Question

We may not be aware of it, but ordinary family homes in the U.S. and the rest of the world are not energy-efficient.

Most of their energy goes to heating and cooling, and a lot of it is wasted, as warm air and cool air escape through fireplace chimneys and thin or poorly fitting windows and doors. A passive house loses almost none."Imagine a thermos(保温瓶),"said housing developer Brendan O’Neill."You have insulation(隔绝) everywhere, and it’s basically completely sealed. And so the idea is to build a house like a thermos. So the windows are sealed. There’s insulation completely surrounding the building. We make it as sealed as possible."

A 147-square-meter passive house, presented by O’Neill Development Corp. as a demonstration unit just outside Washington, was brought to the site in two boxes. "Once it’s set and put together, it takes about four weeks to complete the outside construction, to put down carpets," O’Neill said. "If everything is set in place, you put a house like this together in about four months.”The total cost of building it was $325,000, or about 17 percent more than constructing an ordinary house. But its utility(公用事业) bill is only around $20 monthly, or one-tenth the amount for the average house of the same size.

While passive houses have been around for a long time, the idea has never taken root in the U.S. There was no driving force to push it.

However, David Peabody, an architect who designs passive houses said, "I think climate change is now becoming a larger issue. And I think building standards are catching on to that. So people are becoming more aware of energy."Peabody said the cost of building passive houses could come down."What really makes sense for truly affordable housing," he said, "is to build multi-storey buildings."

1.Why aren’t ordinary family homes energy-efficient?

A. Building them wastes much energy.

B. Their energy mainly goes to heating and cooling.

C. Their sealing performance is poor.

D. They have no insulation around at all.

2.What is the feature of a passive house?

A. There’re no windows or chimneys.

B. There’s little space to place furniture.

C. Its building cost is relatively high.

D. It takes about four weeks to build one.

3.What’s David Peabody’s attitude to the future of the passive house?

A. Cautious.B. Optimistic.C. Skeptical.D. Concerned.

Answer

1.C

2.C

3.B

【解析】

试题分析：本文讲述了普通的家庭住房因隔热效果不佳而浪费了很多能源，解决这一浪费可以通过建造被动式节能屋解决，但这种房子建造成本很高。

1. 推理判断题。根据第二段中的"a lot of it is wasted, as warm air and cool air escape through fireplace chimneys and thin or poorly fitting windows and doors"可知，普通住房的能源浪费较多，接着下面以保温瓶为例说明被动式节能屋的密封性好，由此可推知，普通房屋的密封性不好。故选C。

2. 细节理解题。根据第三段中的"The total cost of building it was $325,000, or about 17 percent more than constructing an ordinary house"可知，被动式节能屋的建筑成本比普通房屋高大约17%，故C项正确。

3. 推理判断题。根据最后一段段首的转折词"However"和后面的内容"I think climate change is now becoming a larger issue. And I think building standards are catching on to that. So people are becoming more aware of energy" "the cost of building passive houses could come down"可知，David Peabody认为气候变化现在正成为一个更大的问题，建筑标准正紧跟这一点。因此人们的节能意识在增强。此外，被动式节能屋的(建筑)成本可能会降低，这些都会促使被动式节能屋的盛行），故他对被动式节能屋的前景是乐观的。故选B。

【名师点拨】

推理判断题所涉及的内容可能是文中的某一句话，也可能是某几句话，所以，推理题的答案只能是根据原文表面文字信息一步推出的答案：即对原文某一句话或某几句话所作的同义改写或综合。推理判断题的题干中通常含infer,suggest,imply,conclude indicate等标志性词语。 这种题型主要包括细节判断题、态度观点推断题、写作意图推断题、文章出处判断题和猜测想象推断题。4.

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