英语日常会话:清洁能源的成本与回报 [含声频]

一位年轻的实业家站在风轮发电机前。 (State Dept./ D.A. Peterson)

来自世界不同地方的六位学生在美国相遇。他们都是交换学生,到美国大学就读一个学期,学习英语,了解美国文化,同时修专业课程。英语日常会话” (Everyday Conversations)系列围绕这六位学生在美国的经历展开。这套材料适于中级或中级以上英语水平的学生使用

三个学生(Akinyi, Lee and Peter)在一起欣赏Lee的旅行照片,其中有将风转化为电能的风力涡轮发电机的照片。三个人就此谈到风力发电的优越性。

Akinyi: Where were these pictures taken, Lee?

Lee: Which ones? Oh, those pictures are from a trip to the U.S. Botanic Garden. One of my classes went there to see the wind turbines.

Peter: There are wind turbines at the botanical garden?

Lee: It surprised me too. They’re small ones. Unfortunately, they only offset a small portion of the facility’s energy use. But putting small turbines on the rooftops of buildings is an interesting idea that is gaining popularity.

Akinyi: Interesting. But do they generate enough power to offset the cost of building them?

Peter: I really like how you’re always thinking like a businessperson!

Lee: No one knows for sure yet. It’s a fairly new endeavor in the wind energy field. At least now more people are looking at renewable energy.

Akinyi: This seems like a great field for entrepreneurs to enter. But it seems like the upfront costs would be huge, and the payback would take a long time.

Lee: Yes, that’s why some people think it’s important to have government subsidies to encourage clean energy use. But remember, the payback to society in the long run is huge!

让我们来学习一些词语(也可阅读英文解释):

wind turbine:风力涡轮发电机

botanical garden植物园

To offset:抵消

动词 generate 的意思是产生,带来

An endeavor为达到某一目的而作的努力

Renewable energy可再生能源 (“To replenish”:补充)

An entrepreneur实业家,即创办企业并有准备为成功而承担风险的人

An upfront cost预支费用。在这个对话中,“the upfront cost of purchasing the turbine”是指在能够从发电机发电获得收益前需要付出的购置发电机的成本。

Payback回报。在这个对话中,“the payback of the turbine”指风力发电的成本低而且带来的是清洁能源。

subsidy (复数: subsidies) 指政府或机构为降低某一产品或服务项目的费用而提供的补贴。

In the long run长远的,最终的

有兴趣听更多英语对话吗?请浏览“英语学习”专题网页。

American English 网站提供可供英语学生和教师免费使用的多种英语资源。American English Facebook网页提供每天更新的英语学习资料

“日常会话”由美国国务院教育与文化事务局英语语言项目处(Office of English Language Programs, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs资深项目官员海蒂·豪兰(Heidi Howland编写。