Renewable Energy Sources托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

2023-05-29 11:09:11 來源：中國教育在線

Renewable Energy Sources托福聽力原文翻譯及問題答案

一、Renewable Energy Sources 托福聽力原文：

NARRATOR: Listen to part of a lecture in an environmental science class.

FEMALE PROFESSOR: Now, there's growing interest these days in generating electricity from renewable energy sources, right? From developing wind farms, to tapping into an underground source of geothermal energy. And when you're considering a new project, it's important to look at the costs, as well as benefits, of developing that energy source. Let me give you an example of the kind of thing I’m talking about.

There’s currently a lot of interest in harnessing the power of the oceans—of the ocean tides, that is… the movement of huge amounts of water, which causes the water level of oceans to rise and fall. The idea is that if we can harness that tidal energy, it’d be a great, clean, renewable energy source.

One place where this tidal energy can be harnessed is at a shallow body of water, such as an estuary.Now, can anyone tell us what an estuary is? Yes, Ted.

MALE STUDENT: An estuary's where a river enters the ocean… the fresh water meets the ocean water. Sometimes it's covered in water; sometimes it's not…

FEMALE PROFESSOR: Some parts of the estuary—as the tides go in and out… but other parts are always submerged. 

Now, estuaries are an ideal place to try to capture energy from changes in tides because, well, there’s an exceptionally large difference between the water level at high tide and at low tide. All that movement of water generates a lot of energy. And one way to harness that energy is by building a structure called a barrage there.

A barrage is basically a large low dam that’s built across an estuary. When the tides go in and out, the moving water flows through tunnels in the barrage. So you have huge amounts of water trying to flow through these relatively small tunnels… and that turns turbines  that generate electricity.

Now, these estuaries are important because of their high level of biological productivity. They're home to lots of birds, fish, and other marine life. So when you propose to construct a barrage, you have lots of issues to consider.

For example, it would change the existing water levels in the estuary… since a lot of water is getting held up by the barrage, the incoming tides won't go as high... but they wouldn’t be as low during low tide, either. This might help prevent flooding, but it would also affect the mud flats—those areas of mud that normally are exposed when the tide recedes.

MALE STUDENT: But don't lots of birds rely on exposed mud flats for food?

I mean, don’t they eat tiny animals that live in the mud? And what about those tiny animals? What would happen to them if the mud flats were endangered?

FEMALE PROFESSOR: So you're seeing some of the potential problems with a barrage. But consider this… Right now the water in an estuary is very cloudy. The tidal currents are constantly churning up the sediments that rivers deposit in the estuary. But a barrage would reduce the tidal currents, so a lot of that sediment would settle to the floor of the estuary; it wouldn't get stirred up so much. The water would be clearer… allowing more sunlight to reach deeper into the water… which might lead to more food for birds and other animals…attracting new wildlife to the area. So it's a complicated environmental picture.

MALE STUDENT: Have they tried this anywhere… built a barrage?

FEMALE PROFESSOR: Yes, there are several in operation. There's one in France.

They have to be careful there about how they turn on the turbines, because they create currents and waves that can affect boats.

But I haven't read about any major ecological problems. In fact, the fishing is supposed to have improved…plus there's even more bird life.

But some of the barrages we’re considering now would be much larger than that one. There's been one proposed for the estuary of Great Britain’s Severn River… one of the largest estuaries in the world. It would be 16 kilometers long… just to give you an idea, the barrage in France is less than a kilometer.

Outside of environmental concerns, such a project would be hugely expensive and that’s another argument against barrages—well, such large ones anyway. Critics say that it would be better to use that money for something else, such as improving the energy efficiency of buildings. You could make a lot of buildings more efficient with all that money, and that would reduce the need for electricity.

二、Renewable Energy Sources 托福聽力中文翻譯：

旁白：在環(huán)境科學(xué)課上聽講座的一部分。

女教授：現(xiàn)在，人們對利用可再生能源發(fā)電越來越感興趣，對嗎？從開發(fā)風(fēng)電場到開發(fā)地下地?zé)崮茉础．斈憧紤]一個新項目時，重要的是要考慮開發(fā)這種能源的成本和效益。讓我給你舉一個我正在談?wù)摰倪@類事情的例子。

目前人們對利用海洋潮汐的力量非常感興趣，也就是說……大量的水的運動，導(dǎo)致海洋的水位上升和下降。我們的想法是，如果我們能夠利用潮汐能，它將是一種偉大的、清潔的可再生能源。

