Sales of electric and hybrid cars in Norway outpaced those running on fossil fuels last year, cementing the country’s position as a global leader in the push to restrict vehicle emissions.

Norway, a major oil exporter, would seem an unlikely champion of newer, cleaner-running vehicles. But the country offers generous incentives that make electric cars cheaper to buy, and provides additional benefits once the vehicles are on the road.

去年，挪威的電動車和油電混合車的銷量超越使用化石燃料的汽車，奠定了挪威推動車輛減排全球領導者的地位。

挪威是個石油出口大國，似乎不太會是更新型態、更乾淨車輛的倡導國。然而挪威卻提供大方的獎勵，讓消費者購買電動車時價格更親民，車輛一旦上路，還有額外的好康。

Countries around the world have ramped up their promotion of hybrid and electric cars. As China tries to improve air quality and dominate new vehicle technology, the government there wants 1 in 5 cars sold to run on alternative fuels by 2025. France and Britain plan to end the sale of gasoline- and diesel-powered cars by 2040.

Norway is ahead of the rest of the world. About 52 percent of the new cars sold in the country last year ran on new forms of fuel, according the data released by Norway’s Road Traffic Advisory Board, OFV. The share of diesel cars, which were once considered more environmentally friendly but are now in the spotlight for their noxious emissions, fell sharply.

世界各國紛紛對電動車和油電車的推廣加大力度。在中國試圖改善空氣品質，主宰新型車輛技術之際，政府希望2025年前當地售出的汽車有五分之一使用替代燃料。法國和英國計畫在2040年前停售汽、柴油車輛。

挪威目前在世上居於最領先地位。根據挪威道路交通諮詢委員會（OFV）發布的資料，去年該國銷售的新車，約52％使用新型燃料。柴油車的占比劇降。柴油車一度被認為更環保，如今卻因排放有害氣體而成眾矢之的。

“This trend will only increase,” Oyvind Solberg Thorsen, OFV’s director, said in a statement. “This is good for both road safety and the environment.”

Although electric vehicles make up a just small portion of the global market now, automakers — including those, like Tesla, that produce only electric models, and giants like Volkswagen — have bet billions of dollars that such vehicles will soon be as cheap and ubiquitous as conventional cars. Investments in charging stations and other technology connected to electric vehicles are also increasing.

OFV執行長歐文德．梭伯格．索爾森發表聲明說：「這種趨勢只會加快。這對道路安全和環境有好處。」

儘管電動車現今僅占全球市場的一小部分，汽車製造商─包括像特斯拉那種只生產電動車的，以及像福斯汽車這樣的巨擘，都已在這種汽車賭上數十億美元，認為它很快就會和傳統汽車一樣便宜以及無所不在。和電動車相關的充電站以及其他技術的投資也日益增多。

General Motors and Ford Motor have said they will shift their focus to electric models, while carmakers like Volvo have moved to phase out the internal combustion engine entirely. Joining the fray are entrepreneurs like James Dyson who have their own plans to build electric vehicles.

As the market grows, makers of electric cars are facing difficulties. Tesla has lagged in its production of the Model 3, its first mass-market offering. And a slump in overall car sales in the United States could put a crimp in the expansion of electric vehicles.

Norway, which wants to phase out diesel and gasoline cars by 2025, offers a counterexample.

The country’s embrace of electric cars has been hastened by hefty government subsidies and tax breaks that make the technology more affordable.

通用汽車和福特汽車都已表示，他們將把重點轉向電動車，而像富豪汽車這些汽車製造商則開始逐步徹底淘汰內燃機汽車。加入戰局的還有像詹姆斯．戴森這樣的企業家，他們也各有打造電動車的計畫。

隨市場增長，電動車製造商也面臨困境。特斯拉的第一個大眾市場車款特斯拉三型電動車的生產進度落後。美國整體汽車銷量下滑，也可能成為電動車擴張的一道障礙。 冀望2025年前逐步淘汰柴油和汽油車的挪威，則是一個反例。

這個國家擁抱電動車的速度，因政府提供大量補貼和減稅而加快，政府的政策讓這項技術變得更買得起。

說文解字看新聞

文／王麗娟

文章指出，挪威的電動車（electric car）以及油電混合車（hybrid car）去年占新車銷售的五成二，於全球居冠，奠定該國推動限制汽車排放量（ restricting vehicle emissions）全球領導者的地位。

