新西兰英语 546 Wind Power plan cancelled

 　　Meridian¹ Energy has decided² not to go ahead with their plan to put 176 wind turbines³ in Central Otago. Local people set up a protest⁴ group. This group has spent a lot of time and money fighting to stop Meridian Energy for the last six years. In 2009, the Environment Court did not support the plan. Meridian Energy went to the High Court which sent it back to the Environment Court. Now Meridian has decided they have other plans for generating⁵ electricity which may be cheaper. The cost of the Central Otago turbines was $2bn.

　　New Zealand is a windy country. Meridian’s planned wind farm was going to produce 630MW of electricity. At the moment only 4% of our electricity comes from wind although the plan is for 20% in the next 20 years. Most of our electricity – 57% – is from hydro, 10% from geo-thermal activity and the rest from coal, gas or oil. More geo-thermal power stations are possible in the future.

　　The Central Otago community which do not want wind turbines in their area say that turbines are ugly and noisy. This part of New Zealand is a quiet, peaceful and beautiful part.

　　An earlier plan by Meridian Energy for hydro power from the Waitaki River in Otago was cancelled in 2004, partly because of protests⁶ from local groups.

　　Note: Meridian Energy is a company owned by the government. The government plans to sell 49% of it very soon.

　　Questions

　　1.Why do local communities protest about building new hydro power stations?

　　2.What are the advantages of wind power? What other disadvantages are there?

　　3.Are there any disadvantages to geo-thermal power stations?

　　4.Electricity generated⁷ in one area is sent to other parts of New Zealand. Is it fair for a local community to stop a power project?

1 meridian   

adj.子午线的；全盛期的

参考例句：

• All places on the same meridian have the same longitude.在同一子午线上的地方都有相同的经度。
• He is now at the meridian of his intellectual power.他现在正值智力全盛期。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 turbines   

涡轮机( turbine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These turbines can be broadly split into two basic types, the impulse and the reaction turbines. 这些汽轮机可大致分为两种基本类型，即冲动式和反动式。
• The steam is carried through pipes to steam turbines which drive the electric generators. 蒸汽经过输送管进入汽轮机，汽轮机再带动发电机。

4 protest   

v.反对，抗议；宣称；n.抗议；宣称

参考例句：

• I can't pass the matter by without a protest.我不能对此事视而不见，我要提出抗议。
• We translated his silence as a protest.我们把他的沉默解释为抗议。

5 generating   

n.发生，产生v.生（儿、女）( generate的现在分词 )；（通过物理或化学过程）发生；生成；引起

参考例句：

• There are many ways of generating a two-dimensional representation of an object. 有很多制作物体二维图的方法。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Generating functions are an ideal tool for studying sequences defined by recurrence. 母函数是研究用递推关系来确定的函数的最理想工具。 来自辞典例句

6 protests   

n.[体]抗议；抗议，反对( protest的名词复数 )v.声明( protest的第三人称单数 )；坚决地表示；申辩

参考例句：

• The protests have forced the government to back-pedal on the new tax. 抗议活动已迫使政府撤销新的税目。
• Plans to build a new mall were deep-sixed after protests from local residents. 修建新室内购物中心的计划由于当地居民反对而搁浅。

7 generated   

a.生成的

参考例句：

• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。
• It generated much excitement and frenetic activity. 这使人们非常激动并导致了狂热的行动。