Xiaohua: Hello, and welcome to Roundtable’s Word of the Week. This week we are talking about different kinds of automobiles.
John: Yeah. And There are so many different kinds. I’m gonna try to stay away from as much jargon as possible. Cars in general by model or type of car, they are generally separated into two-box cars or three-box cars. So, the boxes are basically, in a 3 boxed cars, for example, the engine is one box, the passenger area is the other box, and then the trunk is the third box. So in a two-box, all you have is the engine area and then the passenger area and the trunk and storage area are all together. There are only two boxes.
Xiaohua: 一般的车都是分为两厢车和三厢车，那么两厢车一般指的就是乘客的座位和后备厢是一起的车型。
John: Alright, Let’s take a look at the one of the two-box cars, called hatchback. And it’s actually a very small car at the back there is a hatch that opens up from bottom to top. And that’s why it’s called a hatchback.
Xiaohua: 掀背车hatchback，很简单就是尾部通常会有一个尾门可以掀开，打开行李舱。
John: And a sedan usually seats four or more people and has a fixed roof and that is full-height up to the rear window and actually a two-door model of sedans are quite rare.
Xiaohua: 轿车是Sedan 一般Sedan都指的是四门车
John: And sedans are usually going to be the three-box, so the trunk and the passenger area are separate. And there is the station wagon, which is kind of like a sedan, but it’s a two boxed sedan, similar to a hatchback, where the back of it does open up, but it looks like a sedan.
Xiaohua: Station Wagon 就是旅行车。Usually the station wagon that I see are a little bit longer than a common sedan. Right?
John: Yeah. They usually a little bit longer. Yeah.
Xiaohua: I see.
John: And then there is of course the sports utility vehicle, which is usually also a two boxed car, and again the back is gonna be similar to a hatchback. So, SUV, a sport utility vehicle, sometimes also called a Suburban Utility Vehicle, as I am sure that many of our listeners know, has becomes so popular over last ten years or even with rising gas prices. So, there are basically larger cars by volume, a little bit higher off the ground, supposedly designed to be able to go off road and have adventures, although no one seems to ever use them in that way.
Xiaohua: SUV运动型多用途车，一般来说会比普通轿车要大一些，经常是四驱的，道路通过性也比较好。
John: And there is the pickup truck, which is one of the first actual trucks, actually utility vehicle I suppose you might say because it actually is useful. And because, all it really is, it’s a two-box pretty much, so the engine and then the passenger area, the passenger area usually only accommodate three people. There are pickup trucks that are a little bit bigger that can go up to four. But then in the back, instead of a having a trunk area, instead of having anything else, it’s just a open bed, where you can just store a bunch of stuff and transport it very easily.
Xiaohua: Pickup truck, 敞篷小型载货卡车，又叫作皮卡，只得就是后面的载货部分是敞开的一种小型的卡车。
John: And now we are gonna move on look at some nicer cars, you might say. There is the grand tourer or in Italian, the gran turismo. It is a performance or luxury automobile, capable of high speed or long distance driving.
Xiaohua: Grand tourer 指的是小型跑车。So usually it’s a two-seat car
John: Yeah. It’s usually a two-seat or a two-plus-two arrangement. Then, there is, of course, the convertible, sometimes called the cabriolet, a cabrio, a soft top, a drop top or a rag top.
Xiaohua: Alright. That’s a lot of names. But in Chinese, convertible就是敞篷车。I’m sure that is kind of cars that we see a lot in movies.
John: In movies, Yeah, especially with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, the hair is blowing in the wind and the things like that. Convertibles simply enough are just cars, basically just the top can fold down and it can convert from a car with a roof to a car without a roof. And then there is the supercar, sometimes known as an exotic car which is very expensive, and it’s a high performance sports car or a grand tourer. And if you play any really good racing games, you will know what a supercar is, like Forza, you play Forza, you drive some supercars. Man, they are difficult to control.
Xiaohua: Alright, supercars. 超级跑车，万能车，作为一个普通人我们只要记住它很贵很贵，一般人都开不起就可以了。
John: And finally, we are gonna slow it down a little bit for all you family people out there, there is the minivan, which is basically a van but a minivan is basically a smaller van for more personal use. In some cases, it can fit up to 8 people.
Xiaohua: Minivan又叫作厢式旅行车比普通的车肯定是要大一些，可以坐到8个人。
John: And you see in many American sitcoms, or comedy films, a man he has a really nice convertible car, and a couple of years later, he gets married and has to get a minivan.
Xiaohua: So, it’s definitely for family. And that’s all we have for Roundtable’s Word of the Week.