I let the clutch out.
對 話
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.
奧黛麗：你看來心情不大愉快,是什么回事?
伊娃：我剛才上了第駕駛課，很不順利。
奧黛麗：啊,應(yīng)該不會太糟吧。
伊娃：糟極了, 我每次松開離合器,引擎就停下來。
奧黛麗：那是因?yàn)橛烷T踩得不夠低。
伊娃：我也明白，駕駛教練不斷跟我這樣說。
奧黛麗：別擔(dān)心!多點(diǎn)練習(xí)，就可以掌握了。
伊娃：希望如此，因?yàn)槲艺嫦胱约河幸惠v車；但要有自己的車，一定要駕駛測驗(yàn)及格不可。
今天，汽車有自動(dòng)換檔的，英文叫automatics；也有用操縱桿換檔的，叫stick shifts。I prefer a stick shift to an automatic即‘我寧要操縱桿換檔的汽車，不要自動(dòng)換檔的’。用操縱桿換檔的汽車，要開動(dòng)，須使用離合器(clutch)。你要踩著離合器踏板，使汽車掛上排檔(gear)：You have to press the clutch pedal down and put the car in/into gear。然后，你得慢慢松開離合器踏板，同時(shí)用另一只腳踩油門(accelerator，又稱gas pedal)：You let the clutch up and at the same time step on the accelerator。這時(shí)，進(jìn)一步松開離合器，汽車就可開動(dòng)：You let the clutch out (= release the clutch), and the car will start to move。不過，假如踩油門不得其法，引擎得不到足夠燃料，就會停止轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)。汽車或引擎因動(dòng)力不足而停下來，叫做stall，例如：The car/engine stalled because the gas had run out（由于汽油耗盡，汽車拋錨了）。汽車的排檔關(guān)乎車速。一檔(first gear)速度低，以后二、三檔(second/third gear)等逐漸加速。一檔也叫bottom/low gear，高速的排檔的則叫top/high gear，例如：He shifted/changed to a lower gear when going down the hill（下山時(shí)，他改用較低的排檔）。引申其義，high/top gear有‘高速’的意思，例如：Our work gradually got into high gear（我們的工作漸漸快起來）。