时间:2018-12-15 作者:英语课 分类:VOA慢速英语2009年(十)月


英语课

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.


Many people think the search for cleaner energy leads only to renewable resources like sun, wind and water. But it also leads to a fossil fuel. Natural gas is considered the cleanest of the fossil fuels, the fuels created by plant and animal remains 1 over millions of years.


Burning it releases fewer pollutants 2 than oil or coal. The gas is mainly methane 3. It produces half the carbon dioxide of other fossil fuels. So it may help cut the production of carbon gases linked to climate change.
 
Drilling beneath the Bakken shale 4 formation in North Dakota


Russia is first in what are called "proved reserves" of natural gas. The United States is sixth. Over the years, big oil and gas companies recovered much of the easily reached supplies of gas in America. They drilled straight down into formations where gas collects. As these supplies were used up, big drillers looked for similar formations in other countries.


But now the industry is taking a new look. Companies are developing gas supplies trapped in shale rock two to three thousand meters underground. They drill down to the shale, then go sideways and inject high-pressure water, sand or other material into the rock.


This causes the rock to break, or fracture, releasing the gas. Huge fields of gas shale are believed to lie under the Appalachian Mountains, Michigan and the south-central states.


Gas shale exploration is being done mainly by small to medium sized companies.


Eric Potter is a program director in the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin.


ERIC POTTER: "The types of opportunities that are left for natural gas exploration in the U.S. have changed. So it's a different class of resource -- not as easy to develop, and not even recognized as something worth pursuing, say, twenty years ago."


He says more than half the gas in the United States is now coming from these new reserves.


But hydraulic 5 fracturing can also produce debate and anger over the risk of groundwater pollution. This method of drilling is not federally supervised under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Some in Congress want to end that exemption 6 from the law.


Natural gas provides Americans with about one-fourth of their energy. And, unlike oil, most of it is produced in America. Gas producers invested heavily in reaching new supplies when prices were high. But prices are down sharply now because the recession cut demand for energy. So energy expert Eric Potter says it is too early to know how the new gas shale reserves will affect the market.


And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.



1 remains
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
2 pollutants
污染物质(尤指工业废物)( pollutant的名词复数 )
  • Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
  • The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条(g)的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
3 methane
n.甲烷,沼气
  • The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
  • Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。
4 shale
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。
5 hydraulic
adj.水力的;水压的,液压的;水力学的
  • The boat has no fewer than five hydraulic pumps.这艘船配有不少于5个液压泵。
  • A group of apprentics were operating the hydraulic press.一群学徒正在开动水压机。
6 exemption
n.豁免,免税额,免除
  • You may be able to apply for exemption from local taxes.你可能符合资格申请免除地方税。
  • These goods are subject to exemption from tax.这些货物可以免税。
学英语单词
-faced
5-hydroxindoleacetic acid (5-hiaa)
abate a cause of action
absorption dynamometers
Actisan-5L
Adam's Bridge, Adams Bridge
Agamemnon
aluminium conductor steel rein- forced
Arenshausen
at the best
athyrium tozanense
atrophoderma vermiculata
bacciformis
bamian
bang-zone
bertall
bloomsdale
board the gravy train
bonding temperature
boron and water makeup system
cardo
centrale foramina
chittimwoods
citrous fruit
coacervation process
computer-aided design and drafting (cadd)
confidential adviser-advisee relations
Corydalis pseudorupestris
demergers
differential with side ring and radial cam plate
diks-diks
document of luggage transportation
Doshākh, Kuh-e
drivelers
empfindsamer Stil
european silver firs
ex-l
farouche
form pollen tubes
get sth. out of one's head
Gurjākhāni
hargis
Hermippe
horribilities
Hubble law
in-core instrumentation assembly
inductor dynamic loudspeaker
interrupt freeze mode
kelm
knotted chest with jaundice
learning-growth
lempel-ziv
lock state
lyg
Lythraceae
malagasy republics
margelov
Massay formula
Meesea
myeloarchitectures
non-locking shift character
nonconfessions
nonnegativity
numbersome
orbital septum
original accumulation
parkerization
pericardial disease
pseudoperichaeta roseanella
pulvis effervescens compositus
quasi cleavage fracture
quasi-real-time
radial servo
rajid
rapidly progressing glomerulonephritis
reluctates
roof and ground plummet
rural tourism
sagittal suture
senior analyst
sennit
septa intermusculare posterius
short-circuit line
sinistral transcurrent
slow cooking process
spoofing attack
stationary bar screen
steam lift
steel beaker
stiffened skin
sulfonio
Taiwan Relation Act
task schedule
toe slab
trolley lander
ultrasonic communication
unfoldedness
ungrabbable
Wabenzi
weatherpersons
zinjanthropera