新视野大学英语第四册

精品文档---下载后可任意编辑Unit 7The coming energy crisis日益逼近的能源危机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 world's thirst for energy has more than tripled. Petroleum and natural gas are exploited as versatile and high quality energy products. Uranium is also tapped to fuel nuclear reactors and provide atomic energy.两百年前，全球经历了一场能源革命，由此引发了工业时代的到来。从那时起，随着人口密度的迅速增加，工业国家对于能源的需求成倍成倍增加。石油和天然气被看作是用途多、质量好的能源产品而得到开发，而铀也得以开发，为核反应堆提供燃料并供应原子能源。Cheap energy is the lifeblood of human society. But 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 international 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", has never been economically successful when all costs are factored in. Furthermore, public opinion polls show nuclear energy is too 1精品文档---下载后可任意编辑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 toxic waste. Inexpensive and seemingly abundant non-renewable energy from dead plants and...