通过阅读报纸的英语学习

1、Notes for the title:grumpy: bad-tempered 坏脾气的Volkswagen: 大众汽车limbo: state of isolation 孤立phrase: in a state of limbo

2、On frigid mornings in Madison, Wis., when his Volkswagen JettaSportWagen struggled to start, David Staple shrugged it off.frigid: coldJetta: 捷达（汽车品牌）SportWagen: 跑车shrug off：对。。。不屑理睬Sure, it was frustrating, but that was the cost of having a diesel engine,he figured — the price he paid for a car that promised lots of powerwithout beingbad for the environment.frustrating: 使人心烦的，使人沮丧的diesel engine: 柴油机figure: 认为Now, Staple is questioning that trade-off. This winter, those morningswill be especially frustrating, he said. “Once I do get it started, then I’m a polluter,” Staple said.trade-off: 交易polluter：污染者

3、His station wagon is at the center of a global scandal ro艘早祓胂cking one of the world’s largest automakers — one of the 482,000 cars in the UnitedStates and 11 million worldwide fitted with software that regulators say helped Volkswagen circumvent emissions tests.station wagon：a car with a long body, a door at the rear, and space behind the back seats 旅行车，客货两用车phrase: at the center of a global scandal 处于全球丑闻中rock：摇动regulator：监管者circumvent：避开When it comes time to buy his next car, Staple doubts that it will be aVW. Staples, andmany other owners affected by the emissions-cheating scandal, saidthat Volkswagen’s deception has shaken his trust, aproblem that analysts say could follow the company for years.phrase：when it comes time：当。。。时候VW. :大众牌deception：欺骗phrase：shake one's trust 降低。。。信用度A week after news of the emissions-cheating scheme broke,the fate ofVWowners remains unclear. VW has set aside $7.3 billion to repair itscars, but the company hasn’t yet said when or how — or what its fixwill do to the cars’ power and fuel economy.scheme：计划broke：爆发phrase：set aside 留出economy：节约Those changes — and VW’s tarnished reputation — are also expectedtoput a dent in itscars’ value. It’s still legal to sell a used diesel VW,but in the midst of crisis for the German automaker, it may not be veryeconomical.tarnished：受损的，玷污的dent：削减 put a dent in one's valuein the midst of crisis：身处危机中“The impact to residual values will depend upon the level of disclosure, speed of fixing the technical issues and addressing consumer backlash,” saidLarry Dominique, executive vice president of industry solutions atTrueCar, which tracks car prices.residual：剩余的disclosure：揭露的秘闻backlash：强烈反对TrueCar:TrueCar, Inc.is an automotive pricing and information websitefornew and used car buyers and dealersIn the past, massive recalls by car manufacturers have pushed downresale values, but they have been “relatively short-lived,” he said.recall: 召回

4、A fix that affectsperformance, though, could make lower prices li荏鱿胫协nger.That’s one of the arguments made in the growing pile of class actionlawsuits filed against Volkswagen.linger：逗留，延续lawsuit：诉讼file against：诉讼索赔“Affected vehicles will necessarily be worth less in the marketplacebecause of their decrease in performance and efficiency,” the Seattlelaw firm Hagens Berman argues in one suit. The firm saidit has received “thousands of inquiries” from car owners.inquiry：询问Some consumers have asked for their money back, saying a full refund is the only way the company could make up for its deception.That appears unlikely, though. The $7 billion thatVW set aside this week to address the problem is less than $700 for each affected car. Even ifthe entire sum went to American owners, they would each get onlyabout $15,000 — not enough to buya new VW.unlikely：不大可能的Classified ads for VW diesel cars posted online during the past weekusually fail to mention the scandal brewing around Volkswagen. Butthe handful that do include atouch of optimism.classified ads：分类广告brew：酿造，酝酿Ask Matt Oz of Myerstown, Pa., who listed his two-week-old 2015 Passat TDI on Craigslist on Wednesday for $26,000, a few thousand dollarsunder its retail price. He had tried to swap it at the dealership for onewith an automatic transmission because his wife can’t drive a stick shift. But because VW had halted diesel sales in the United States earlier in the week, he was out of luck.Myerstown:Myerstownis aborough,located inLebanon County,Pennsylvania,United StatesPassat TDI: 帕萨特TDICraigslist: Craigslist(styledcraigslist) is aclassified advertisementswebsite with sections devoted to jobs, housing,personals, for sale, items wanted, services,community,gigs,résumés, and discussion forums.swap: 交换 swap 。。。for 。。。dealership：专卖店automatic transmission：自动挡档stick shift：手动档halt：停止be out of luck：不走运Oz hasn’t received much interest so far,but he’s holding out hope.After all, a brand-new diesel Volkswagen is hard to come by these days.hold out：维持Regardless of the financial hit VW owners take — orwhat they couldbeawarded in court — it will be harder for the company to rebuild trust. Unlike other recent recalls where automakers made a mistake, ownersand analysts say, the company’s deception makes this scandal tougher to swallow.award：赔偿裁定额make sth. tougher to swallow: 使某事更难以忍受The tarnished image could weigh on the company for years. Volkswagenhas sought to rebuild that trust this week, as its executives haveapologized profusely, and its chief executive, Martin Winterkorn,resigned, saying that he hoped it would give VW a “fresh start.”weigh on：重压executives：执行委员会profusely：再三地resign：辞职The scandal came as the company was fulfilling its ambition of becoming the world’s largest automaker, edging out Toyota earlier this year for the top spot. But Volkswagen’s business had already been slumping in the United States, and close to a quarter of its sales here were diesels, making the task of rebuilding a base of American customers more difficult.edge out：排挤top spot：榜首slump：猛跌Still, the feeling of broken trust could be especially harmful for VWbecause diesel owners are among the company’s most loyal customers, said Brad Smith, Experian Automotive’s director of auto market insights. In the United States, 53 percent of VW diesel owners are loyal to thebrand, compared with46 percent of all VW owners. (The nationalaverage is 54 percent.)Experian:Experianplc is a global information services group with operations in 40 countriesCompounding the company’s problem, drivers who lease their cars are more likely to remember a scandal because they don’t keep the cars as long as those who buy them. Some 40 percent of Volkswagen drivershave leases, Smith said, meaning they will be back on the market sooner.compound: 使。。。加剧lease：租“Consumers are going to feel cheated, especially those consumers who buy diesels for altruistic reasons,” Smith said. “The impact of that ismassive.”altruistic：无私的VW owners who believed they were making an altruistic choice when they bought their car said thatthey are particularly hurt by the scandal.Throughout his childhood, Peter Szabo of Arlington Heights, Ill., asuburb of Chicago, saidhis sister and father hadchronic asthma, so hebikes to work and uses public transit when he can. But for longer trips,he drives his 2014 Jetta SportWagen, a car he bought used last month,his third VW diesel since 2009.chronic asthma：慢性哮喘He’s only driven it once since he found out last week that it wasemitting high levels of nitrogen oxide, which can aggravate asthma. Hedoesn’t plan to get back behind the wheel until VW fixes his car.behind the wheel：掌控“Something like a car, especially in the U.S., really defines a part of who you are,” Szabo said. “I’ve driven over 48,000 miles under thepretense that I was making a responsible choice.”pretense：假装