2007年12月英语六级考试题卷及答案

英语六级考试网 -- 2007.12.22英语六级试卷 - 快速阅读

2007.12.22英语六级试卷 - 快速阅读

 Seven Ways to Save the World

 Forget and old idea that conserving energy is a form of
 self-denial-riding bicycles, dimming the lights, and taking fewer
 showers. These days conservation is all about efficiency: getting
 the same-or better-results from just a fraction of the energy. When
 a slump in business travel forced Ulrich Romer to cut costs at his
 family-owned hotel in Germany, he replaced hundreds of the hotel's
 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 hotel's lower energy
 needs have reduced its annual carbon emissions by more then 200
 metric tons. "For us, saving energy has been very, very profitable,"
 he says. "And most importantly, we're 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
 cost-or, more precisely, its profitability. That's 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 world's
 energy. There's virtually no limit to how much of that can be saved,
 as prototype "zero-energy homes" in Switzerland and Germany have
 shown. There's been a surge in news 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 don't constantly need to have the
 heat or air-conditioner running) have higher worker productivity and
 lower sick rates.

 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 1 million heat
 pumps have been installed in the past two year to heat water for
 showers and hot tubs.

Remake Factories
From steel mills to paper factories,industry eats up about a third of the world's

energy.The opportunities to save are vast.In Ludwigshafen,German chemicals giant BASF

runs an interprocess is used to power the next.At the Ludwigshafen 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 efficency is a decisive competitive advantage."says BASF CEO Jurgen

Hambrecht.

Green Driving

A quarter of the world's energy-including two thirds of the annual production of oil-
is used for transportation.Some savings come free of charge:you can boost fuel
efficiency by 6 percent simply by keeping your car's tires properly inflated(充
气).Gasoline-electric hybrid(混合型的)models like the Toyata 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 world's carbon emissions.And that's 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,it consumers chose those models that would save them the most
money over the life of the appliance,they'd cut global residential power consumption
(and their utilitybills)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 or the client's annual utility-bill savings. In
Beijing, Shenwu Thermal Energy Technology Co. speccializes in
 retrofitting China's steel furnaces. Shenwu puts up the initial
 investment to install a heat exchanger that preheats the air going
 into the furnace, slashing the client's 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 isn't everyone doing
 it? It has to do with psychology and a lack of information. Most of
 us tend to look at today's price tag more than tomorrow's potential
 savings. That holds double for the landlord or developer. who won't
 actually see a penny of the savings his ivestment in better
 insulation or a better heating system might generate. In many
 people's 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 EU's 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 couse, 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, it's the
 biggest, easiest and most profitable bang for the buck.