CNN 10 双语精读 | 全球芯片持续短缺，汽车企业正在面临哪些挑战？

今日导读

全球半导体芯片供应出现供给失衡的情况，以致除了电子行业外，汽车业也受到了严重的波及，继而全球多家车企被迫减产或停产新车。一年多之后，这一问题看似仍没有妥善解决，对于各大汽车企业来说影响究竟有多大呢？

双语正文

Toyota, the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, just reduced its production by 40 percent in Japan. General Motors says it's stopping production at most of its plants in North America. Volkswagen is considering shutdowns. All this is related to a global shortage in semiconductors, computer chips that run different car systems from touch screens to automatic transmissions to airbags.

丰田，世界上最大的汽车制造商，刚刚在日本减产了40%。通用汽车公司表示，它在北美的大部分工厂都将停产。大众汽车正在考虑停产。这一切都是因为全球范围内半导体短缺，半导体是一种运行从触摸屏到自动变速器到安全气囊等不同汽车系统的计算机芯片。

If manufacturers can't get these chips, and there are supply problems around the world. They either have to sell cars with fewer features or stop production entirely until they can get more chips. A recent international increase in COVID cases has only made things more complicated.

如果制造商无法获得这些芯片，那么全世界都会出现供应问题。他们要么出售功能更少的汽车，要么完全停止生产，直到能够获得更多芯片。近来全球新冠疫情确诊病例的增加只让事情变得更加复杂。

It's so easy to take them for granted. The tiny silicon-based semiconductors that fuel our modern lives, our smartphones, our laptops, and our cars. Now the average car has between 50 to 150 chips that are used to monitor important engine and safety systems, along with GPS navigation or driver systems when you try to parallel park.

我们太容易把这些芯片视为理所当然。这些微小的硅基半导体驱动了为我们的现代生活、智能手机、笔记本电脑和汽车。普通汽车配有50到150个芯片，用来监控重要发动机和安全系统，平行停车的时候，芯片还可以跟踪GPS导航和驱动系统。

But when the pandemic hammered auto sales last year, top chip makers shifted capacity away from carmakers to gadget makers, resulting in a critical shortage of car chips that's been called "Chipageddon".

但去年疫情严重打击的汽车销量，顶级芯片制造商将产能从汽车制造商转移到小工具制造商，导致汽车芯片严重短缺，此状况被称作“芯片末日”。

One million cars could actually be lost in the coming months. So that's quite a lot. If you take the average value of the car, which might be, say what, $20,000, $30,000 maybe dollars. It would actually lead to about $20 to $30 billion in lost revenue. There is a growing list of automakers cutting production because of the chip crunch. In Japan, you have Subaru, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan, and in the U.S., Ford, and GM.

在未来几个月内，可能会损失一百万辆汽车。这个损失金额很高。汽车的平均价值是20000到30000美元。这实际上会导致大约200亿至300亿美元的收入损失。越来越多汽车制造商决定减产，因为芯片严重紧缺。日本的有斯巴鲁，本田，丰田，日产，美国的有福特和通用。

Now in a statement GM says this quote, "Despite our mitigation efforts, the semi-conductor shortage will impact GM production in 2021. We're currently assessing the overall impact, but our focus is to keep producing our most in-demand products."

通用汽车在一份声明中说道：“尽管我们采取了缓解措施，但半导体短缺将影响2021年的生产。我们目前正在评估整体影响，但我们会继续生产需求量最大的产品。”

重点解析

All this is related to a global shortage in semiconductors, computer chips that run different car systems from touch screens to automatic transmissions to airbags.

这一切都是因为全球范围内半导体短缺，半导体是一种运行从触摸屏到自动变速器到安全气囊等不同汽车系统的计算机芯片。

长难句分析：

that引导定语从句，修饰先行词"computer chips"，在定语从句中作主语，正常语序是"computer chips run different car systems...to airbags.

重点词汇短语：

1. semiconductor n. 半导体

例句：

This is a semiconductor integrated 

circuit.

这是一个半导体集成电路。

词根词缀：

前缀semi- 半

semi 半 + circle 圆 → semicircle n. 半圆

semi 半 + commercial 商业的 → semicommercial adj. 半商业性的

semi 半 + final 决赛 → semifinal n./adj. 半决赛（的）

2. transmission n. 传输；传递；(汽车等的)传动装置，变速器

常用搭配：

data transmission 数据传输

automatic transmission 自动换档；自动变速装置；自动驾驶

例句：

The company has a transmission plant in France.

那家公司在法国有一座变速器工厂。

同根词：transmit v. 传输；传导；发射信号

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