晨读英语美文60篇六级57

[00:00.00]Fuel Cell—Energy in the Future

[00:09.66]The price of oil has soared from $43.45 a barrel to $65.35, a 50% gain.

[00:19.95]It is transportation such as driving back and forth¹ to work

[00:24.32]and visiting companies that burns lots of fossil fuel.

[00:28.39]Suppressed by the increasing oil price,

[00:31.44]does it ever occur to you that a new,

[00:33.75]lightweight fuel cell running on methanol power you electric car?

[00:38.22]If they work,

[00:39.76]methanol fuel cells could be a major breakthrough in energy consumption

[00:44.13]and conservation and drastically cut air pollution from auto² emissions³.

[00:48.94]Whether they are used to run cars and buses

[00:52.88]or to make electricity for other applications,

[00:55.82]fuel cells operate by converting hydrogen to electricity

[01:00.10]without combustion⁴.

[01:01.73]They are akin⁵ to continuously-recharging batteries.

[01:06.54]Hydrogen and oxygen are fed into a stack of plates that create electricity,

[01:11.35]with harmless water vapor⁶ as the by-product⁷.

[01:14.53]These silent, zero-emission gadgets⁸ have long been used in NASA spacecraft.

[01:20.34]They represent the great hope of many environmentalists

[01:24.49]to power the first mass-produced electric car.

[01:27.98]Now the fuel cells are favoured by many venture companies through the world,

[01:33.12]such as Fuel Cell, Plug Power,

[01:37.56]Fuel-Cell Energy specializes in stocks of alternative energy companies.

[01:42.14]Plug Power is one of the few publicly traded fuel-cell companies.

[01:47.17]Unfortunately, neither company is making money at the moment.

[01:51.98]Fuel Cell lost $1.58 per share the past 12 months.

[01:58.22]Plug Power lost $64 cents a share.

[02:02.16]In the future, we may rely on many different types of power.

[02:05.65]Hydrogen, for example,

[02:07.29]has been praised as a clean fuel with great potential.

[02:10.90]But it’s still in the experimental stages.

[02:14.09]Two possible hydrogen plays:

[02:16.48]Quantum Fuel System Technologies,

[02:19.01]which designs and engineers hybrid⁹ and fuel-cell, vehicles.

[02:23.59]It, too is losting money.

[02:26.32]Praxair, an industrial gas company, making hydrogen,

[02:30.37]the company earned $2.29 per share the past 12 months.

[02:35.96]French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen on Monday

[02:40.65]unveiled the smallest fuel cell currently available for cars

[02:44.14]and pledged further research to halve¹⁰ the price

[02:47.65]of these environmental friendly power sources by 2010.

[02:51.47]The fuel cell is an 80 KW power unit and the size of a big suitcase

[02:56.84]that can be used in light municipal vehicles.

[03:00.00]It can run for 500 km,

[03:02.86]but still insufficient¹¹ for general use.

[03:05.91]Furthermore, the size of them remain a problem

[03:09.87]that needs to be solved.

[03:12.14]Another problem remains¹² starting with cold temperatures.

[03:15.09]We can still say confidently it offers a real answer for the future,

[03:20.50]as is put it by the vice¹³ president of French Carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen.

1 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

2 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

3 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

4 combustion   

n.燃烧；氧化；骚动

参考例句：

• We might be tempted to think of combustion.我们也许会联想到氧化。
• The smoke formed by their combustion is negligible.由它燃烧所生成的烟是可忽略的。

5 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

6 vapor   

n.蒸汽，雾气

参考例句：

• The cold wind condenses vapor into rain.冷风使水蒸气凝结成雨。
• This new machine sometimes transpires a lot of hot vapor.这部机器有时排出大量的热气。

7 by-product   

n.副产品，附带产生的结果

参考例句：

• Freedom is the by-product of economic surplus.自由是经济盈余的副产品。
• The raw material for the tyre is a by-product of petrol refining.制造轮胎的原材料是提炼汽油时产生的一种副产品。

8 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

9 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

10 halve   

vt.分成两半，平分；减少到一半

参考例句：

• Let's halve the project between our two teams.让我们两个队平均分担这项工程吧。
• I'll halve expenses with you.我要跟你平均分摊费用。

11 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

12 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

13 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。