—保时捷，德国汽车；③total—informal to damage a car so badly that it can't be repaired any longer; ④archetypical—the most typical example having all the most important qualities; ⑤a rebel without a cause—（因理想幻灭、沮丧、缺乏安全感等原因导致乖戾行为的）青年叛逆者（源自20世纪50年代一部美国影片片名）]
21. the difficulty of finding a suitable locale for misconduct—难以找到一个进行不轨行为的合适地点（locale—the place where something happens or where the action takes place）
22. Hitherto, young swains had been confined to porch swings, with the girls'parents and siblings underfoot. —到那时为止，年轻的情郎只能与姑娘在阳台上跳旋转舞，因为阳台下有女孩的父母和兄弟姐妹。（①hitherto—up to this time; ②swain—poetic a young man who is from the country and loves a girl. It has a humorous effect here. ③sibling—formal a brother or sister）
23. GM's “ladder of consumption”—Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Cadillac—gave America an ersatz class structure, but one easy to climb. —通用汽车公司的“消费阶梯”——雪佛兰、庞迪克、奥兹莫比尔、别克、凯迪拉克——为美国塑造了一个人为的但容易攀登的阶层结构。[①GM—通用汽车公司（General Motors）; ②Pontiac—庞迪克，美国汽车，也是该车的产地，该市位于美国密歇根州东南部，是汽车生产中心；③Oldsmobile—奥兹莫比尔汽车。奥尔兹（Ransom Eli Olds）（1864—1950），美国发明家、汽车制造商，设计奥尔兹汽车，首创流水线装配法；④Buick—别克，美国汽车，也是生产该车的公司名，美国企业家David Dunbar（1854—1929）1902年创立该公司；⑤ersatz—artificial and not as good as the real thing]
24. from their protuberant, not to say nubile, front bumpers to their tail fins—从它们那突出的、更不用说是招人眼目的前侧保险杠到尾翼（①protuberant—curving outwards from a surface;②nubile—humorous young and sexually attractive）
25. planned obsolescence—计划性报废[built-in obsolescence（内在陈旧性）, the practice of making something in such a way that it will soon become unfashionable or impossible to use] 26. ...the tendency to anthropomorphize cars had gone a tad far.—……将汽车人性化的趋势有些过分。（①anthropomorphize—to make something have the same feelings and qualities as human beings; ②tad—informal a small amount, a little）
27. The automobile has been an emancipating device, celebrated in our literature, from “The Great Gatsby”to “On the Road.”Were Huck to light out for the territories today, he would go in a Ford Explorer. —汽车是一种给人提供自由的工具，在文学作品中常被提到，从《了不起的盖茨比》到《在路上》都是这样。如果哈克在今天逃往边疆，他会乘坐“福特探险者”去那儿。[①emancipating—liberating; ②celebrated—famous, talked about a great deal; ③The Great Gatsby—《了不起的盖茨比》（a famous American novel by F.Scott Fitzergerald, published in 1925）; ④On the Road: 《在路上》，是美国“垮掉的一代”主要代表作家杰克·凯鲁亚克的作品；⑤Huck—哈克（a character in Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn）;⑥light out—informal to run away;⑦Ford Explorer—a mid-size SUV]
28. All the King's Men—《国王班底》（影片展现的是一个关于人性、权力、腐败、爱情和背叛的故事，源自罗伯特·佩恩·沃伦的小说。）
IV. Language Features
拼缀词
本文中“carmudgeon”一词是由“car”和“curmudgeon”（a bad tempered or mean person）剪裁复合而成的拼缀词。在现代英语中，这类拼缀词日趋增多。由于拼缀法（blending）既可使文字活泼，又可节约用词，它在新闻英语中十分常用。
例1. Robodocs and Mousecalls [robodoc—robot + doctor（机器医生，这里指远程运用电脑行医）; mousecall是由mouse + call复合而成的词，意思是运用鼠标（电脑）出诊]
例2. Holidazed? It's not the happiest time of the year for every one.（holidazed—holiday + dazed节日忙得头脑发昏）
拼缀词大致可分为以下四类：
1．前词首部+ 后词尾部，例如：
botel（boat + hotel）水上旅馆
taikonaut（taikong+astronaut）（中国）太空人，宇航员
medicide（medical + suicide）医助安乐死
digirati（digital + literati）电脑联网通
guestimate（guess + estimate）约略估计
corporcrat（corporation + bureaucrat）公司官僚主义者
2．前词全部+ 后词尾部，例如：
jazzotheque（jazz + discotheque）爵士音乐夜总会
screenager（screen + teenager）屏幕青少年（从小就看电视、玩电脑的青少年）
eyelyzer (eye + analyzer) 眼部测醉器
workfare（work + welfare）工作福利制
filmdom（film + kingdom）电影王国
newsgram（news + program）新闻节目
3．前词首部+ 后词全部，例如：
exerhead（exercise + head）运动狂
medicare（medical + care）医疗照顾
telescript（television + script）电视广播稿
ecothug（ecology + thug）破坏生态的恶棍
e-journal（electronic + journal）电子刊物
t-can（trash + can）垃圾箱
4．前词首部+ 后词首部，例如：
Interpol（international + police）国际警察
telex（teletype + exchange）用户直通电报
elint（electronic + intelligence）以电子侦察手段获取情报
comsat（communication + satellite）通讯卫星
memocon（memorandum + conversation）谈话记录
sitcom（situation comedy）情景喜剧
V. Analysis of Content
1. About the role of automobiles,___is not mentioned in the text.2. According to the article, America's first recorded traffic fatality happened in___.
A. courtship
B. crime
C. consumption
D. jazz
A. 1899
B. 1896
C. 1900
D. 1895
3. The mass production of automobiles___.
A. was like the disassembly of cattle by meatpacking companies
B. decreased productivity
C. reduced wages
D. enabled workers to travel around the world
4.___is/are not connected with automobiles.
A. Franchising and credit cards
B. The insurance company
C. Supermarkets
D.The decreasing of land value in the suburbs
5. Liberals blame the automobile for___.
A.family breakup
B. America's poverty
C. rural loneliness
D. mallification of America and community breakdown
VI. Questions on the Article
1. Why is the auto industry's centennial being celebrated?
2. What does the author think of horses?
3. What was the influence of “installment buying”?
4. Why are cars blamed for urban decline?
5. What does “the difficulty of finding a suitable locale for misconduct”mean?
6. Describe the appearance of the '50s cars.
7. What does “planned obsolescence”mean?
8. Are automobiles famous in literature?
VII. Topics for Discussion
1. Is rapid popularization of cars a blessing or a curse?
2. Should our country popularize cars?