VOA慢速英语:Watching a Film in Your Car, Before the Age of the Small Screen

1. Not a lot of people live there.

a lot of 许多
例句：I subscribed to a lot of periodicals last year.
去年我订了诸多期刊。

2. So at the time they flourished, it was after the baby boom, and so there was the convergence of a strong economy and lots of kids and car culture -- people being able to afford cars.

be able to 能，会
例句：We'll be able to smooth away these difficulties.
我们能够克服这些困难。

3. April Wright looked for the reason.

look for 寻找
例句：You look for this girl?
你在找这个女孩儿？

4. The more I looked into it, I realized it wasn’t a single factor, not only that made drive-ins go on the decline but also what made them flourish.

not only... but 不但...而且...
例句：There is not only logic to this argument but precedent, too. 
这不仅在逻辑上有过争议，而且也有过先例。

5. In the 1960s, families were breaking up as the divorce rate rose sharply in the United States.

break up 分散
例句：In spring the ice-floes break up. 
春天浮冰碎裂了. 

6. But as the American population grew, more and more people moved from the cities to the suburbs.

more and more 越来越
例句：Our contact with the outside world is becoming more and more extensive.
我们与外界的交往日益广泛。

7. This may have reduced attendance, although some people disagree. But, at the same time, other changes were taking place with popular entertainment.

take place 发生
例句：Where did this take place?
这事情是在哪里发生的?

8. In many cases the owners are the children or grandchildren of the first owners. Drive-ins seem to be operated at least as much from a passion to keep them open as a desire for profit.

at least 至少
例句：Can we at least try?
我们至少试试看吧？