阅读理解   Whitening the world's roofs would offset the emissions of the world's cars for 20 years, according to a new study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Overall, installing lighter-colored roofs and pavement can cancel the heat effect of two years of global carbon dioxide emissions, Berkeley Lab says. It's the first roof-cooling study to use a global model to examine the issue.
    Lightening up roofs and pavement can offset 57 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, about double the amount the world emitted in 2006, the study found. It was published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
    Researchers used a conservative estimate of increased albedo, or solar reflection, suggesting that purely white roofs would be even better. They increased the albedo of all roof by 0.25 and pavement by 0.15. That means a black roof, which has an albedo of zero, would only need to be replaced by a roof of a cooler color—which might be more feasible to implement than a snowy white roof. Berkeley Lab says.
    The researchers extrapolated a roof's CO2 offset over its average lifespan. If all roofs were converted to white or cool colors, they would offset about 24 gigatons (24 billion metric tons) of CO2, but only once. But assuming roofs last about 20 years, the researchers came up with 1.2 gigatons per year. That equates to offsetting the emissions of roughly 300 million cars, all the in the world, for 20 years.
    Pavement and roofs cover 50 to 65 percent of urban areas and cause a heat-island effect because they absorb so much heat. That's why cities are significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas. This effect makes it harder—and therefore more expensive—to keep buildings cool in the summer. Winds also move the heat into the atmosphere, causing a regional warming effect.
    Energy secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel laurete in physics (and former Berkeley Lab director), has advocated white roofs for years. He put his words into actions by directing all Energy Department offices to install white roofs. All newly installed roofs will be white, and black roofs might be replaced when it is cost-effective over the lifetime of the roof.
    'Cool roofs are one of the quickest and lowest-cost ways we can reduce our global carbon emissions and begin the hard work of slowing climate change.' He said in a statement.
单选题     Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】 主旨题。题干:下列哪一个是本文的最佳标题?根据文章首段便可知中心思想:浅色的屋顶和公路可以有效减少两年的全球二氧化碳排放,即浅色屋顶和道路对减少环境污染的效果。故本题答案为C。
单选题     A indicated by the passage, black roofs ______.
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】 细节题。题干:文中暗示了,黑色屋顶______。用black roof回到原文定位到第三段,该段讲到“这也意味着一个黑色的屋顶,其光反照率为零”,即黑色屋顶不反射热。故本题答案为B。
单选题     If they are converted to white or cooler colors, all roofs in the world in their lifetime ______.
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】 细节题。题干:如果他们(屋顶)都被换成白色或者冷色,所有屋顶在其有用之年将______。根据选项中的数字可定位到第四段:如果所有的屋顶都变成白色或冷色,它们一次能够抵消24千兆吨的二氧化碳。但是设想屋顶能够保留20年左右,每年能抵消1.2千兆吨的量。那20年就等于能抵消全球大约3亿辆车的排放量。只有C选项最正确,其他选项都有偷换概念的问题。
单选题     According to the passage, it is hard and expensive to keep the urban buildings cool because of ______.
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】 细节推理题。题干:根据文章所述,要保持城市建筑凉爽很困难且造价很高,因为______。用hard and expensive回到原文定位到第五段“This effect makes it harder—and therefore more expensive buildings cool in the summer. ”,其中this effect则是前一句中的内容:因为城市中楼房占据面积太大,吸收太多热量,还会造成热岛效应。只有A选项(热岛效应)符合该内容的描述。本题可用排除法。
单选题     Energy Secretary Steven Chu implies that ______.
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】 推理题。题干:能源部秘书长Steven Chu暗示到______。通过名字可定位文章最后两段,该秘书长“说到做到,他要把能源部办公室的屋顶装成白色”,并且他认为“冷色屋顶是最快和花费最低的方法之一”,因此综合推理得知,A选项(没有什么比他所提倡的方式更有性价比了)是正确答案。