书城外语英语PARTY——时尚速递
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第5章 Fashion Topics时尚话题(5)

专家们称,护发素是完成“完美洗发”方式的关键,而使用护发素的多少同样取决于头发的长短。短发,2毫升;中等长度,4毫升;长发,6毫升。使用护发素的时候,应该用一把宽齿的梳子梳头,并且让护发素留在头发上57秒,然后再用36.7摄氏度的水冲洗。最后,用毛巾把轻拍头发把水吸走,并让头发自然风干。

LowEmissions Drive

As Europe sets stricter emissionsemission n.(光、热等的)散发, 发射, 喷射 standards, the Swedish truck and bus maker is a leader in producing cleanrunning vehicles.

When the city of Gothenburg in western Sweden adopted an ambitious program to cut greenhousegas emissions at the beginning of 2003, it turned to hometown Volvo AB for help. The company, whose Swedish branch now produces only buses, trucks, and construction equipmentconstruction equipment n.施工设备 - the car company was sold to Ford (F ) - offered 64 buses that run on natural gas. Volvo,s buses were among the few that met the city,s strict emissions standards - buses powered by ethanol, for instancefor instance adv.例如, did not.

About a third of Gothenburg,s 300 buses now run on alternative fuel, and that number will have to grow if the city is to meet new emissions standards set for 2008. “Given our requirements, we,ll probably be using more gas,” predicts Anders Roth, environment manager for the Gothenburg Traffic& Public Transport Authority.

While it,s no surprise that lowemission Volvo buses and trucks sell well in environmentally conscious Sweden, Volvo has found customers for its cleanrunning vehicles worldwide, even in countries that haven,t ratifiedratify vt.批准, 认可 the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. “Our customers are much more aware of this,” says Lars Martensson, environmental manager for Volvo Trucks. “They want to stay ahead of legislation.”

By improving the fuel efficiencyefficiency n.效率, 功效 of its ordinary diesel truck engines, Volvo has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 20% over the past 10 years. Martensson says the division is on target to reach a 25% reductionreduction n.减少, 缩影, 变形, 缩减量, 约简 by 2008. To get there, Volvo is hoping to raise the number of biodiesel truck sales from the current 5% of total truck sales. Biodiesel, which is made from vegetable oils, emits less carbon dioxide than regular dieseldiesel n.柴油机 fuel.

One drawback for vehicles running on such alternativealternative n.二中择一, 可供选择的办法, 事物 adj.选择性的, 二中择一的 fuels is a dearth of fueling stations. But Martensson see that as a smaller problem for trucks and buses. “Many of our customers have their own fueling stations. The problem isn,t as big as many believe,” he says. Still, Volvo has yet to launch a truck engine that runs on 100% recyclable methanebased biogas or liquid natural gas. Trucks with such engines would cost at least 10% more, and “that,s still too much,” says Martensson. “But the day is coming.”

Alternative fuels have made greater inroads with public buses, since in many cases taxpayers, money subsidizedsubsidize v.资助, 津贴 costs, and bus companies can set up their own fueling stations. Besides natural gas, Volvo is developing an engine that can run on fuel produced from socalled biomass - usually debris from pulp and paper manufacture - which can be mounted in Volvo,s standard truck and bus models. Peter Danielsson, environmental manager for Volvo Buses, says the company hopes to begin commercially commercially adv.商业上, 通商上marketing buses with the engines by 2010.

Besides alternative fuels, changes in bus design and improved engine efficiencyefficiency n.效率, 功效 are helping to cut emissions. Volvo spends about 200 million euros (240 million) a year on research and development to improve engine efficiency in its buses and trucks. “If you want to stay in business, you have to have more efficient fuel, and that means more efficient engines,” says Danielsson.

For bus operators, fuel is the secondgreatest cost after driver salaries. One simple environmental fix is to make buses longer, so that more passengers can be packed in, ultimatelyultimately adv.最后, 终于, 根本, 基本上 cutting down the number of buses on the roads and the level of emissions. The longer buses are used in a system known as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), in which the bigger, cleaner, more fuelefficient buses stop less often, move in dedicated bus lanes, and load at special bus stops designed like metro stations so that more people can board at once. Ticketing is in advance of boarding to further speed things up.

Latin American countries, especially, see the system as a good way to cut emissions and improve the efficiency of public transportation. Volvo has 90% of the BRT market in Latin America.

In January, Volvo won an order from officials in heavily polluted Santiago, Chile, for 1,779 BRT buses.

环保型汽车

随着全球能源和环境问题的恶化,目前人们越来越注重发展节能和环保型汽车,瑞典沃尔沃汽车生产商注重研发环保型汽车受到了人们的广泛关注。

在向福特出售了轿车制造部门之后,沃尔沃的汽车产品线中只剩下了卡车和大型客车。2003年,为了治理温室效应,位于瑞典西部哥德堡市颁布了新型汽车尾气排放法令,大多数汽车的燃料和废气排放被列入了不合格的行列,而使用天然气燃料的沃尔沃大客车则成为了少数几种合格的产品之一。

哥德堡市政府计划在2008年之前达成尾气排放治理计划,目前哥德堡市内多达300辆公共汽车中的三分之一已经采用天然气等无污染燃料,而随着时间的推移这个比例还会继续上升。市政府公共交通部门负责人罗斯先生表示:“不久之后我们也许将全部采用天然气作为燃料。”考虑到瑞典对于环境问题的热心,沃尔沃低排放量大型客车的成功似乎可以预见。

除了哥德堡市,世界各地大量汽车用户都将目光投向了沃尔沃出产的环保型汽车,甚至一些没有出台尾气治理或环境保护法令的国家也包括其中。对于这个问题,沃尔沃卡车环境部门经理作出如下解释:“环境治理问题早晚会成为制约汽车工业发展的桎梏,而选择沃尔沃的用户则提前意识到了这个问题,他们希望走在法律的前面”

通过提高传统卡车发动机的工作效率,沃尔沃生产的卡车二氧化碳排放量在过去10年中下降了20%。而公司表示,截止到2008年,这一数字将达到25%。目前沃尔沃正在生产一种生物燃料卡车,主要燃料来自于植物油,因此尾气二氧化碳排放量也更低,这种汽车占沃尔沃卡车总销量的5%,公司表示希望进一步扩大这个比例。

这种新型燃料汽车的成本比传统汽车仅仅高出不到10%,因此价格不会成为普及的制约因素。除了天然气和生物燃料卡车,沃尔沃正在研制一种代号为“生物垃圾”的燃料,主要成分来自造纸厂或者其他制造商的垃圾废料。据公司领导透露,安装有这种发动机的大型客车将会在2010年正式投入商业运作。

另一方面,目前欧洲大多公共汽车运营商都拥有自己的加油站,因此新型燃料的普及工作要比想像中简单得多。

除了在燃料上下功夫,沃尔沃也将目光投向了提高发动机效率。仅仅在每年发动机效率一项研究中,沃尔沃公司的投入就高达2亿欧元。提高发动机效率、降低燃料耗费、减少尾气排放量,从而达到良性循环——沃尔沃公司的理念一目了然。

同时,为了提高公共汽车的运营效率,沃尔沃专门设计了一种名为“快速公共传输”的大型客车,这种客车的长度比传统公共汽车要长,因此一次性运载的乘客也就更多,从而避免过多公共汽车所带来的大量尾气排放。目前沃尔沃这种“快速公共传输”概念客车在拉丁美洲国家的的市场占有率高达90%。2005年1月份,沃尔沃赢得了污染问题严重的智利首都圣地亚哥的公共汽车订单——数量多达1779辆的新型“快速公共传输”客车。