Elon Musk CH10 1/3

The revenge of the electric car

Words

1.hawk/ tout

Car makers looking to put a modicum of effort into their ads have been hawking the exact same things for decades:a car with a bit more room, a few extra miles per gallon, better handling, or an extra cup holder.

hawk:to try to sell goods, usually by going from place to place and trying to persuade people to buy them

例：On every street corner there were traders hawking their wares.

 Those that can't find anything interesting at all to tout about their cars turn to scantily clad women, men with British accents

tout：especially British English to try to persuade people to buy goods or services you are offering
    tout for business/custom British English (=look for customers)
   例： Minicab drivers are not allowed to tout for business

这两个词都是兜售的意思

2.seat 

It could seat 7 people.

if a place seats a number of people, it has enough seats for that number可做...，可容纳....:
 例：The arena seats 60,000.

造句：The roadster can only seat 2 people.

3.stream

The Model S had an ever-present Internet connection, allowing the driver to stream music through the touch console and to display massive Google maps for navigation.

if you stream sound or video, you play it on your computer while it is being downloaded from the Internet, rather than saving it as a file and then playing it
播放网上的音乐还有一个专门的词

4.gadget

Tesla had transformed the car into a gadget-a device that actually got better after you bought it.
a small, useful, and cleverly-designed machine or tool:

▪ gadget a small, useful, and cleverly-designed tool or machine: high-tech gadgets | He buys all the latest gadgets.
例： a neat gadget for sharpening knives

  5.give way

At first the more traditional automakers viewed the Models S as a gimmick and its surging sales as part of a fad. These sentiment, however, soon gave way to something more akin to panic.

to be replaced by something, especially something newer or better.

give way在交通指示牌中是让行的意思，香港就经常能看见。

例：Over the next few years, the city’s buses will give way to a new light rail system.

akin to=similar to

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Thoughts

当汽车品牌还在以空间大，省油，操控好等等一下老掉牙的口号来打广告时，特斯拉横空出世了，作为纯电动车，它能无限次免费充电，比传统汽车节能，没有4s店，直销给消费者。甚至在你睡觉的时候就能修好车，并且能够不断升级。

The model S outclassed most other luxury sedans in terms of raw speed, mileage, handling, and storage space.

It changes everything about transportation. It's a computer on wheels.

但一开始，特斯拉也曾经想做混动车，但是他们发现自己如果做混动车，和传统汽车公司相比就丝毫没有优势，既没有别人做汽油车的经验也没有别人雄厚的资金。所以认清自己，找到自己的优势是及其重要的。在做任何事情前，都要找对方向。《跃迁》里总结的高手攻略，其中第一条就是找到头部。

At Tesla,  there was no history, no baggage. There was just a vision of products that could change the world.