1 . It’s a known fact that emissions (排放物) from gas-powered vehicles are harming the atmosphere. In response to this, Porsche, the German sports car company, began producing e-fuels at a pilot plant in Chile last year. Currently, the fuel will be used only in sports cars at Porsche’s performance and experience centers.
E-fuels are made by passing electricity through water. The electricity separates the hydrogen and oxygen from water. The hydrogen is then mixed with CO₂ to produce a liquid e-fuel, which can be produced using many renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power. E-fuels follow the chemical structure of gasoline, making it possible for gas-powered cars to run on e-fuels almost without any change.
E-fuels can help ease the transform away from gas-powered cars, for those who may not be able to afford electric vehicles (EV). It will also help to reduce waste by keeping gas-powered cars in service, instead of throwing them away prematurely. Additionally, the use of e-fuels will not require new facility to be built unlike EVs. Existing gas stations and cars will be able to stay in use, which is already a big saving.
Despite the many benefits, opinions differ on whether e-fuels are truly eco-friendly. E-fuels are widely said to be nearly carbon neutral (碳中和), although an independent study indicates that e-fuels release the same amount of CO₂ as gasoline. Since e-fuels are still being developed and tested, their true impacts are still unknown. Meanwhile, e-fuels are very expensive to produce, partly due to energy loss during production. Unfortunately, only about half of the energy used in producing e-fuels is actually transformed into fuel. Additionally, only about 16% of the energy used in e-fuel production is actually used to power the car. Whereas, about 70% of energy is preserved when powering an EV. Even though the use of e-fuels will preserve existing facility, it will still take time and money to integrate it into everyday life. Currently, the price of e-fuels is nearly double the cost of regular fuel.
E-fuels are still a work in progress. Though opinions are divided on e-fuels, with more testing and development, they have been considered another way to help fight against the climate crisis. “There are currently more than 1.3 billion vehicles with combustion (内燃) engines worldwide. Many of these will be on the roads for decades to come, and e-fuels offer the owners of existing cars a nearly carbon-neutral alternative. With the e-fuels pilot plant, Porsche is playing a leading role in this development,” said Michael Steiner, member of the Executive Board for Development and Research at Porsche AG.
1. What can we learn from this passage?| A．E-fuels release no CO₂. |
| B．E-fuels were tested in Germany at first. |
| C．E-fuels are applicable to gas-powered cars. |
| D．E-fuels need to be mixed with CO₂ in actual use. |
| A．draw a conclusion. | B．present an opinion |
| C．further a discussion | D．provide a solution |
| A．Positive. | B．Dismissive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Objective. |
Electric scooter safety
If you look around the streets of London, you’ll see the many methods people use to move around. Whether it’s on a commute to work, a trip to the shops, or a sightseeing excursion, there are people on buses, the Tube, cars, motorbikes, bicycles and even roller skates. The roads are already congested (jammed); and now there’s a new addition: electric, or “e-scooters”.
This traditional children’s vehicle has become more sophisticated over the years. And now, with the addition of a small electric motor, it’s become a cheap and easy mode of transport. Scooting around town can be fun and doesn’t involve much effort, so it’s no wonder they’re becoming increasingly popular in cities around the world. But following what’s believed to be the first fatal accident involving an electric scooter in the UK, questions are being asked about their safety and whether traffic laws should be changed.
Some scooter riders have been seen on pavements; others on the road jumping red traffic lights, adding to the frustration of motorists stuck in jams. In the UK, the law states that riding one on the public highway or pavement is forbidden. Riders currently face a £300 fixed-penalty notice and six points on their driving licence for doing so. But, despite this, it seems the increasing popularity of e-scooters means they can be seen everywhere. And now users are calling on regulations to be changed.
The UK government is looking at how safely they can be used on the road and is ‘reviewing’ the law. But its transport minister, Michael Ellis, has told the BBC that: “Micromobility products are appearing in countries across the globe and are an exciting innovation for which we know there is demand. However, safety must always be our top priority when considering their use on public highways in this country.”
There’s no doubt there are dangers in riding a two-wheeled scooter. Despite the fact that some of them can exceed 30mph, they sometimes only have one brake and no lights. They also become unstable if the rider hits a pothole, and however confident the rider may be, larger vehicles on the road make them vulnerable (easy to be hurt). So it seems more work needs to be done to give e-scooters a safe and legal space to travel in.
1. What is it that makes an e-scooter easy to ride?2. Why are motorists annoyed by those e-scooter riders?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement. Then underline it and explain why.
To answer the call of e-scooter users, the UK government is preparing to change the law about where e-scooters can be used.
4. Do you think e-scooters should be allowed on public roads? Why? (In about 40 words)
If you park your car in the wrong place, a traffic policeman will soon find
Some bullet trains don’t run on tracks at all. They fly over them. They
5 . When it comes to lowering our carbon emissions (排放), it seems that nothing is simple. Electric vehicles (EVs) act as an example of potential greenwash. “They seem very attractive at first sight,” writes The Next Web in a report. “When we look more closely, it becomes clear that they have a substantial carbon footprint.”
The rare earth metals and costly minerals included as essential ingredients in EV batteries are not renewable. What’s more, their extraction (提炼) is often anything but green.
So the question is: is it worth it? Just how much emission reduction can EVs justify? Luckily, a life cycle assessment has been done to give us some answers.
“A life cycle analysis of emissions considers three phases,” writes The Next Web. “the manufacturing phase, the use phase, and the recycling phase.” In the manufacturing phase, the battery is to blame. “Emissions from manufacturing EV batteries were estimated to be 3.2 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), 1/4 of those from an electric car, 13 tons of CO2. Those were bigger than emissions from gas cars, 10.5 tons of CO2.” If the vehicle life is assumed to be 150,000 kilometers, emissions from the manufacturing phase of an electric car are higher than gas cars.”
