2020考研英語(yǔ)閱讀理解精讀100篇：Unit 47

Unit 47

Usually alternating current（AC）transmission suffers lower losses than direct current（DC）, and thus, AC became the industry standard. Some people, however, question that standard because over long distances high-voltage DC lines suffer lower losses than AC. Not only does that make them better in their own right, but employing them would allow electricity grids to be restructured in ways that would make wind power more attractive. That would reduce the need for new conventional（and polluting） power stations.

Wind power has some problems. You don’t always get it where you want it and you don’t always get it when you want it. The question of where the wind is blowing would no longer matter because it is almost always blowing somewhere. If it were windy in Spain but not in Ireland, current would flow in one direction. Dealing with when the wind blows is a subtler issue. For instance, an important part of Dr Schmid’s continental grid is the branch to Norway. It is not that Norway is a huge consumer. Rather, the country is well supplied with hydroelectric plants. These are one of the few ways that energy from transient sources like the wind can be stored in grid-filling quantities. The power is used to pump water up into the reservoirs that feed the hydroelectric turbines. That way it is on tap when needed. The capacity of Norway’s reservoirs is so large, according to Dr Schmid, that should the wind drop all over Europe—which does happen on rare occasions—the hydro plants could spring into action and fill in the gap for up to four weeks.

Put like this, a Europe-wide grid seems an obvious idea. That it has not yet been built is because AC power lines would lose too much power over such large distances. Hence the renewed interest in DC. Dr Schmid calculates that a DC grid of the sort he envisages would allow wind to supply at least 30% of the power needed in Europe. Moreover, it could do so reliably—and that means wind power could be used for what is known in the jargon as base-load power supply.

Though wind power has its opponents, too, its environmental virtues might be enough to swing things in its favour if it were also reliable. Indeed, a group of Norwegian companies have already started building high-voltage DC lines between Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Germany, though these are intended as much to sell the country’s power as to accumulate other people’s. And Airtricity—an Irish wind-power company—plans even more of them. It proposes what it calls a Supergrid. This would link offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish, North and Baltic seas with customers throughout northern Europe.

注（1）：本文選自Economist；

注（2）：本文習(xí)題命題模仿對(duì)象為2004年真題Text 3。

1. By saying “make them better in their own right” （Lines 3~4, Paragraph 1）, the author means to _______.

A) realize the right of DC

B) make DC suffer lower losses

C) make DC more useful than AC

D) make better use of DC to transfer power

2. By saying “Dealing with when the wind blows is a subtler issue” （Line 4, Paragraph 2）, the author actually implies that _______.

A) it is more difficult to predict the time when the wind blows

B) it is more intricate to deal with the wind since it is always transient

C) it is more complex to control the wind in the temporal sense

D) it is more complicated to utilize the wind power

3. How will consumers think of a DC electricity grid?

A) Not feasible yet.

B) Quite economical.

C) Somewhat troublesome.

D) Too bold.

4. Why is Dr Schmid’s continental grid located in Norway?

A) To make use of the country’s capacity of reservoirs so as to store temporary power.

B) To make use of the country’s rich wind power so as to meet consumers’ demand.

C) To make better use of the country’s rich hydroelectric power to supply other European countries.

D) It is simply Dr Schmid’s personal preference of that country.

5. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A) Wind power has won universal support.

B) Companies hesitate to invest in wind power.

C) The prospect of wind power so far seems very positive.

D) Wind farms on oceans can supply power demand of the whole Europe in the future.

篇章剖析

本文是一篇科技說(shuō)明文，主要說(shuō)明了風(fēng)能發(fā)電的優(yōu)勢(shì)和可行性。第一段通過(guò)比較說(shuō)明直流電和交流電來(lái)引出風(fēng)能發(fā)電的話題；第二段分析了風(fēng)能發(fā)電存在的一些限制及其解決辦法；第三段和第四段則說(shuō)明了在歐洲建設(shè)新型電網(wǎng)的前景。

詞匯注釋

alternating current 交流電

direct current 直流電

voltage /?v??lt?d?/ n. 電壓，伏特?cái)?shù)

electricity grid 電網(wǎng)

subtle /?s?tl/ adj. 微妙的；精細(xì)的

turbine /?t??b?n/ n. 渦輪

envisage /?n?v?z?d?/ v. 正視，設(shè)想

jargon /?d?ɑ?g?n/ n. 行話

Scandinavia /?sk?nd??ne?vj?/ n. 斯堪的納維亞（半島）

offshore /??f???/ adj. 向海面吹的，離岸的

難句突破

Not only does that make them better in their own right, but employing them would allow electricity grids to be restructured in ways that would make wind power more attractive.

主體句式：Not only does that make them better, but employing them would allow electricity grids to...

結(jié)構(gòu)分析：這個(gè)句子是一個(gè)相對(duì)比較復(fù)雜的not only, but （also）結(jié)構(gòu)。前半句中的not only后面跟的句子按照語(yǔ)法規(guī)則需要倒裝，后半句but also結(jié)構(gòu)中省略了also這個(gè)詞，這在語(yǔ)法上也是允許的，且后半句的主句是一個(gè)現(xiàn)在分詞結(jié)構(gòu)，后面的in ways之后跟的是一個(gè)定語(yǔ)從句。

句子譯文：這不僅能有利于電流的傳送，而且通過(guò)使用高壓直流電纜，人們可以對(duì)電網(wǎng)進(jìn)行改造，從而更加有利于風(fēng)能發(fā)電。

