1、.Unit 7The coming energy crisis日益逼近的能源危機(jī)Two hundred years ago, the world experienced an energy revolution that launched the Industrial Age. Ever since then, with the rapid increase of population density, the industrialized worlds thirst for energy has more than tripled. Petroleum and natural gas are

2、 exploited as versatile and high quality energy products. Uranium is also tapped to fuel nuclear reactors and provide atomic energy.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(shí)代的到來。從那時(shí)起，隨著人口密度的迅速增加，工業(yè)國家對(duì)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。Cheap energy is the lifeblood of human society. Bu

3、t there is a dark side to the near monopoly of non-renewable fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas, along with controversial uranium, to supply our growing energy demands. The supply of these fuels is physically limited, and their use threatens our health and environment. Multiple internationa

4、l treaties have been proposed to limit the use of fossil fuels for this very reason. Fears of global warming aside, burning fossil fuels releases chemicals and particulates that can cause breathing problems, cancer as well as brain and nerve damage. Nuclear energy, once hailed as too cheap to meter,

5、 has never been economically successful when all costs are factored in. Furthermore, public opinion polls show nuclear energy is too closely associated with disasters like the Chernobyl reactor meltdown and the Fukushima explosion, and with the danger that: rebel insurgents could do damage with the

6、toxic waste. Inexpensive and seemingly abundant non-renewable energy from dead plants and extinct animals fueled the 20th century economy, but geologists, climatologists, environmentalists, and many others are warning that the honeymoon may soon be over.廉價(jià)能源是人類社會(huì)的命脈。但是，對(duì)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

7、乎壟斷地使用以滿足我們?nèi)找嬖鲩L的對(duì)能源的需求的做法有其危險(xiǎn)的一面。這些燃料的供應(yīng)實(shí)際上是有限的，并且，使用這些燃料對(duì)我們的健康和環(huán)境都造成威脅。正因如此，人1 / 6.們制定了眾多的國際條約，以限制對(duì)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(huì)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(duì)大腦和神經(jīng)的損傷。如果把所有代價(jià)都考慮進(jìn)來的話，曾經(jīng)被稱頌為便宜到無法計(jì)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(shí)，核能還具有一種危險(xiǎn)，就是叛亂分子可能利用其有毒廢物制造傷害

8、。死去的植物和動(dòng)物所產(chǎn)生的價(jià)格低廉且看似充足的非再生能源推動(dòng)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(shí)光很快就要結(jié)束了。At some indefinite time in the near future, the last drop of oil, lump of coal or wisp of natural gas will be collected from the earth. The eventual depletion of fossil fuels that hitherto proved so reliable has le

9、ft us with no choice but to prepare for a new age of energy synthesis. Most certainly, human demand for energy will not decrease or plateau but surge as world population grows to nine billion over the next 50 years. By the year 2020, world energy consumption is projected to show a linear increase of

10、 50 percent.在不久的將來的某個(gè)時(shí)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(shí)代的到來?？梢钥隙?，人類對(duì)能源的需求不會(huì)趨于減少或保持穩(wěn)定，而是會(huì)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% 。How will we meet the sky-rocketing energy demands of the future? Until we perfect the technology of cold fusi

11、on, well have to focus on the development and increased production of energy from renewable energy sources - sun, wind, water, and so on. While renewable energy2 / 6.sources are promising, an international confederation of scientists and engineers is working feverishly to overcome the various obstac

12、les associated with these new energy technologies. The major challenge is to develop efficient and economically workable versions of these technologies.我們怎樣才能滿足未來急劇增長的能源需求呢？在我們完善冷聚變技術(shù)之前，我們只能專注于開發(fā)太陽能、風(fēng)能、水電能之類的可再生能源，并提高其產(chǎn)量。雖然可再生能源前景樂觀，一個(gè)由科學(xué)家和工程師組成的國際聯(lián)盟卻正在積極工作，努力克服與這些 新興能源 技術(shù)相關(guān)的各種障礙，其中最大的挑戰(zhàn)就是如何使這些技術(shù)變得既

13、高效又經(jīng)濟(jì)。Take solar energy for example. It is a good option because there is an unlimited supply of glittering sunlight. Making it work on a large scale, however, is much easier said than done. It would be cost prohibitive totake the intricate gadgets of solar energy from the fringe of green society to

14、 the mainstream for major world consumption. The solar apparatus itself is ready for many new business and consumer applications, but it is way too expensive to replace the old combustion machinery of gears and motors with new electronic technology of semiconductors and transistors on a global or ev

