时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2012年(三月)


英语课

Despite Near-Term Energy Woes 1, Experts Optimistic


The biggest development of an alternative to oil in recent years has been the expansion of natural gas production in the United States, using technologies that free up gas trapped in shale 2 rock.


That is one of the reasons experts speaking at the annual IHS-CERA conference here in Houston earlier this month expressed optimism about the world's energy picture.
John Larson, vice 3 president of consulting group IHS-Global Insight, says the shale production not only favors the prospect 4 of producing more vehicles that run on natural gas, but also favors the expansion of renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar.
"One of the things that natural gas does and, sort of, the lower prices, is that it actually creates a reserve energy that can enable or allow the expansion of these renewables," said Larson.
Larson says gas can be used to run electrical generators 5 when the wind doesn't blow or the sun isn't shining, but he says low-cost natural gas also provides a market challenge that wind is, so far, better able to meet.
"Wind and natural gas are actually fairly close -- they are cost comparable in terms of how much it costs to generate one megawatt hour for wind versus 6 one megawatt hour for natural gas. Solar is about five times higher," Larson explained.
The expansion of U.S. natural gas production could also help revitalize U.S. manufacturing, says Royal Dutch Shell's Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser. 
"If you have affordable 7 and abundantly available gas… there could be a great rebirth of manufacturing industries in the United States," noted 8 Voser.
Transportation fuel costs might also be brought down by using natural gas, instead of corn, to produce the ethanol that is now a required additive 9 in gasoline.
Steven Sterin is chief financial officer of the Dallas-based Celanese Corporation, which has developed a way of doing it.
"It is a thermochemical process that either uses natural gas or coal or other carbon sources, hopefully in the future, bio-sources, as those develop, to produce very large scales of very economically attractive ethanol," Sterin noted.
A change in U.S. law is needed for this to happen here, but Celanese is now working with China to produce ethanol from coal.
Petroleum 10 will be the dominant 11 transportation fuel for many years to come, but experts say the world's dependency on it can be greatly reduced by the development of alternative fuels. 

困境( woe的名词复数 ); 悲伤; 我好苦哇; 某人就要倒霉
  • Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
  • She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。
n.页岩,泥板岩
  • We can extract oil from shale.我们可以从页岩中提取石油。
  • Most of the rock in this mountain is shale.这座山上大部分的岩石都是页岩。
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
n.前景,前途;景色,视野
  • This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
  • The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。
n.发电机,发生器( generator的名词复数 );电力公司
  • The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
  • Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》
prep.以…为对手,对;与…相比之下
  • The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
  • The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。
adj.支付得起的,不太昂贵的
  • The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
  • There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。
adj.著名的,知名的
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
adj.附加的;n.添加剂
  • Colour is often an additive in foods.颜料经常是各种食物中的添加物。
  • Strict safety tests are carried out on food additives.对食品添加剂进行了严格的安全检测。
n.原油,石油
  • The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
  • The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。
adj.支配的,统治的;占优势的;显性的;n.主因,要素,主要的人(或物);显性基因
  • The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
  • She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。
学英语单词
active trimming
activity restart cycle
Advertisement Regulation Act
Andaman Islands, Andamans
average-weight
beamtherapy
binomial distribution probability
Boselaphus
break release
break-even price
Bretton Woods Monetary Agreement
Briterlich variable radius technique
Changsando
channel address half word table
choga
cigar wrapping
Cinnopropazone
cluster spring
coal storage yard
contractual forum
coriandrol
Cremanthodium angustifolium
cross software
crownhills
crucilly
diagnoser
docuhistory
Donghai
double venturi tube
driving motion
ease someone out
epigenetic mineral
every two years
fate of particles
functional density
GDP dissociation inhibitor
general inquiry
General of the Army
grays in silicon
h. h. munroes
Hanke-Koessler's tests
heldover
heteromorphous combination
hormonagoga
HTML
image-motion compensator
instantaneous error of rotation
Itapicuru
kemmons
kertzmen
kroeng
lanagan
lasta
letter stock
Lord High Chancellor
lubricating oil starting pump
mark of the beast
Mitreola
morphoanatomically
negative viscosity
noninterlocked area
only the good die young
options tariff
oral bundle
parenchyma strand
pecornut
Pedicularis siphonantha
pennorth, pennorth
phosphor laser
placodes
plant colo(u)ring matters
plug-ins
Pyrularia sinensis
reacton turbine
receiving-departure yard
reindustrialising
remote readout
rosies
rotary cultivator
s phenomenon Bordet
schmoozer
scumbered
sideelevation
sight feed siphon lubricator
single-chip
solar satellite
solvd
spot trading
Strait of Hormuz
superior phrenic arteries
tensile
tubular resistance
tyre building
ultraphysical
under-the-counters
uniform divergence
uraeotyphlids
wood-hen
Working Tax Credit
X car
xylariopsis uenoi