限制排放量指的是限制碳排放（carbon emissions），以達成碳減排（carbon emission reduction）的目的，避免大量排放的二氧化碳等溫室氣體（greenhouse gas）產生增溫效應，帶來全球暖化（global warming）後果。

文章說，特斯拉是僅生產電動車（electric model）的汽車廠，此處的model 並非指模型，而是指汽車的型號或車款。model用作名詞時，其他常見的意義包括模型、模範、模特兒，如model car（模型車），model plane（飛機模型），a model couple （一對模範夫妻），fashion model（時裝模特兒）。

When Nic Zmija applied for a job at the 4 West coal mine three years ago, he was tantalized by a fat raise and a secure future. Once hired, he was told that someday even his two young sons had jobs waiting for them.

“It all sounded good,” Zmija recalled with a tight smile while sitting at his kitchen table the other day. “They said my kids would be able to retire here.”

三年前，尼克．齊米亞來到「4西煤礦場」求職，被這份工作加薪多，前途又有保障深深吸引。經錄用後，有人告訴他，就連他的兩個幼子將來都有工作在等著他們。

不久前的一天，齊米亞坐在他廚房的桌前，勉強擠出一絲笑容說：「這一切聽起來不錯。他們說我的孩子也能從這裡退休。」

But right after New Year’s, management announced that the mine would have to close, leaving 370 people scrambling to find new jobs. The Zmija family must now prepare to move in search of the next coal job.

The fateful turn of events in Appalachian mining towns like Bobtown, isolated between craggy bluffs and wooded hills 70 miles south of Pittsburgh, illustrates the seemingly relentless downturn of the coal industry. While President Donald Trump has offered some regulatory relief to the industry, market forces still dictate a gloomy future — one largely shaped by the glut of cheap natural gas yielded by the drilling boom in shale fields near here and across much of the nation.

但就在新年後，管理階層宣布礦場將被迫關門，害得370名工人急著另覓新職。齊米亞一家人現在必須準備搬家，尋找另一個煤礦場的工作。

鮑伯鎮位於匹茲堡以南70哩處，孤立於崎嶇的懸崖和枝繁葉茂的山丘間。像鮑伯鎮這樣的阿帕拉契山礦城正面臨重大的命運轉折，說明煤礦業看來仍在持續走下坡。儘管總統唐納．川普放鬆了對煤礦業的部分管理規定，但市場力量強烈顯示這一行前景黯淡，主要是因這附近和全美大部分地區的頁岩油田開採興盛，造成廉價天然氣供過於求。

As aging coal-fired power plants are shut — roughly 20 of 380 have closed or are in the process of shutting since Trump took office — coal’s share of the nation’s power mix has plummeted from nearly half in 2008 to roughly a third today.

Last year, coal consumption in the United States fell by 2.4 percent, falling to its lowest level in nearly four decades. In the early weeks of 2018, national coal production has continued to decline from a year ago despite the frigid winter. A weather-related increase in exports last year yielded a modest gain in jobs, but it is not considered sustainable.

川普上台後，380座燃煤電廠約有20座已關閉或正關閉中；隨著老舊的燃煤電廠一一關閉，燃煤發電在全美電力結構的占比，也從2008年的接近50%，下降到現今的約三分之一。

去年，美國煤耗量下降了2.4％，跌至近40年來最低水平。2018年的頭幾周，儘管是嚴冬，全美煤產量仍較去年同期下降。去年與天氣相關的出口增長帶動了就業人數略增，但咸認難以持久。

The decline in demand has forced a 38 percent drop in the nation’s coal production in a little less than a decade. Now only the most efficient mines containing the highest-quality coal are able to survive.

The 4 West mine, like many that produce coal for power utilities in Appalachia, is expensive to run. Its coal seam is thin and of lower quality than those of competing mines, and its traditional form of mining requires costly methods to stabilize roofs to protect against the kind of accidents that caused the deaths of two miners at 4 West over the past three years. Government fines and management turmoil also took their toll.

需求下降迫使全美煤產量不到10年內下降了38％。現今只有煤質頂級且營運最有效率的煤礦場才能存活。

「4西煤礦」和替阿帕拉契地區電力公司生產燃煤的許多煤礦場一樣，營運成本高昂。「4西煤礦」的煤層較薄，品質也低於競爭礦場，而且礦場的傳統採礦方式需要昂貴的方法來穩住頂部，防範意外發生。過去3年，「4西煤礦」這類意外已造成2名礦工死亡。政府的罰款和管理風波也使礦場受到打擊。