2012年12月英语四六级快速阅读暑假备考练习题与解析

　　Seven way to Save the World

　　Forget the old idea that conserving energy is a form of self-denialriding bicycles, dimming the lights, and taking fewer showers. These days conservation is all about efficiency: getting the sameor betterresults from just a fraction of the energy. When a slump in business travel forced Ulrich Ramer to cut costs at his familyowned hotel in Germany, he replaced hundreds of the hotels wasteful light bulbs, getting the same light for 80 percent less power. He bought a new water boiler with a digitally controlled pump, and wrapped insulation around the pipes. Spending about ￡100,000 on these and other improvements, he slashed his ￡90,000 fuel and power bill by ￡60,000. As a bonus, the hotels lower energy needs have reduced its annual carbon emissions by more than 200 metric tons. For us, saving energy has been very, very profitable, he says. And most importantly, were not giving up a single comfort for our guests.

　　Efficiency is also a great way to lower carbon emissions and help slow global warming. But the best argument for efficiency is its costor, more precisely, its profitability. Thats because quickly growing energy demand requires immense investment in new supply, not to mention the drain of rising energy prices.

　　No wonder efficiency has moved to the top of the political agenda. On Jan. 10, the European Union unveiled a plan to cut energy use across the continent by 20 percent by 2020. Last March, China imposed a 20 percent increase in energy efficiency by 2020. Even George W. Bush, the Texas oilman, is expected to talk about energy conservation in his State of the Union speech this week.

　　The good news is that the world is full of proven, cheap ways to save energy. Here are the seven that could have the biggest impact.

　　Insulate

　　Space heating and cooling eats up 36 percent of all the worlds energy. Theres virtually no limit to how much of that can be saved, as prototype zero-energy homes in Switzerland and Germany have shown. Theres been a surge in new ways of keeping heat in and cold out (or vice versa). The most advanced insulation follows the law of increasing returns: if you add enough you can scale down or even eliminate heating and air-conditioning equipment, lowering costs even before you start saving on utility bills. Studies have shown that green workplaces (ones that dont constantly need to have the heat or air-conditioner running) have higher worker productivity and lower sick rates.

　　Change Bulbs

　　Lighting eats up 20 percent of the worlds electricity, or the equivalent of roughly 600,000 tons of coal a day. Forty percent of that powers old-fashioned incandescent light bulbsa 19th-century technology that wastes most of the power it consumes on unwanted heat.

　　Compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLS, not only use 75 to 80 percent less electricity than incandescent bulbs to generate the same amount of light, but they also last 10 times longer. Phasing old bulbs out by 2030 would save the output of 650 power plants and avoid the release of 700 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year.

　　Comfort Zone

　　Water boilers, space heaters and air conditioners have been notoriously inefficient. The heat pump has altered that equation. It removes heat from the air outside or the ground below and uses it to supply heat to a building or its water supply. In the summer, the system can be reversed to cool buildings as well.

　　Most new residential buildings in Sweden are already heated with ground-source heat pumps. Such systems consume almost no conventional fuel at all. Several countries have used subsidies to jump-start the market, including Japan, where almost I million heat pumps have been installed in the past two years to heat water for showers and hot tubs.

　　Remake Factories

　　From steel mills to paper factories, industry eats up about a third of the worlds energy. The opportunities to save are vast. In Ludwigshafen, German chemicals giant BASF runs an interconnected complex of more than 200 chemical factories, where heat produced by one chemical process is used to power the next. At the Ludwigshafen site site alone, such recycling of heat and energy saves the company ￡200 million a year and almost half its CO2 emissions. Now BASF is doing the same for new plants in China. Optimizing (优化) energy efficiency is a decisive competitive advantage, says BASF CEO Jurgen Hambrecht.

　　Green Driving

　　A quarter of the worlds energyincluding two thirds of the annual production of oilis used for transportation. Some savings come free of charge: you can boost fuel efficiency by 6 percent simply by keeping your cars tires properly inflated (充气). Gasoline-electric hybrid(混合型的) models like the Toyota Prius improve mileage by a further 20 percent over conventional models.

