With an abundance of sun and wind, Spain is positioning itself as Europe’s future leader in green hydrogen production to clean up heavy industries. But some energy experts express caution because this process relies on massive availability of zero-carbon electricity.
Green hydrogen is created when renewable energy sources power an electrical current that runs through water, separating its hydrogen and oxygen molecules (分子). The process doesn’t produce planet-warming carbon dioxide, but less than 0.1% of global hydrogen production is currently created in this way.
The separated hydrogen can be used in the production of steel, ammonia (氨) and chemical products, all of which require industrial processes that are harder to stop fossil fuels. Hydrogen also can be used as a transportation fuel, which could one day transform the highly polluting shipping and aviation sectors.
Spain’s large, windswept and thinly populated territory receives more than 2,500 hours of sunshine on average per year, providing ideal conditions for wind and solar energy, and therefore green hydrogen production.
“If you look at where hydrogen is going to be produced in Europe in the next million years, it’s in two countries, Spain and Portugal,” said Thierry Lepercq, the founder and president of HyDeal Ambition, an industry platform bringing together 30 companies. “Hydrogen is the new oil.”
Lepercq is working with companies like Spanish gas pipeline corporation Enagas and global steel giant ArcelorMittal to design an end-to-end model for hydrogen production, distribution and supply at a competitive price. Criticism has centered on green hydrogen’s higher cost compared with highly-polluting “gray hydrogen” drawn from natural gas. Lepercq argues that solar energy produced in Spain is priced low enough to compete.
Globally, Lepercq said, “Electricity is 20% of energy consumption. What about the 80% that is not electrified? ... You need to replace those fossil fuels. Not in 50 years’ time. You need to replace them now.”
1. Why are some experts cautious about green hydrogen production in Spain?A.It needs large amounts of sun and wind. | B.It has an effect on heavy industries. |
C.It causes conflicts among countries. | D.It uses lots of zero-carbon electricity. |
A.Ideal geographical conditions. | B.The support from government. |
C.Hydrogen production technology. | D.Well-developed public transports. |
A.It is highly priced. | B.It is easy to store. |
C.It is competitive. | D.It is highly-polluting. |
A.Spain manages to use zero-carbon electricity. | B.Spain struggles to lead EU in heavy industry. |
C.Spain takes the lead in preventing air pollution. | D.Spain replaces fossil fuel with green hydrogen. |
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【推荐1】A United Nations-backed mission is recommending that the Great Barrier Reef(大堡礁) should be added to the list of endangered World Heritage sites, warning that without “ambitious, rapid and sustained”climate action the world’s largest coral reef is in peril.
The warning came in a report published Monday following a 10-day mission to the reef last March by officials from UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The reef, a living place of great variety and beauty on the north-east coast of Australia, has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1981.
Australia’s federal government and Queensland’s state authorities should adopt more ambitious emission reduction targets, in line with international efforts to limit future warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, according to the report.
Feedback from Australian officials, both at the federal and state level, will also be reviewed before UNESCO, the U.N.’s Paris-based cultural agency, makes any official proposal to the World Heritage Committee.
The text is criticizing about recent efforts to stop mass bleaching(褪色) and prevent pollution from ruining the reef’s natural waters, saying they have not been fast nor effective enough. Unlimited emissions lead to increased water acidity, which can be poisonous.
More money should be found to increase the water quality and stop the site’s decline, the report concludes.
In an email to AP, the U.N. cultural agency said: “In recent months, we have had a constructive dialogue with Australian authorities. But there is still work to be done.”
1. What does the underlined word “in peril” mean in paragraph 1?A.in short | B.in need | C.in action | D.in danger |
A.It needs to be examined by UNESCO. |
B.It covers successful emission reduction targets. |
C.It includes many effective measures to protect the reef. |
D.It has been submitted to the World Heritage Committee. |
A.Australian authorities’ efforts. | B.Unlimited emissions. |
C.United Nations’ warning. | D.Money for increasing the water quality. |
A.Doubtful. | B.Satisfied. |
C.Objective. | D.Uncaring. |
【推荐2】If you want to travel from Xi’an to Chengdu by train, it will take about 16 hours. But starting this month, the new Xi’an-Chengdu high-speed railway will shorten this travel time to three hours.
The 643-kilometer line is China’s first high-speed railway to run through the Qinling Mountains, which form a natural boundary (分界线) between China’s north and south. With a speed of 250 km per hour, it’s also the first mountain-heavy train line to provide a 4G network. Along the way, the train passes through two areas for rare (稀有) wild animals — one for pandas and the other for crested ibises (朱鹮).
