1、Unit 4 Cars and Driving 东北大学大学英语Cars and Driving UNIT 4 Reading 3 3 Topic Preview Pre-reading Questions Text C Cars and Driving UNIT 4 Topic Preview the first car in the world Beetle concept car Model T Ford Match the pictures with their names.Cars and Driving UNIT 4 Pre-reading Questions 1.What is
2、the most prominent effect of the automobile on city life?2.What factors have made the automobile so central in modern life?Cars and Driving UNIT 4 Text C Text Understanding the organization of the text Comprehension Questions 3 3 Cars and Driving UNIT 4 Text C The History of the Automobile Starting
3、in the late 1700s,European engineers began tinkering with motor-powered vehicles.Steam,combustion,and electrical motors had all been attempted by the mid 1800s.By the 1900s,it was uncertain which type of engine would power the automobile.At first,the electric car was the most popular,but at the time
4、 a battery did not exist that would allow a car to move with much speed or over a long distance.Even though some of the earlier speed records were set by electric cars,they did not stay in production past the first decade of the twentieth century.The steam-driven automobile lasted into 1920s.However
5、,the price of steam-powered engines,either to build or maintain was much greater than that of gas-powered engines.Not only was the price a problem,but the risk of a boiler explosion also kept the steam engine from becoming popular.The combustion engine continually beat out the competition,and early
6、American automobile pioneers like Ransom E.Olds and Henry Ford built reliable combustion engines,rejecting the ideas of steam or electrical power from the start.Cars and Driving UNIT 4 Automotive production on a commercial scale started in France in 1890.Commercial production in the United States be
7、gan in the early 1900s and was equal to that of Europes.In those days,the European industry consisted of small independent firms that would turn out a few cars by means of precise engineering and hands-on engineering.The American automobile plants were assembly line operations,which meant using part
8、s made by independent suppliers and putting them together at the plant.In the early 1900s,the United States had about 2,000 firms producing one or more cars.By 1920 the number of firms had decreased to about 100 and by 1929 to 44.In 1976 the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association had only 11 member
9、s.The same situation occurred in Europe and Japan.Cars and Driving UNIT 4 The first automobile produced for the masses in the United States was the three-horsepower,curved-dash Oldsmobile;425 of them were sold in 1901 and 5,000 in 1904.This model is still prized by collectors.The firm prospered,and
10、it was replicated by others;from 1904 to 1908,241 automobile-manufacturing firms went into business in the United States.One of these was the Ford Motor Company which was established in June 1903 and sold its first car the following month,on July 23.The company produced 1,700 cars during its first f
11、ull year of business.Henry Ford produced the Model T to be an economical car for the average American.By 1920 Ford sold over a million cars.Cars and Driving UNIT 4 At the beginning of the century the automobile entered the transportation market as a toy for the rich.However,it became increasingly po
12、pular among the general population because it gave people the freedom to travel when they wanted to and where they wanted.As a result,in North America and Europe the automobile became cheaper and more accessible to the middle class.This was facilitated by Henry Ford who did two important things.Firs
13、t he priced his car to be as affordable as possible and second,he paid his workers enough,so they could purchase the cars they were manufacturing.This helped push wages and auto sales upward.The convenience of the automobile freed people from the need to live near rail lines or stations;they could c
14、hoose locations almost anywhere in an urban area,as long as roads were available to connect them to other places.Many states established motor fuel taxes that were used only to build and maintain highways which enabled the auto highway system become self-supporting.Cars and Driving UNIT 4 Popularity
15、 of the automobile has consistently moved with the state of the economy,growing during the boom period after World War I and dropping abruptly during the Great Depression.World War II saw a large increase in mass transit because employment was high and automobiles were scarce.The rapid growth of car
16、 owners after World War II,particularly in the United States and Western Europe,showed how people were driven to buy automobiles.Many people had saved money because,beyond necessities,there was little to buy in the war years.Workers relied heavily on mass transportation during the war and through intense advertising by auto manufacturers,who were also quickly destroying and defunding mass transportation systems throughout the United States,were made to associate the automobile with freedom and a
