新視野大學(xué)英語第四冊-unit7A-The-coming-energy-crisis

Unit7Thecomingenergycrisis日益逼近的能源危機Twohundredyearsago,theworldexperiencedanenergyrevolutionthatlaunchedtheIndustrialAge.Eversincethen,withtherapidincreaseofpopulationdensity,theindustrializedworld'sthirstforenergyhasmorethantripled.Petroleumandnaturalgasareexploitedasversatileandhighqualityenergyproducts.Uraniumisalsotappedtofuelnuclearreactorsandprovideatomicenergy.兩百年前，全球經(jīng)歷了一場能源革命，由此引發(fā)了工業(yè)時代的到來。從那時起，隨著人口密度的迅速增加，工業(yè)國家對于能源的需求成倍成倍增加。石油和天然氣被看作是用途多、質(zhì)量好的能源產(chǎn)品而得到開發(fā)，而鈾也得以開發(fā)，為核反應(yīng)堆提供燃料并供應(yīng)原子能源。Cheapenergyisthelifebloodofhumansociety.Butthereisadarksidetothenearmonopolyofnon-renewablefossilfuelslikecoal,oilandnaturalgas,alongwithcontroversialuranium,tosupplyourgrowingenergydemands.Thesupplyofthesefuelsisphysicallylimited,andtheirusethreatensourhealthandenvironment.Multipleinternationaltreatieshavebeenproposedtolimittheuseoffossilfuelsforthisveryreason.Fearsofglobalwarmingaside,burningfossilfuelsreleaseschemicalsandparticulatesthatcancausebreathingproblems,canceraswellasbrainandnervedamage.Nuclearenergy,oncehailedas"toocheaptometer",hasneverbeeneconomicallysuccessfulwhenallcostsarefactoredin.Furthermore,publicopinionpollsshownuclearenergyistoocloselyassociatedwithdisastersliketheChernobylreactormeltdownandtheFukushimaexplosion,andwiththedangerthat:rebelinsurgentscoulddodamagewiththetoxicwaste.Inexpensiveandseeminglyabundantnon-renewableenergyfromdeadplantsandextinctanimalsfueledthe20thcenturyeconomy,butgeologists,climatologists,environmentalists,andmanyothersarewarningthatthehoneymoonmaysoonbeover.廉價能源是人類社會的命脈。但是，對煤炭、石油、天然氣這些不可再生的礦物燃料及有爭議的鈾進行近乎壟斷地使用以滿足我們?nèi)找嬖鲩L的對能源的需求的做法有其危險的一面。這些燃料的供應(yīng)實際上是有限的，并且，使用這些燃料對我們的健康和環(huán)境都造成威脅。正因如此，人們制定了眾多的國際條約，以限制對礦物燃料的使用。除了造成全球變暖之外，礦物燃料在燃燒過程中還會釋放出某些化學(xué)物質(zhì)和微粒，引發(fā)呼吸系統(tǒng)疾病、癌癥，并造成對大腦和神經(jīng)的損傷。如果把所有代價都考慮進來的話，曾經(jīng)被稱頌為"便宜到無法計量"的核能從經(jīng)濟效益上來說則從未獲得過成功。而且，民意調(diào)查顯示，核能總被認(rèn)為與災(zāi)難密切相關(guān)，例如切爾諾貝利核反應(yīng)堆熔毀事件及福島核電站爆炸事件。同時，核能還具有一種危險，就是叛亂分子可能利用其有毒廢物制造傷害。死去的植物和動物所產(chǎn)生的價格低廉且看似充足的非再生能源推動了20世紀(jì)的經(jīng)濟發(fā)展，但地理學(xué)家、氣候?qū)W家、環(huán)境學(xué)家以及其他許多人都在警告我們：這樣美好的時光很快就要結(jié)束了。Atsomeindefinitetimeinthenearfuture,thelastdropofoil,lumpofcoalorwispofnaturalgaswillbecollectedfromtheearth.Theeventualdepletionoffossilfuelsthathithertoprovedsoreliablehasleftuswithnochoicebuttoprepareforanewageofenergysynthesis.Mostcertainly,humandemandforenergywillnotdecreaseorplateaubutsurgeasworldpopulationgrowstoninebillionoverthenext50years.Bytheyear2020,worldenergyconsumptionisprojectedtoshowalinearincreaseof50percent.在不久的將來的某個時候，地球上最后一滴石油、最后一塊煤或最后一縷天然氣將被開采。迄今為止一直被證明是穩(wěn)定可靠的礦物燃料終將消失，這讓我們別無選擇，只能作好準(zhǔn)備，迎接新的能源綜合利用時代的到來?？梢钥隙ǎ祟悓δ茉吹男枨蟛粫呌跍p少或保持穩(wěn)定，而是會隨著世界人口在未來50年增長到90億而迅速增加。據(jù)預(yù)測，到2020年，全球的能源消耗將直線增長50%。Howwillwemeetthesky-rocketingenergydemandsofthefuture?Untilweperfectthetechnologyofcoldfusion,we'llhavetofocusonthedevelopmentandincreasedproductionofenergyfromrenewableenergysources-sun,wind,water,andsoon.WhilerenewableenergyUVraysfromthesun.Besides,ittakestimeandmoneytocollectandtransportbiomassinitsrawformtoacentralpointforprocessingintofuel,andtheautomationofsuchaprocessistoodifficult.So,forthetimebeing,biomasshastoomanycostlydrawbackstobeaworkablealternativetofossilfuels.動植物物質(zhì)所產(chǎn)生的生物能源也是一種可再生能源，且被認(rèn)為是礦物燃料的備用替代品。以死樹、枯葉、動物尸體以及食品加工廢料的形式存在的有機廢物十分充足，可以被用來制造能源。然而，將生物質(zhì)作為燃料直接燃燒，通風(fēng)時必然會將二氧化碳及其他溫室氣體排放到大氣中。這些氣體會對臭氧層造成威脅，增加人們受到來自太陽的有害紫外線照射的危險。除此以外，將生物質(zhì)以原始形態(tài)進行收集，并將它們運送到某個中心站加工處理成燃料，這一過程既耗時又耗財，而且對這一過程實現(xiàn)自動化非常困難。所以，在目前，生物質(zhì)能源有太多高成本方面的缺點，不能成為礦物燃料可行的替代品。Althoughrenewableenergiesarenotyeteconomicallycompetitivewithfossilfuels,theirpricebecomesmoreattractivewhencomparedwiththehealthandenvironmentalcostsassociatedwithburningcoalandoil.PerhapsthebestsolutiontoourgrowingenergychallengescomesinabulletinfromtheUnionofConcernedScientists:"Oursociety'sfuturesuccesscannothingeononesinglesolution.Theanswerinsteadmustcomefromafamilyofdiverseenergytechnologiesthatshareaunifiedpurpose-theydonotdepleteournaturalresourcesordestroyourenvironment."Despitethedifficulties,itisimportanttorememberthatanenergycrisisisapproachingatsupersonicspeedsandwillsoonbeuponus.Inordertoinaugurateanewerainenergy,wemustactquicklyandworktowardinternationalcollaborationtofindthemosteffectivesolutionstoourenergyproblems.雖然從經(jīng)濟實惠方面來說，可再生能源沒有礦物能源有競爭力，但是，與燃燒煤和石油所