To reduce the railway’s influence on the animals, workers and experts have designed and built the railway to be environmentally friendly. There were 345 wild pandas living in the Qinling Mountains. China currently has 1,864 wild pandas in total, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
To avoid disturbing the pandas, the railway was designed to run through tunnels (隧道) within the area. Protective shields (防护屏) are placed near the entrance of each tunnel to stop animals from going in.
To protect the thousands of crested ibises that fly near one part of the railway, protective nets have been set up to make sure the birds will not fly into a train.
The nets are about 32 km long and 4 meters high. Experts tested different shapes and materials for building the nets before making their final choice.
1. From this month, it will take ________ to travel from Xi’an to Chengdu by the high speed train.A.16 hours | B.13 hours | C.3 hours | D.1 hour |
A.It is China’s first high-speed railway. |
B.It runs through the Qinling Mountains. |
C.It is the best mountain-heavy train line. |
D.The train passes through many areas for rare wild animals. |
A.To save money and energy. |
B.To avoid damaging the mountains. |
C.To avoid harming wild animals. |
D.To help the train run through tunnels quietly. |
A.Tunnels. | B.Tracks. |
C.Protective shields. | D.Protective nets. |
A.Xi’an Chengdu high-speed railway. |
B.How to protect pandas and crested ibises. |
C.Qinling Mountains. |
D.Protective shields and nets. |
阅读下面短文,简要回答所给问题。
The first Earth Day was in 1970. People were beginning to worry about what we were doing to our environment. So they set up Earth Day to tell everyone about their worries.
In 2007 organizers over 150 countries planned over 4,000 big events. But Earth Day is not just about marches(游行) and big events. In the week around Earth Day (22 April) there were many thousands of smaller, local events. These events dealt with environmental problems in the neighborhood. The World Wide Fund for Nature made a list of 5 things that each person could do to save the environment.
*Don't leave the tap running.
*Turn off lights when you leave a room.
*Turn off your computer every night.
*Wash your clothes, and yourself, in warm or cold water, not hot water.
*Dishwashers use as little water as possible. If we all do at least 20 of these all the time, we can make a big difference.
1. What is the purpose for people to set up Earth Day?
2. When is Earth Day?
3. What should people do when the water keeps running from a tap?
4. Does the word “dishwashers” mean “machines for washing dishes”?
5. Besides the five, what else can you do to save our environment? (One example is OK.)
【推荐1】At Sho Farm in northern Vermont, farmers Melissa Hoffman and Shawn Smith work hand in hand with the land and its inhabitants, and among them are hundreds of ducks. The ducks at Sho Farm are not being raised to be killed for food. Rather, they are naturally involved in farming operations, helping to manage pests and add fertilizer (肥料) to the soil.
In the beginning, Hoffman, who has a background in organic farming and ecology action, worked with ecologists and biologists to survey the plants and wildlife all around the area. This was “to understand who was living here, so that everything we did was in relationship to the life already here,” he says.
So, at Sho Farm, focus is placed on living harmoniously alongside other life and working with traditional ecological knowledge. Food is seen not as a commodity (商品) but as a relationship with land and life.
The methods of food production at Sho Farm, as well as the farmers’ philosophy of working with rather than against nature, are in sharp contrast to most modern agricultural systems. And that’s the point. “We’ve been talking a lot about the broken food system and the consequences of it to the environment, to wildlife, to the animals in animal agriculture and to human health,” says Hoffman, adding that it’s not just the food system that’s broken. “It’s the relationship between humans, non-human animals, land and nature.”
The ducks play a vital, integrated role on the farm, explains Hoffman, by naturally providing pest control, fertilizer and (fuel-free) land maintenance (维护), just as by-products of their existence. “We noticed where we summered groups of ducks and parts of the food system that were not doing very well. The following year, the food system was efficiently improved,” he says.
It’s a symbiotic relationship that works well. “Animals don’t have to be part of a farm in a commodity sense. They can be part of the farm as a partner,” Hoffman says. “They are wonderful partners.”