題目分析

1. D 語(yǔ)義題。根據(jù)文章第一段，由于在遠(yuǎn)距離傳輸方面高壓直流電纜損失的電量比交流電纜少，因此通過(guò)這個(gè)方法能夠更加充分地利用直流電來(lái)傳輸電能，因此答案為D。

2. C 語(yǔ)義題。文章第二段指出利用風(fēng)能存在很多問題，包括風(fēng)向的時(shí)間和地點(diǎn)。而哪里有風(fēng)的問題相對(duì)比較容易解決，但是風(fēng)在什么時(shí)候吹則是一個(gè)更加微妙的問題，也就是說(shuō)，在時(shí)間意義上控制風(fēng)能是比較困難和復(fù)雜的，因此C選項(xiàng)符合題意。

3. B 細(xì)節(jié)題。文章第三段指出，建設(shè)直流電電網(wǎng)可以節(jié)約在傳輸過(guò)程中浪費(fèi)的電能，因此對(duì)于消費(fèi)者來(lái)說(shuō)這一方案是較為經(jīng)濟(jì)和節(jié)約的，也是可行的，因此正確答案為B。需要指出的是讀者應(yīng)區(qū)分economic和economical兩個(gè)詞語(yǔ)的區(qū)別，economic的意思是“經(jīng)濟(jì)（上）的，經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)的”，是宏觀意義上的；而economical的意思是“節(jié)約的，儉省的”，是微觀意義上的。

4. A 細(xì)節(jié)題。文章第二段后半部分描述了史密德博士設(shè)計(jì)的大陸電網(wǎng)，其中指出選擇挪威的原因不是因?yàn)檫@個(gè)國(guó)家缺乏足夠的電能，而是這里有足夠多的水庫(kù)可以用來(lái)儲(chǔ)存由風(fēng)能轉(zhuǎn)化而成的電能。

5. C 細(xì)節(jié)題。各個(gè)題目的細(xì)節(jié)均可以在文章最后一段中找到對(duì)應(yīng)的信息。其中提到了歐洲多家能源公司已經(jīng)在計(jì)劃建設(shè)傳輸風(fēng)能的直流電纜，充分說(shuō)明了風(fēng)能利用的前景非常好。

參考譯文

一般來(lái)說(shuō)，交流電傳輸比直流電傳輸損失的電量要少，因此，交流電成為了工業(yè)上的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。但是一些人卻在質(zhì)疑這個(gè)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，因?yàn)閺倪h(yuǎn)距離傳輸來(lái)看，高壓直流電纜損失的電量比交流電纜少。這不僅能有利于電流的傳送，而且通過(guò)使用高壓直流電纜，人們可以對(duì)電網(wǎng)進(jìn)行改造，從而更加有利于風(fēng)能發(fā)電。如此一來(lái)，對(duì)于新建更多傳統(tǒng)（也是污染的）發(fā)電站的需求就會(huì)減少。

風(fēng)能發(fā)電存在一些問題。風(fēng)能不是隨處都在，也非隨時(shí)可得。但是現(xiàn)在哪里有風(fēng)的問題已經(jīng)得到解決，因?yàn)榭傆械胤皆诠物L(fēng)。如果現(xiàn)在西班牙多風(fēng)而愛爾蘭卻無(wú)風(fēng)，那么電流就會(huì)朝一個(gè)方向傳送。但是，風(fēng)在什么時(shí)候吹則是一個(gè)更微妙的問題。比如說(shuō)，史密德博士設(shè)計(jì)的大陸電網(wǎng)的重要一部分就位于挪威。但這并不是因?yàn)榕餐M(fèi)很多的電能，而是這個(gè)國(guó)家到處都是水電站。利用水電站是可以把如風(fēng)能等稍縱即逝的能源大量?jī)?chǔ)存起來(lái)的方式之一。通過(guò)使用這些風(fēng)能，人們可以把水往上抽到水庫(kù)中推動(dòng)水電渦輪。水電站以這個(gè)方式就可以隨時(shí)把水抽上來(lái)。史密德博士認(rèn)為挪威水庫(kù)容量如此之大，以至于如果歐洲所有的地方都不刮風(fēng)了——這種現(xiàn)象確實(shí)偶爾會(huì)發(fā)生——挪威的水電站仍然可以繼續(xù)運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)并供應(yīng)整個(gè)歐洲的用電量達(dá)四周之久。

如果情況真是這樣的話，那么建設(shè)一個(gè)跨歐洲的電網(wǎng)是勢(shì)在必行的了。此前沒有進(jìn)行該項(xiàng)目建設(shè)是因?yàn)榻涣麟娎|在進(jìn)行如此遠(yuǎn)距離傳輸?shù)臅r(shí)候會(huì)損失大量的電能。而現(xiàn)在人們開始思考用直流電纜來(lái)實(shí)現(xiàn)這一設(shè)想。史密德博士估計(jì)，他設(shè)想的這種直流電纜能夠使風(fēng)能滿足全歐洲至少30%的用電需求。此外，這樣做也非?？煽俊獜男g(shù)語(yǔ)上說(shuō)，這意味著風(fēng)能可以被稱為是基本負(fù)荷型電能供應(yīng)。

盡管對(duì)于風(fēng)力發(fā)電也有反對(duì)者，但是如果風(fēng)能可靠的話，那么其清潔環(huán)保的特點(diǎn)足以贏得廣泛的支持。實(shí)際上，一些挪威的公司已經(jīng)開始在斯堪的納維亞、荷蘭和德國(guó)之間建設(shè)高壓直流電纜，盡管他們的目的在于銷售本國(guó)的能源并積累他人的能源。此外，一家愛爾蘭風(fēng)能公司Airtricity則計(jì)劃比挪威的公司們做的更多。該公司提出了一個(gè)所謂的超級(jí)電網(wǎng)的概念，該電網(wǎng)能夠?qū)⒋笪餮蟆蹱柼m海、北海和波羅的海上的風(fēng)能電廠與整個(gè)北歐的消費(fèi)者們連接起來(lái)。