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1、2022年考博英语-沈阳药科大学考前模拟强化练习题（附答案详解）1. 单选题New Energy Sources to the RescueAs petrol prices rise, policy makers and venture capitalists are suddenly embracing alternatives. Will the trend last?Reasons for the changeIn his long career in country music, Willie Nelson has always been on the left side of all
2、 things. Now, at 73, he is in the vanguard. Mr. Nelson, who lives on a big farm outside Austin, powers his car with the help of vegetable oil. He has even created his own line of this cleaner-burning diesel blend. He called it “Bio Willie”, which is distributed at several sites in Texas and is going
3、 national, too. Mr. Nelson argues that it will help Americas farmers, truckers, and the environment while, at the same time, reducing dependence on foreign petroleum.With high petrol prices causing troubles in Washington, D.C., everyone is trying to find out alternatives. Soya beans, canola (rapesee
4、d), switch grass, anything, is being investigated. Even George Bush, a former oilman who supports loyally the industrial development, called last week for more research into ethanol and bio-diesel-two key types of bio-fuels and boldly predicted that “ethanol will replace gasoline consumption”. Jim W
5、oolsey, a former head of the CIA notes that developing bio-fuels is in the national interest, since it is high time America stopped its reliance on petroleum from foreign countries and so stopped funding some fanatical religious organizations.Future: convenience and painsThe federal government is be
6、ginning to formulate policy to promote the use of bio-fuels. In Montana, Hawaii and Minnesota all petrol must contain 10% ethanol, while Washington State requires petrol and diesel to contain 2% renewable fuel by volume. For both ethanol and bio-diesel, Congress has required a near-doubling of produ
7、ction by 2012. Both blends notes Mr. Woolsey approvingly, need little new infrastructure to support them (unlike, say, hydrogen fuel-cell cars). Ethanol can be dispensed at regular petrol stations and works, within limits, in todays cars. Bio-diesel fuelling stations, such as those for Bio Willie, a
8、re popping up around America.Unfortunately for Mr. Bushs political fortunes, a bio-fuels revolution will not happen in time to ease Americas current pain at the pump. Right now, ethanola clean-burning, high-octane alcohol typically derived from corn in America, or sugar in Brazilaccounts for just 3%
9、 of Americas petrol use, though American cars can handle a 10% ethanol blend. Bio-diesel is used even less.Moreover, ethanol is typically blended with regular fuel, and a widespread shift to an ethanol blend (a result of another provision of last years energy bill) has contributed to some petrol sho
10、rtages in Texas and elsewhere, as the supply chain creaks into life. Skeptics argue that growing crops for ethanol will burn more petrol than it will save.But others are persuaded, despite the pains at the beginning stage. “If I had to bet $100, Id bet on bio-fuels, says Hunter Lovins, co-author of
11、“Natural Capitalism”, adding that she would favor them even over other renewable energy sources. Rich investors also believe its growth. Richard Branson, a British entrepreneur who heads the Virgin conglomerate, recently announced plans to invest up to $400 million in ethanol production.Growing Prod
12、uction?Can production be scaled up? A recent bioengineering breakthrough means that it should soon be possible to convert plant products far more efficiently to ethanol. This lends promise to cellulosic ethanola product that can be made from agricultural “waste”, such as corn cobs or weeds, which is
13、 widely available. (Once corn kernels and sugar-cane sap have been taken away for sugar, they leave plenty of stalks and leaves behind.) The most promising source of cellulosic ethanol, say expert, is switch grass, a native American grass that grows naturally in the prairie heartland and thrives in
14、the poor Mississippi Delta.Bio-diesel, as yet, is a smaller enterprise. Its plants require less capital than those for ethanol. It is growing fastsales volume tripled, to 75m gallons, between 2004 and 2005but that is still a drop in the tanker of the 60 billion gallons of diesel that Americans consu
15、me each year. Much of the stuff is made from soya beans, and Jeff Plowman of Austin Bio-fuels, a tiny start-up, notes that soya been futures are tracking the price of heating oil for the first time. In Texas, Mr. Plowman also sees potential for cottonseed oil, a byproduct of cotton production. Elsew
16、here, there is even talk of producing bio-diesel from pig manure.Troubles are still occurring, having pushed back the enthusiasm. In Minnesota, a requirement to have 2% of diesel made from soya was suspended last year when truckers began to complain of clogged filters, though it was fairly quickly reinstated.Bio-fuels and American farmsCould bio-fuels, in addition to easing the strain on the environment and on wallets, help to save American f
