A green alternative to the petrol-driven car has just gone on trial in the world's fussiest environmental market. This week two nails were hammered into the coffin of the internal-combustion engine. The first came when Toyota and General Motors, which between them make a quarter of the world's cars, signed a pact to develop alternatives. These include battery-powered cars, "hybrid" vehicles that have both electric and petrol engines, and—most significantly—vehicles powered by fuel cells. The second was the result of an alliance between DaimlerChrysler and Ford (another quarter of the world's car production), and Ballard Power Systems, a Canadian firm that has been developing fuel cells for use in vehicles for several years.
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机译：汽油驱动汽车的绿色替代品刚刚在世界上最繁杂的环境市场中试用。本周，两个钉子被钉入了内燃机的棺材中。第一次出现的时候，丰田和通用汽车签署了开发替代品的协议，这两家公司之间的汽车产量占全球汽车的四分之一。这些包括电池驱动的汽车，同时具有电动和汽油发动机的“混合动力”汽车，以及最重要的是由燃料电池驱动的车辆。第二个是戴姆勒克莱斯勒和福特（占世界汽车产量的另外四分之一）与加拿大公司Ballard Power Systems结盟的结果，该公司已经开发了用于车辆的燃料电池已有多年。
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