In the use phase, the source of electricity the consumer is using to power their car comes into play in a major way. “To understand how the emissions of electric car vary with a country’s renewable electricity share, consider Australia and New Zealand,” continues the report. “In 2018, Australia’s share of renewables in electricity was about 21%. In contrast, the number in New Zealand’s was about 84%. Electric car emissions in Australia and New Zealand are estimated at about 170g and 25g of CO2 per km respectively. As a consumer, our car is only as green as our country’s energy mix.”
Finally, in the recycling phase, we look at vehicle dismantling(拆除), vehicle recycling, battery recycling, and material recovery. “The estimated emissions in this phase, based on a study, are about 1.8 tons for a gas car and 2.4 tons for an electric car. This difference is mostly due to the emissions from battery recycling, which is 0.7 tons,” shows in the report. “While electric cars cause more greenhouse gas emissions than gas cars do, it's important to note the recycled batteries can be used in subsequent batteries. This could have significant emissions reduction benefits in the future. For complete life cycle emissions, the study shows that EV emissions are 18% lower than gas cars.”
So here’s the takeaway: EVs are greener. Maybe they’re not as green as we thought. There’s certainly room for improvement. But the real challenge lies in speeding the global energy transition toward greener energy-production.
1. Why is a life cycle analysis of emissions made?| A．To illustrate the advantages of EVs. |
| B．To show how gas cars outperform EVs. |
| C．To weigh the environmental impact of EVs. |
| D．To examine the energy sources of gas cars and EVs. |
| A．By giving instructions. | B．By highlighting features. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By analyzing cause and effect. |
| A．Recycling of batteries. | B．Overall driving distance. |
| C．Manufacturing technology. | D．Government’s energy policy. |
| A．EVs are worthy of the praise they have received. |
| B．EVs are not successful for their environmental downsides. |
| C．EVs will no longer be widely accepted for their emissions. |
| D．EVs are not truly green until their energy sources become green. |
A warning system to prevent people from falling asleep while driving
7 . The good news is that more people bought electric cars in 2020. The bad news is that SUVs continued to grow in popularity, too. The fall in oil consumption due to the first trend was completely cancelled out by the second, say Laura Cozzi and Apostolos Petropoulos at the International Energy Agency (IEA) in France.
The growing popularity of SUVs is making it even harder to cut carbon dioxide emissions（排放）and meet climate goals. “Policy-makers need to find ways to persuade consumers to choose smaller and more efficient cars,” says Petropoulos.
Oil consumption by conventional cars – not including SUVs – is estimated to have fallen 10 percent in 2020, or by more than 1.8 million barrels（桶）a day, Cozzi and Petropoulos say in a commentary published by the IEA on 15 January. Most of this fall was due to reduced travel and is likely to be temporary.
But a small part of the drop, around 40,000 barrels a day, was as a result of the increased share of electric vehicles (EVs). “We have seen a skyrocketing of global electric car sales in 2020,” says Petropoulos. Unfortunately, the number of SUVs increased as well. While overall car sales fell in 2020, 42 percent of buyers chose SUVs, up around three percentage points from 2019.
Globally, there are now more than 280 million SUVs being driven, up from fewer than 50 million in 2010. On average, SUVs consume 20 percent more energy per kilometre than a medium-sized car.
The increase in SUVs in 2020 led to a rise in oil consumption that cancelled out the effect of electric cars, says Petropoulos. Much the same is true over the past decade. Between 2010 and 2020, global CO2 emissions from conventional cars fell by nearly 350 megatonnes, due to factors such as fuel efficiency improvements as well as the switch to electric cars. Emissions from SUVs rose by more than 500 megatonnes.
“While the growth in EVs is encouraging, the increase in SUVs is heart-breaking,” says Glen Peters at the CICERO climate research centre in Norway.
There are many reasons for the growing popularity of SUVs, says Petropoulos. Rising prosperity（繁荣）in many countries means more people are able to afford them, for instance. Some people see them as a symbol of social position. SUVs are also heavily advertised by car-makers, he says, whose profits are higher on these vehicles.
There are now some electric SUVs available. “Hopefully, in time, you will see electric vehicles entering the SUV market,” says Peters.
Even if it happens, switching to electric SUVs isn’t an ideal solution. Due to their size and bigger batteries, it takes more resources to build electric SUVs, and they consume around 15 percent more electricity. Higher electricity demand makes it harder to green the electricity supply.
1. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?| A．The SUVs driven in 2019 reached up to 280 million. |
| B．Electric cars appeared a sharp decline in sales in 2020. |
| C．Buyers of SUVs in 2020 increased 42 percent than those in 2019. |
| D．Global SUVs being driven now are over five times as many as those in 2010. |
| A．it could have harmful consequences for the air quality |
| B．the oil consumption will increase and the price will fall |
| C．people all over the world are getting wealthier than before |
| D．the car-makers think it’s unnecessary to advertise any more |
| A．The purchases of SUVs should be reduced. |
| B．The SUVs should be discontinued immediately. |
| C．The awareness of using electric cars needs to be improved. |
| D．Increasing electric cars can solve the problem of oil consumption. |
| A．Unconcerned. | B．Disapproving. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Uncertain. |
Ten years ago, people bought electric vehicles (EVs) to reduce their carbon footprint.
The railway line
In the early 1800s, Stanislas Baudry built public baths in the center of a town in France. To encourage people to come, Baudry drove a large vehicle around to give people a ride to the baths. He called the vehicle an omnibus,
