【英语趣味课堂】可替代能源-Alternative Energy

Matthew: I heard that you work at an renewable energy company. Can you tell me what kind of company it is?

Kat: My company is a wind energy company but there's a lot of other options.

 

Matthew: What are the other options and what are the pros¹ and cons² of each option?

 

Kat: Well let's start off with wind. Wind energy is great. It doesn't take away a lot of space. You can have one wind turbine in a very small area but on the other hand you really need some strong wind to have a good output. Then you have solar energy. Solar energy is great but you also need a very good location and solar exposure is normally just a couple of hours a day so you need a very big solar panel so it takes away a lot of space. Then we have the option of geothermal energy which is great but once again depends on where you live. Very few areas have what it takes to have a productive geothermal system and it's very expensive. There's a lot of drilling involved. Then another option is bio-energy which is where you actually take animal waste and use that to make energy. I think it's one of the better ones but once again the set up is highly expensive. Then a last option would be hydro-energy. Hydro-energy I think is best in very large set ups, government-run or run by large electricity companies. It's very expensive to set up but once it's set up, it's a very, very productive way of making energy.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

renewable

 

I heard that you work at an renewable energy company.

 

Renewable energy comes from unlimited³ sources such as wind and sun. Notice the following:

 

Renewable energy is one way to combat rising oil prices.

The government is considering new sources of renewable energy.

pros and cons

 

What are the pros and cons of each option?

 

We use the term pros and cons to talk about the positive and negative sides of an issue. Notice the following:

 

We discussed the pros and cons at the meeting.

What are the pros and cons?

on the other hand

 

But on the other hand you really need some strong wind to have a good output.

 

The term 'on the other hand' is used to express contrast. Notice the following:

 

It's nice, but on the other hand it's expensive.

On one hand it's interesting, but on the other hand it's noisy, crowded and dirty.

option

 

We have the option of geothermal energy

 

To have an option means we have a choice. Notice the following:

 

We have three options.

We have three possible choices.

set up

 

Once it's set up, it's a very, very productive way of making energy.

 

When we set something up, that means we organize a system to do what we want. Notice the following:

 

He set up a business to service computers.

We need to set up a system to save energy.

1 pros   

abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 cons   

n.欺骗，骗局( con的名词复数 )v.诈骗，哄骗( con的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 unlimited   

adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。