PETS－2语法讲解(246)

　　I let the clutch out.
　　对 话
　　Audrey: You're not looking too cheerful, what's the matter?
　　Eva: I've just had my first driving lesson and it was terrible.
　　Audrey: Oh, I'm sure it couldn't have been that bad.
　　Eva: It was. Every time I let the clutch out, the engine stalled.
　　Audrey: That's because you weren't depressing the accelerator enough.
　　Eva: I know, that's what the instructor kept telling me.
　　Audrey: Don't worry, you just need more practice and then you'll master it.
　　Eva: I hope you're right, because I want to get a car of my own, but I can't do that until I've passed the driving test.
　　奥黛丽：你看来心情不大愉快,是什么回事?
　　伊娃：我刚才上了第一次驾驶课，很不顺利。
　　奥黛丽：啊,应该不会太糟吧。
　　伊娃：糟极了, 我每次松开离合器,引擎就停下来。
　　奥黛丽：那是因为油门踩得不够低。
　　伊娃：我也明白，驾驶教练不断跟我这样说。
　　奥黛丽：别担心!多点练习，就可以掌握了。
　　伊娃：希望如此，因为我真想自己有一辆车；但要有自己的车，一定要驾驶测验及格不可。
　　今天，汽车有自动换档的，英文叫automatics；也有用操纵杆换档的，叫stick shifts。I prefer a stick shift to an automatic即‘我宁要操纵杆换档的汽车，不要自动换档的’。用操纵杆换档的汽车，要开动，须使用离合器(clutch)。你要踩着离合器踏板，使汽车挂上排档(gear)：You have to press the clutch pedal down and put the car in/into gear。然后，你得慢慢松开离合器踏板，同时用另一只脚踩油门(accelerator，又称gas pedal)：You let the clutch up and at the same time step on the accelerator。这时，进一步松开离合器，汽车就可开动：You let the clutch out (= release the clutch), and the car will start to move。不过，假如踩油门不得其法，引擎得不到足够燃料，就会停止转动。汽车或引擎因动力不足而停下来，叫做stall，例如：The car/engine stalled because the gas had run out（由于汽油耗尽，汽车抛锚了）。汽车的排档关乎车速。一档(first gear)速度最低，以后二、三档(second/third gear)等逐渐加速。一档也叫bottom/low gear，速的排档的则叫top/high gear，例如：He shifted/changed to a lower gear when going down the hill（下山时，他改用较低的排档）。引申其义，high/top gear有‘高速’的意思，例如：Our work gradually got into high gear（我们的工作渐渐快起来）。