　　A Better Fridge

　　More than half of all residential power goes into running household appliances, producing a fifth of the worlds carbon emissions. And thats true even though manufacturers have already hiked the efficiency of refrigerators and other white goods by as much as 70 percent since the 1980s. According to an International Energy Agency study, if consumers chose those models that would save them the most money over the life of the appliance, theyd cut global residential power consumption (and their utility bills) by 43 percent.

　　Flexible Payment

　　Who says you have to pay for all your conservation investments? Energy service contractors will pay for retrofitting(翻新改造)in return for a share of the clients annual utility-bill savings. In Beijing. Shenwu Thermal Energy Technology Co. specializes in retrofitting Chinas steel furnaces. Shenwu puts up the initial investment to install a heat exchanger that preheats the air going into the furnace, slashing the clients fuel costs. Shenwu pockets a cut of those savings, so both Shenwu and the client profit.

　　If saving energy is so easy and profitable, why isnt everyone doing it? It has do with psychology and a lack of information. Most of us tend to look at todays price tag more than tomorrows potential saving. That holds double for the landlord or developer, who wont actually see a penny of the savings his investment in better insulation or a better heating system might generate. In many peoples minds, conservation is still associated with self-denial. Many environmentalists still push that view.

　　Smart governments can help push the market in the right direction. The EUs 1994 law on labeling was such a success that it extended the same idea to entire buildings last year. To boost the market value of efficiency, all new buildings are required to have an energy pass detailing power and heating consumption. Countries like Japan and Germany have successively tightened building codes, requiring an increase in insulation levels but leaving it up to builders to decide how to meet them.

　　The most powerful incentives, of course, will come from the market itself. Over the past year, sky-high fuel prices have focused minds on efficiency like never before. Ever-increasing pressure to cut costs has finally forced more companies to do some math on their energy use.

　　Will it be enough? With global demand and emissions rising so fast, we may not have any choice but to try. Efficient technology is here now, proven and cheap. Compared with all other options, its the biggest, easiest and most profitable bang for the buck.

　　1. What is said to be best way to conserve energy nowadays?

　　A) Raising efficiency. B) Cutting unnecessary costs

　　C) Finding alternative resources. D) Sacrificing some personal comforts.

　　2. What does the European Union plan to do?

　　A) Diversify energy supply. B) Cut energy consumption.

　　C) Reduce carbon emissions. D) Raise production Raise production efficiency.

　　3. If you add enough insulation to your house, you may be able to _____________.

　　A) improve your work environment B) cut your utility bills by half

　　C) get rid of air-conditioners D) enjoy much better health

　　4. How much of the power consumed by incandescent bulbs is converted into light?

　　A) A small portion. B) Some 40 percent. C) Almost half. D) 75 to 80 percent.

　　5. Some countries have tried to jump-start the market of heat pumps by __________.

　　A)upgrading the equipment B)encouraging investments C) implementing high-tech D)providing subsidies

　　6. German chemicals giant BASF saves ￡200 million a year by ___________.

　　A) recycling heat and energy B) setting up factories in China

　　C) using the newest technology D) reducing the CO2 emissions of its plants

　　7. Global residential power consumption can be cut by 43 percent if ___________.

　　A) we increase the insulation of walls and water pipes

　　B) We choose simpler models of electrical appliances

　　C) We cut down on the use of refrigerators and other white goods

　　D) We choose the most efficient models of refrigerators and other white goods

　　8. Energy service contractors profit by taking a part of clients____________.

　　9. Many environmentalists maintain the view that conservation has much to do with _____.

　　10. The strongest incentives for energy conservation will derive from __________.

　　答案

　　1. A) raising efficiency

　　2. B) cut energy consumption

　　3. C) get rid of air-conditioners

　　4. A) a small portion

　　5. D) providing subsidies

　　6. A) recycling heat and energy

　　7. D) we choose the most efficient models of refrigerators and other white goods

　　8. utility-billing savings

　　9. self-denial

　　10. the market