《英语流行话题阅读:语境识词3500》Unit 12 比尔·盖茨与通用汽车公司

（单词翻译）

　　Unit 12
Bill Gates vs. GM
At a computer expo, Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto¹ industry and stated "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon." In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating if GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:
1. For no reason whatsoever², your car would crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull over to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver³ such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive... but would run on only five percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "General Protection Fault" warning light.
7. The airbag system would ask, "Are you sure?" before opening up.
8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously⁴ lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna⁵.
9. Every time GM introduced a new car, buyers would have to learn to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.