While other countries debate whether to fix wind turbines(涡轮机) offshore or in distant areas, Denmark is building them right in its capital. Three windmills(风车) were recently introduced in a Copenhagen neighbourhood, and the city plans to add another 97.
“We’ve made a very ambitious commitment to make Copenhagen CO2-neutral by 2025,” Frank Jensen, the mayor, says. “But going green isn’t only a good thing. It’s a must.” The city’s carbon-neutral plan, passed two years ago, will make Copenhagen the world’s first zero-carbon capital.
With wind power making up 33% of Denmark’s energy supply, the country already features plenty of wind turbines. Indeed, among the first sights greeting airborne visitors during the landing at Copenhagen’s Kastrup airport is a chain of sea-based wind towers. By 2020, the windswept country plans to get 50% of its energy from wind power.
Now turbines are moving into the city and these ones will cost less than half the price of those sea-based. Having the energy production closer makes it cheaper, and land-based turbines are the cheapest possible source of energy available today. Fixing them also makes the locals more aware of their energy consumption.
Though considerably less attractive than it was in ancient times, the windmill is enjoying popularity in the 21st century. “Windmills are a symbol of the new and clean Copenhagen,” says resident Susanne Sayers. Meanwhile, fellow Copenhagen citizen Maria Andersen worries about the noise, explaining that she wouldn’t want a wind turbine in her neighbourhood. While Copenhagen citizens approve of the windmills, they’re less willing to live close to one. The answer, the city has decided, is to sell turbine shares.
Each share represents 1,000 kW hours/year, with the profit tax-free. With a typical Copenhagen household consuming 3,500 kW hours/year, a family buying four shares effectively owns its own renewable energy supply. To date, 500 residents have bought 2,500 shares. Involving the local population was a smart move. “There are a lot of things you can do close to people if it’s not too big and if there’s a model where locals feel involved and get to share in the profit. Knowing that you, or your neighbours, own a technology creates a very different atmosphere than if a multinational owned it,” says Vad Mathiesen.
Going green? Yes. Accepted by the population? Yes. Going with centuries-old city architecture? Hardly.
Certainly, the three turbines don’t exactly blight the 18th-century city centre, as they are in a neighbourhood 3 km away. According to the mayor’s office, none of the remaining 97 turbines will rise in architecturally sensitive areas. But Sascha Haselmayer, CEO of city creation group Citymart, warns, “With Denmark being a world-leading producer of windmills, there is a risk that the answer to every energy question is windmills.”
“We’ve destroyed mountains and lakes in order to support our lifestyle,” notes Irena Bauman, an architect and professor at Sheffield University. “Wind turbines are a sign that we’re learning to live with nature. I hope we’ll have them all over the world,” she says. “They may be unpleasant to some, but better-looking ones will come. It’s just that we don’t have time to wait for them!”
1.Denmark has decided to build windmills in its capital mainly to ______.
A. make windmills its cultural symbol
B. advocate an environmentally-friendly lifestyle
C. take advantage of its limited wind power
D. greet tourists coming to Copenhagen by plane
2.How has the city of Copenhagen persuaded its people to accept the windmills around their homes?
A. By promising them that all their income is free of tax.
B. By designing less noisy windmills to ease their worries.
C. By convincing them that land-based turbines are much cheaper.
D. By offering them the chance to get the profit the windmills bring.
3.The underlined word “blight” (Paragraph 8) is closest in meaning to ______.
A. spoil B. improve C. pollute D. occupy
4.Sascha Haselmayer’s attitude to building windmills can best be described as ______.
A. disapproving B. unconcerned C. cautious D. enthusiastic
5.Which of the following words would Irena Bauman most probably agree with?
A. “It benefits us more to fit wind turbines in cities than in mountain areas or by lakes.”
B. “We should sell more wind turbines to other countries to make us one of the richest.”
C. “We should devote more time to developing the wind turbines that go with the city.”
D. “It’s not what wind turbines look like but how we live that really matters at present.”
When you are five years old, your mother is your everything. She is your , friend, and nurse; the only person you rely on with your hopes, dreams, and wishes. But for me, this was not the case.
My mother suffered from problems that would keep her in bed for days, leaving me to care for her and look after myself. This situation me to grow up much faster. While I knew my mother was sick, I felt deep down that we could it and everything would be okay. , in 1997 everything went terribly wrong, and my life changed forever.
Adoption is a word to a five-year-old, but when I realized that my own mother had signed me over to , I felt it was the worst betrayal(背叛). I suffered from shock, anger, and confusion as I attempted to adjust to my new family. No longer could I anyone since the person I had loved more than all else had abandoned me. Hearing people tell me that she did it in my best interest, I felt even more . I could not forgive her and always how she could reject me like an old sofa.
However, the more I got older, the more I began to understand how our situation had been. We had been on boxes of noodles, and at one point we lived in our car. I was once passed from drug-addicted cousins to mentally unstable neighbors as my mother to try and save me from what our lives were becoming each day passed.
Only recently have I begun to understand my mother gave me to strangers. she really did save me. She loved me more than anything, so she wanted me to have a in life, one she could no longer offer me. I now know my life has been a special only because she was selfless enough to give me up.
1.A. hostess B. competitor C. provider D. candidate
2.A. mainly B. completely C. gradually D. occasionally
3.A. moral B. physical C. social D. legal
4.A. forced B. inspired C. allowed D. convinced
5.A. stick to B. escape from C. decide on D. get through
6.A. Otherwise B. Meanwhile C. However D. Therefore
7.A. familiar B. negative C. simple D. foreign
8.A. strangers B. cousins C. friends D. neighbors
9.A. understand B. support C. trust D. praise
10.A. worried B. innocent C. scared D. bitter
11.A. imagined B. wondered C. remembered D. questioned
12.A. ridiculous B. urgent C. desperate D. complex
13.A. focusing B. working C. acting D. surviving
14.A. also B. even C. still D. yet
15.A. fought B. learnt C. hesitated D. tended
16.A. till B. before C. as D. once
17.A. how B. why C. that D. what
18.A. In the long run B. Time and again C. For quite a while D. All at once
19.A. challenge B. goal C. reward D. chance
20.A. gift B. fact C. test D. deal
— Aren’t you interested in the new flat?
— ______. It is noisy near the sports center.
A. Not especially B. No wonder
C. Not a little D. No doubt
According to the data from Robb’s studies, men produce slightly ______ speech. But no sex difference in the reading task was found.
A. clearest B. clear C. clearly D. clearer
Love means you care about the ______ of a person, that is, you hope he or she can lead a happy life.
A. authority B. belief C. preference D. welfare
Recently, a new research has suggested the possibility in a popular magazine ______ pleasant smells might reduce pain.
A. why B. whether C. that D. how
