单选题
Ausubel of Rockefeller University says the key renewable energy sources, including sun, wind and biofuels, would all require vast
1
of land if developed up to large scale production unlike nuclear power. That land would be far better left alone, he says. Renewables look attractive when they are quite
2
. But
3
we start producing renewable energy on a large scale, the fallout (结果) is going to be horrible. Instead, Ausubel argues
4
renewed development of nuclear.
Ausubel
5
his conclusions by analyzing the amount of energy renewables, natural gas and nuclear that can produce in terms of power per square meter of land used. Moreover, he claims that as renewable energy use increases, this measure of efficiency will
6
as the best land for wind, biofuels, and solar power gets used up.
Using biofuels to obtain the
7
amount of energy as a 1000 megawatt (兆瓦) nuclear power plant would require 2500 square kilometers of farm
8
, Ausubel says. "We should be sparing land for nature, not using it as pasture (牧场,草地) for cars and trucks," he adds.
Solar power is
9
more efficient than biofuel in terms of the area of land
10
, but it would still require 150 square kilometers of photovoltaic (光电的) cells to
11
the energy production of the 1000 MW nuclear plant. In another example, he says meeting the 2005 US electricity demand
12
wind power alone would need 780, 000 square kilometers, an area the size of Texas.
However, several experts are highly critical
13
Ausubel"s conclusions. John Turner of the US government"s National Renewable Energy Laboratory says that
14
the US got all of its power from solar energy, it would still need less than half the amount of land that has been paved over for highways. Further, it need not
15
additional land. The US could get a quarter of its energy just from covering rooftops of
16
buildings, he says.
According to Turner, the same "dual use" also
17
to wind power. The footprint for wind is only 5% of the land that it
18
. Farmers can still farm the land that the turbines (涡轮机) are on. Turner says looking solely at land use is an oversimplification of the
19
"I"m not sure I"d want to build one of these nuclear plants in Afghanistan, but we could
19
put in wind and solar power," he adds.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[考点] 语义以及词类的综合考查(figures“价格,数字”;amounts“数量,总额”;numbers“数量,数字”;digits“数字,位数”)。
[解析] 四个词都是名词,且语义比较接近。amount与number都有数量之意,但是amount一般指不可数名词的数量,而number一般修饰可数名词;figure与digit都有数字之意,但是figure指具体的数字,而digit一般指数字化的数据,如digital camera(数码照相机),原文中的land没有加s,所以答案为B。另外,原文在第四段“it would still need less than half the amount of land...”也复现了这个考点。完形填空要特别注意考点的复现。
【答案解析】[考点] 语义以及词类的综合考查(argues“争论”;draws“吸引,拉动,画”;writes“写”;comments“评论,评价”)。
[解析] 四个选项词都是动词,但是这里有固定搭配,draw the conclusion(得出结论),因而答案为B。类似的表达还有get to/arrive at/come to the conclusion(得出结论)。