可以利用潮汐能的一個地方是淺水區(qū)，例如河口?，F(xiàn)在，有人能告訴我們什么是河口嗎？是的，特德。

男學(xué)生：河口是河流進入海洋的地方……淡水與海水相遇。有時它被水覆蓋；有時不是…

女教授：潮汐進出時，河口的一些部分……但其他部分總是被淹沒&nbsp；

現(xiàn)在，河口是從潮汐變化中獲取能量的理想場所，因為高潮和低潮時的水位相差非常大。水的運動產(chǎn)生了大量的能量。利用這種能量的一種方法是在那里建造一個叫做攔河壩的結(jié)構(gòu)。

攔河壩基本上是一個橫跨河口的低矮大壩。當潮水進出時，流動的水流通過攔河壩的隧道。因此，有大量的水試圖流過這些相對較小的隧道……這會轉(zhuǎn)動渦輪機；發(fā)電的。

現(xiàn)在，這些河口很重要，因為它們的生物生產(chǎn)力很高。它們是許多鳥類、魚類和其他海洋生物的家園。所以，當你提議建造攔河壩時，你有很多問題要考慮。

例如，它會改變河口現(xiàn)有的水位……由于大量的水被攔河壩攔住，來潮不會漲得那么高。。。但在低潮時，它們也不會那么低。這可能有助于防止洪水泛濫，但也會影響泥灘——通常在退潮時露出的泥質(zhì)區(qū)域。

男學(xué)生：但是很多鳥不是都依賴暴露在外的泥灘作為食物嗎？

我的意思是，他們不吃生活在泥里的小動物嗎？那些小動物呢？如果泥灘受到威脅，他們會怎么樣？

女教授：所以你看到了攔河壩的一些潛在問題。但考慮到這一點……現(xiàn)在河口的水非常多云。潮流不斷攪動著河流沉積在河口的沉積物。但是攔河壩會減少潮流，因此大量泥沙會沉降到河口底部；就不會這么激動了。水會更清澈……讓更多的陽光深入水中……這可能會為鳥類和其他動物帶來更多的食物……吸引新的野生動物來到該地區(qū)。所以這是一幅復(fù)雜的環(huán)境圖。

男學(xué)生：他們在哪里嘗試過這個……建造了一個攔河壩？

女教授：是的，有幾個在運行。法國有一家。

在那里，他們必須小心如何打開渦輪機，因為它們產(chǎn)生的水流和波浪會影響船只。

但我沒有讀到任何重大的生態(tài)問題。事實上，捕魚業(yè)本應(yīng)得到改善……此外，鳥類的數(shù)量甚至更多。

但我們現(xiàn)在正在考慮的一些攔河壩將比那一個大得多。有人提議在英國塞文河（Severn River）的河口建造一個……世界上最大的河口之一。它將有16公里長……只是給你一個想法，法國的攔河壩不到一公里。

除了環(huán)境問題，這樣一個項目將花費巨大，這也是反對攔河壩的另一個理由——不管怎樣，這么大的攔河壩。批評人士表示，最好將這筆錢用于其他方面，比如提高建筑的能效。你可以用這些錢讓很多建筑更有效率，這將減少對電力的需求。

三、Renewable Energy Sources 托福聽力問題：

Q1:1.What is the main purpose of the talk?

A. To explain the mechanical functioning of barrages.

B. To discuss some possible ecological effects of building barrages.

C. To discuss the effects of ocean tides on coastal ecosystems.

D. To describe ways to increase biological productivity of estuaries.

Q2:2.What does the professor say about estuaries to support the claim that they are appropriate places for building barrages?

A. Estuaries undergo significant changes in water levels.

B. Estuaries attract a wide varity of animal species.

C. Estuaries are deeper than other bodies of water.

D. Most estuaries are far from resdential areas.

Q3:3.What is the professor's opinion when the man expresses concern about marine life on the mud flats?

A. She thinks the environmental impact of barrages would be worse for birds than for fish.

B. She agrees that any damage to the mud flats would probably be irreversible.

C. She feels that the situation is more complex than the man realizes.

D. She does not believe that the mud flats support a wide variety of animal species.

Q4:4.The professor mentions a change in the quantity of fish caught near a barrage in France. What most likely happened to the water in the estuary as a result of the construction of the barrage?

A. The water has become clearer.

B. The water has become saltier.

C. The water has become polluted

D. The water level has risen.

Q5:5.What does the professor say is a criticism of the proposed barrage at the Severn River in Great Britain?

A. It would damage nearby buildings.

B. It would attract harmful species to the region.

C. It would not be as large as the barrage in France.

D. it would be too expensive to build.

Q6:6.Replay: Why does the professor say this:

A. To request that the student answer in greater detail.

B. To introduce a new topic for discussion.