It's not the flashiest car in the world. Not even close. But the 1971 Volkswagen named Helios can do something most cars can't: run on solar energy - energy from the sun's light and heat!
这不是世界上最炫的车，甚至都谈不上。但是这款命名为Helios的1971年的大众汽车可以做大多数汽车做不到的事情：使用太阳能做动力——来自太阳光和热的能量！
Joshua Bechtold, 14, and the other students at the Riverside School in Lyndonville, Vermont, worked many months to get Helios ready for the 1999 American Tour de Sol ( "Sol" is the Latin word for "sun"). They named their car after Helios, the sun god in Greek mythology.
14岁的Joshua Bechtold和佛蒙特州林顿维尔河畔学校的其他学生，为了让Helios为1999年的美国太阳之旅（Tour de Sol，“Sol”在拉丁语中是“太阳”的意思）做好准备，他们工作了好几个月。他们以希腊神话中的太阳神Helios为汽车命名。
The 4-year-old Tour de Sol encourages the use of "green", or environmentally friendly, cars to help reduce pollution and save energy. It' s not a race. Cars are judged on fuel efficiency rather than speed. In the week-long event, 44 cars took the 350-mile tour from Waterbury, Connecticut, to Lake George, New York. Of the 23 student cars, Helios was the only one built by middle school students.
已经有四年历史的太阳之旅鼓励使用“绿色”或环保汽车，以帮助减少污染和节约能源。这不是比赛，评判汽车的标准是燃油效率而不是速度。在为期一周的活动中，有44辆汽车从康涅狄格州的沃特伯里前往纽约州的乔治湖，全程350英里。其中有23辆学生车，Helios是唯一一辆由中学生制造的。
A teacher drove Helios, but the children talked with people wherever they stopped along the road. "That was my favorite part," says Anna Browne, 15. "We explained how the car runs.”
老师驾驶Helios，孩子们在沿途停下来时会和路人们交谈。“这是我最喜欢的，”15岁的Anna Browne说，“我们介绍汽车如何运转。”
Due in part to old, inefficient batteries, Helios finished fourth - out of four - in its kind, the sun-powered class. "We were there for the fun of it," Anna says. "We're proud of Helios," says Ariel Gleicher, 14. "It's a car that's good for the environment."
部分因为电池陈旧、效率低下, Helios 在它的太阳能动力组中排名第四。Anna 说，“我们参加是为了好玩”。14岁的Ariel Gleicher说，“我们为Helios感到骄傲，这是一款环保汽车。”