15、en a national scale.以太陽能為例。由于耀眼的太陽光能夠提供源源不斷的能源，所以它是個(gè)不錯(cuò)的選擇。但是，大規(guī)模地使用太陽能卻是說起來容易做起來難。把制造太陽能所需要的復(fù)雜零件從環(huán)保 社會(huì)的邊緣推廣到主流社會(huì)，使之成為世界主要的消費(fèi)性能源，其代價(jià)之高讓人望而卻步。太陽能設(shè)備本身已是技術(shù)成熟，可以使商業(yè)和消費(fèi)者進(jìn)行許多新型應(yīng)用，但是，在全球或者即便是在全國范圍內(nèi)，用新型的半導(dǎo)體和晶體管電子技術(shù)取代老式的用齒輪和發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)驅(qū)動(dòng)的燃燒設(shè)備，其成本實(shí)在太高。Wind power, which has been used effectively in some places for gene

16、rations, is also rapidly growing in the energy market. The principle behind it is that wind converts rotary force into electricity by turning the blades of the turbine clockwise or counterclockwise around an axis. Unfortunately, wind power is very unreliable and its strength depends on local weather

17、 patterns, temperature, time of year, and location. In3 / 6.addition to this unreliability, wind power equipment is very expensive compared with other energy sources and wont become a viable alternative until we can slash the costs significantly. Also, a wind farm requires enormous land clearing to

18、produce significant amounts of energy.風(fēng)能在一些地方已經(jīng)被幾代人有效利用，目前在能源市場中也發(fā)展迅速。風(fēng)能的原理是：風(fēng)通過驅(qū)動(dòng)渦輪機(jī)葉片按順時(shí)針或逆時(shí)針方向繞著一個(gè)軸旋轉(zhuǎn)，從而把轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)時(shí)所產(chǎn)生的力轉(zhuǎn)換成電能。不幸的是，風(fēng)能非常不穩(wěn)定，其強(qiáng)度取決于當(dāng)?shù)氐奶鞖饽Ｊ?、溫度、季?jié)以及地域。除了不穩(wěn)定的因素之外，和其他能源相比，風(fēng)能設(shè)備造價(jià)昂貴。除非我們能將其成本大大降低， 否則風(fēng)能就不會(huì)成為一個(gè)可行的替代能源。而且，一個(gè) 風(fēng)能農(nóng)場 需要大片空曠的土地才能生產(chǎn)大量能源。Hydroelectric power is another source of clean and

19、 renewable energy. It can be harnessed by controlling the natural outflow of water with different methods. The most popular is through dams, which, unfortunately, are no longer considered environmentally friendly. Most of the hydroelectric dams in the world are historically recent, but all reservoir

20、s eventually will fill up with mud and require very expensive excavation to clear them up to become useful again.水力電能是另外一種既干凈又能再生的能源。人們可以通過不同方法來控制自然水流以進(jìn)行發(fā)電。最普遍的方法是通過水壩，但不幸的是，建水壩已被認(rèn)為是對(duì)環(huán)境不利的方法了。世界上大多數(shù)用于水力發(fā)電的大壩建造歷史都不長，但是所有的水庫最終都會(huì)被淤泥填塞，需要耗資巨大進(jìn)行清淤才能使它們重新得到利用。Biomass energy derived from plant and animal m

21、atter is still another renewable source being considered as a standby replacement for fossil fuels. Organic waste in the form of dead trees, leaves, animal corpses and food processing waste exists in abundance and can be used to produce energy. However, there is no way to ventilate the direct burnin

22、g of biomass as fuel without diffusing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases can pose a risk to the ozone layer, increasing overall exposure of human beings to harmful4 / 6.UV rays from the sun. Besides, it takes time and money to collect and transport biomass in

23、 its raw form to a central point for processing into fuel, and the automation of such a process is too difficult. So, for the time being, biomass has too many costly drawbacks to be a workable alternative to fossil fuels.動(dòng)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(dòng)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

24、造能源。然而，將生物質(zhì)作為燃料直接燃燒，通風(fēng)時(shí)必然會(huì)將二氧化碳及其他溫室氣體排放到大氣中。這些氣體會(huì)對(duì)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(xiǎn)。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(gè)中心站加工處理成燃料，這一過程既耗時(shí)又耗財(cái)，而且對(duì)這一過程實(shí)現(xiàn)自動(dòng)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。Although renewable energies are not yet economically competitive with fossil fuels, their price becomes more attractive when compared with the health and environmental costs associated with burning coal and oil. Perhaps the best solution to our growing energy challenges comes in a bulletin from the Union of Concerned Scientists: Our societys fu