1. Why did Hoffman do a survey in the beginning?A.To get familiar with the surroundings. |
B.To have a good relationship with other people. |
C.To live in harmony with other life on the farm. |
D.To have a good understanding of organic farming. |
A.The causes of the broken food system. |
B.The reasons for Hoffman’s farming methods. |
C.The changes in modern agricultural systems. |
D.The process of food production at Sho Farm. |
A.Animals are treated well at Sho Farm. |
B.Animals are not to be sold for money. |
C.People and animals play the same role in organic farming. |
D.People and animals work together and benefit each other. |
A.Efficient. | B.Modern. | C.Natural. | D.Economical. |
【推荐2】Have you ever seen one of the many videos of an elephant catching a paintbrush, putting it in paint, and producing a painting similar to something a 5-year-old could create? While watching an elephant paint is an amazing sight, we can’t help but wonder whether the training methods and results reflect animal cruelty.
A 2014 study on four captive (圈养的) Asian elephants at the Melbourne Zoo in Australia was carried out to identify stress-related behaviors around the activity of painting. While the researchers found that the elephants had a neutral (中立的) response to painting — not stressful, nor enriching- it seemed that when an elephant was not selected to paint, it displayed non-interactive behavior. This is seen as a possible signal of stress in the animals.
In addition, PETA, a famous animal rights group, has mentioned several American zoos that use harmful training methods to get elephants to paint, perform tricks, play instruments, and more. That is to say, some zoos that organize elephant painting use assaults to encourage the elephants. However, PETA argues that animal shelters should not force animals to do tricks at all.
Activist organizations warn that elephants can undergo extreme discomfort in the training process. Furthermore, many of the painting elephants are very young, at an age where they should still be with their mothers. It raises questions about whether there’s a chance they were caught for the express purpose of performing, or whether they could somehow be restored to a return to the wild.
It is difficult to support any kind of trained behavior that differs greatly from a wild animal’s natural tendencies. The role of a shelter is to allow an animal to live as close to its normal life as possible, perhaps with an eye to returning the animal to the wild; teaching them to paint does not seem to go with that target, particularly if it’s not a learned behavior that the animal would be willing to do independently.
1. What is the purpose of the 2014 study?A.To identify stress-related behaviors when elephants paint. |
B.To identify a neutral response to painting. |
C.To recognize stress-free behaviors when elephants paint. |
D.To recognize elephants’ non-interactive painting. |
A.Persuasions. | B.Benefits. | C.Rewards. | D.Attacks. |
A.Elephants should stay with their mother. |
B.Elephants may feel uncomfortable in the training. |
C.Elephants are caught for the purpose of performing. |
D.Elephants ought to be returned to the wild. |
A.Teaching animals to paint. | B.Permitting animals to perform. |
C.Allowing animals to live freely. | D.Training animals to finish the target. |
【推荐3】On October 24, 1929 — “Black Thursday” — a wave of panic selling of stocks (股票) swept the New York Stock Exchange. The Great Depression began. By 1932, thousands of banks and businesses had failed. Industrial production was cut in half, farm income had fallen by more than half, wages had decreased 60 percent, new investment was down 90 percent and one out of every four workers was unemployed.
The Republican president, Herbert Hoover was unable to take measures to deal with the economic collapse. So in the 1932 election, he was defeated by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, who promised “a New Deal for the American people”.
Within the “Hundred Days”, Roosevelt rushed through Congress a number of laws to aid the recovery of the economy. The Civilian Conservation Corps put young men to work in reforestation (重新造林) and flood.
The Federal Emergency Relief Administration aided state and local relief funds. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration paid farmers to reduce production, thus raising crop prices. The Tennessee Valley Authority built a network of dams in the Tennessee River area to generate electricity and control floods. The National Recovery Administration regulated fair competition among businesses and minimum wages for workers.
The Work Progress Administration (WPA) was one of the most effective of the New Deal measures. Financed by taxes collected by the federal government, the WPA created millions of jobs by undertaking the construction of roads, bridges, airports and other public buildings. It kept workers in the job, thus preserving their skills and their self-respect. The New Deal programs did not end the Depression. But the economy improved as a result of this program of government intervention (介入).
1. According to the passage, “Black Thursday” refers to the day when _______.A.the New York Stock Exchange was shut | B.industrial production decreased |
C.the New Deal was issued | D.the Great Depression began |
A.to deal with economic problems |
B.to help state and local relief funds |
C.to aid the workers to finish their stock selling |
D.to make young people plant trees and build dams |
A.it provided workers jobs of building roads and airports |
B.it preserved workers’ skill and self-respect |
C.it provided financial aids to workers |
D.it ensured workers’ minimum wages |
A.The Agricultural Adjustment Administration paid farmers to reduce crop prices. |
B.The Work Progress Administration is the most effective Administration in the US. |
C.The Depression was not ended just by the New Deal programs. |
D.President Herbert Hoover failed in carrying out the New Deal for the American people. |