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(jī)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(jìn)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(jìn)來的話，曾經(jīng)被稱頌為"便宜到無法計量"的核能從經(jīng)濟(jì)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(jì)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?，人類對能源的需求不會趨于減少或保持穩(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(jī)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(jìn)行收集，并將它們運(yùn)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(diǎn)，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(jì)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