Question

An energy watchdog is alarmed about the threat to the environment from the increasing electricity needs of gadgets（小裝置）like MP3 players, mobile phones and flat screen TVs.

In a report today, the Paris-based International Energy Agency says new electronic gadgets will be three times their energy consumption by 2030 to 1,700 terawatt hours（千瓦時）, which is equal to today's home electricity consumption of the United States and Japan combined.

The world would have to build around 200 new nuclear power plants just to power all the TVs, iPods, PCs and other home electronics expected to be plugged in by 2030,when the global electric bill to power them will rise to $200 billion a year, the agency said.

“Consumer electronics is the fastest growing area and the area with the least amount of policies in place to control energy efficiency, ” said Paul Waide, a senior policy analyst at the agency.

Electronic gadgets already account for about 15 percent of household electric consumption, a share that is rising rapidly as the number of these gadgets multiplies. Last year, the world spent $80 billion on electricity to power all these household electronics, the energy agency said.

“ Most of the increase in consumer electronics will be in developing countries, where economic growth is the fastest and ownership rates of gadgets are the lowest , ”Waide said.

“This will jeopardize efforts to increase energy security and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.” the agency said. Existing technologies could cut down gadgets’energy consumption by more than 30 percent at no cost or by more than 50 percent at a small cost, the agency estimates, meaning total greenhouse gas emissions（排放） from households’electronic gadgets could be held stable（穩(wěn)定的） at around 500 million tons of CO2 per year.

1. How many terawatt hours did the energy consumption of new electronic gadgets reach?

A. Nearly l, 700. B. Nearly 600.

C. About 200. D. About 60.

2. What is the condition in the area of consumer electronics?

A. There are a lot of rules to control the market.

B. There are few policies to control energy efficiency.

C. There are few choices for the customers.

D. There are lots of regulations to protect consumers' rights.

3. The underlined word “jeopardize” in the last paragraph probably means “________ ”.

A. harm B. inspire

C. strengthen D. encourage

4. We can know from the last paragraph that existing technologies ___________.

A. are able to control gadgets’energy consumption

B. could do nothing about gadgets’ energy consumption

C. could only cut down gadgets’ energy consumption by 30 percent

D. cut down gadgets’energy consumption at great cost

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.B

3.A

4.A

【解析】

試題分析：本文講述了電能的需求量越來越大使得對環(huán)境的威脅也越來越大，相關(guān)人士對此前景表示擔(dān)憂的同時也在想解決問題的辦法，認為這個情況是可以調(diào)和的。

1. electronic gadgets will be three times their energy consumption by 2030 to 1,700 terawatt hours（千瓦時）可知將來的能量消耗是現(xiàn)在的3倍，1700除以3約為600.故選B

2. electronics is ..the area with the least amount of policies in place to control energy efficiency可知需要一些政策作為條件來控制能量效率。故選B

3. of the increase in consumer electronics… fastest and ownership rates of gadgets are the lowest 可知由于發(fā)展中國家對電力的大量使用使得能源安全和溫室氣體的問題擴大。故選A

4. technologies could cut down gadgets’energy consumption可知能耗是可以較少的，故選A

考點：考查科學(xué)類閱讀