VOA标准英语2010年-Catching a Wave - and its Energy

One of the newest sources of alternative energy is also one of the oldest - water power. The 19th century water wheel, though, bears no resemblance to the 21st century contraptions powered by ocean waves.
The wave energy sector¹ has been slow to coalesce² around one technology. Quite the opposite. Unconventional ideas are blooming like algae³ along America's Pacific Coast in a proliferation of creative electric engineering.
Harnessing the power of wavesThe steady, powerful pounding of the ocean surf at this time of year is a reminder⁴ why marine⁵ energy developers love the Pacific Northwest. Huge waves crash against the jetties at the mouth of Tillamook Bay on the Oregon Coast. Columns of spray shoot in the air.
"The wave energy potential is very large here," says Stephanie Thornton, American program director for the Wave Energy AS. The Norwegian company proposes redesigning jetties and breakwaters like these to include electricity generators⁷ built inside.
"It's designed in such a way that it has open chambers⁸ on the wave facing side," Thornton explains. "When the waves crash or hit against this device, water fills these chambers and runs into the back where the turbine is. Basically it's very similar to a hydroelectric dam where water just flows through and drives a turbine." VOA - T. BanseWave Energy AS program director Stephanie Thornton hopes to harness the power of the crashing waves near Barview, Oregon. The industry is in its infancy⁹. It's a period of great experimentation¹⁰, overflowing¹¹ with creative technologies.
"Once they figure out if it can work from a technical standpoint, then it's the business side of it," Thornton says. "The economics may be the key issue."InnovationThe Scottish firm, Aquamarine Power, is one of several other foreign companies scouting¹² here.
Aquamarine outreach coordinator¹³ Theresa Wisner recently described her firm's near-shore device to the Tillamook County Commission. Called the Oyster¹⁴, it's a very large mechanical flap resting on the sea bottom.
"What happens is a wave comes in from the ocean. It forces the top of the Oyster down onto some pistons¹⁵," says Wisner. "Those pistons force that water into high pressure water line that goes ashore¹⁶ to a Pelton wheel, which is one of the oldest ways of generating electricity."Wisner was followed to the podium in Tillamook by a representative for Seattle, Washington-based Principle Power. Kevin Bannister described his company's plans for floating wind farms offshore¹⁷ of Oregon and Portugal.
"The design came from the oil and gas industry. So, semi-submersible platforms like this one are not terribly new," says Bannister. "The integration¹⁸ with a wind turbine however is a new idea."Yet another company diving into the competition is a Salem, Oregon based startup, M3 Wave Energy Systems. Its idea relies on wave pressure passing over air-filled pillows on the sea floor. The pulses compress air, which can then be used to spin an electric turbine.
Tillamook Public Utility District manager Pat Ashby has seen even more far out ideas cross his desk.
"We've become kind of a bulls-eye for world developers," says Ashby.
Courtesy Ocean Power TechnologyRendering of wave energy park Prototype ocean energy devices are generating electricity in Scottish, Hawaiian and Australian waters, but not here yet.
Coming first to the U.S. West Coast will likely be a bobbing buoy¹⁹ generator⁶ next year. Eventually, a field of 10 floating buoys²⁰, anchored to the ocean floor, would bob up and down with the swells²¹. The movement creates electricity. Ashby says a floating wind farm also seems plausible²² near term because wind power is well understood.
"The others have got new technology that needs to be tested. It's not really existing anywhere in the world right now. And the devices that produce the energy and their ability to withstand saltwater - corrosive²³ elements - need a lot of work yet."Winning people overAshby says community acceptance also needs some work yet.
At the Port of Garibaldi, Oregon, Darren Mobley prepares his boat for winter crabbing²⁴. He's among the many fishermen and crabbers who worry about how harnessing ocean energy will impact them.
"They're talking about a big area around them that would be closed to fishing," says Mobley. "We can't afford to have any more fishing ground taken from us."Wave Energy's plans to put electric generators inside the breakwaters is the only idea that wins favor from Mobley.
U.S. and foreign governments are keen on the sector and are pumping in lots of funds to float more prototypes. But whether electricity can be generated in the ocean at affordable prices remains an open question

1 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

2 coalesce   

v.联合，结合，合并

参考例句：

• And these rings of gas would then eventually coalesce and form the planets.这些气体环最后终于凝结形成行星。
• They will probably collide again and again until they coalesce.他们可能会一次又一次地发生碰撞，直到他们合并。

3 algae   

n.水藻，海藻

参考例句：

• Most algae live in water.多数藻类生长在水中。
• Algae grow and spread quickly in the lake.湖中水藻滋蔓。

4 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

5 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

6 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

7 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

9 infancy   

n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期

参考例句：

• He came to England in his infancy.他幼年时期来到英国。
• Their research is only in its infancy.他们的研究处于初级阶段。

10 experimentation   

n.实验，试验，实验法

参考例句：

• Many people object to experimentation on animals.许多人反对用动物做实验。
• Study and analysis are likely to be far cheaper than experimentation.研究和分析的费用可能要比实验少得多。

11 overflowing   

n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。
• The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。

12 scouting   

守候活动，童子军的活动

参考例句：

• I have people scouting the hills already. 我已经让人搜过那些山了。
• Perhaps also from the Gospel it passed into the tradition of scouting. 也许又从《福音书》传入守望的传统。 来自演讲部分

13 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

14 oyster   

n.牡蛎；沉默寡言的人

参考例句：

• I enjoy eating oyster; it's really delicious.我喜欢吃牡蛎，它味道真美。
• I find I fairly like eating when he finally persuades me to taste the oyster.当他最后说服我尝尝牡蛎时，我发现我相当喜欢吃。

15 pistons   

活塞( piston的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some pistons have seating rings of metal or leather. 有些活塞上有金属或皮革的密封环。
• A pump uses valves and pistons. 泵使用阀和活塞。

16 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

17 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

18 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

19 buoy   

n.浮标；救生圈；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The party did little to buoy up her spirits.这次聚会并没有让她振作多少。
• The buoy floated back and forth in the shallow water.这个浮标在浅水里漂来漂去。

20 buoys   

n.浮标( buoy的名词复数 )；航标；救生圈；救生衣v.使浮起( buoy的第三人称单数 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• The channel is marked by buoys. 航道有浮标表示。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Often they mark the path with buoys. 他们常常用浮标作为航道的标志。 来自辞典例句

21 swells   

增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The waters were heaving up in great swells. 河水正在急剧上升。
• A barrel swells in the middle. 水桶中部隆起。

22 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

23 corrosive   

adj.腐蚀性的；有害的；恶毒的

参考例句：

• Many highly corrosive substances are used in the nuclear industry.核工业使用许多腐蚀性很强的物质。
• Many highly corrosive substances are used in the nuclear industry.核工业使用许多腐蚀性很强的物质。

24 crabbing   

v.捕蟹( crab的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• We ought not to begin by crabbing everything. 我们不应当一开始就对一切事情采取吹毛求疵的态度。 来自辞典例句
• The boss is always crabbing about my work. 老板对我的工作总是横挑鼻子竖挑眼。 来自辞典例句