A World without Oil.
假如世界沒有石油
1. Have you ever stopped to think how your life would change if the world ran out of oil? Take a look at your day. The roof of your home is probably made waterproof by an oil product, bitumen. The same product is used for the road surface outside your home. Before you leave to go to work or school, just examine your surroundings. Is the room warmer than the cold air outside? Oil, or electricity from oil-fed generators may be keeping you comfortably warm. If you are comfortably cool in a tropical climate, your air conditioning unit may also depend on oil-fed generators.
1、你曾想過沒有，如果世界上用盡了石油，你的生活會(huì)發(fā)生什么樣變化呢？請(qǐng)看一看你的日常生活。你家的屋頂可能是用一種叫瀝青的石油產(chǎn)品做成防水的。瀝青同樣可用來鋪你家外面的路面。在你離家去上班或上學(xué)之前，請(qǐng)觀察一下你周圍的環(huán)境。房間里會(huì)比外面冷空氣暖和嗎？這是石油或由燃油發(fā)電機(jī)發(fā)出來的電使你感到舒適溫暖。如果你在炎熱的氣候里感到舒適涼爽，那么你家的空調(diào)器可能也是靠燃油發(fā)電機(jī)工作的。
2. In the kitchen and the bathroom you will probably see some plastic fittings such as tiles and working surfaces; polystyrene cups; curtains made from synthetic materials; disinfectants and detergents. All owe their origin to the oil known as petroleum （Latin/Greek 'petra', rock, and Latin 'oleum', oil）, found deep in the earth. Look inside the medicine cupboard for more petroleum products, medical paraffin and petroleum jelly. Cosmetics such as face creams, lipsticks and hair preparations are often based on petroleum.
2、在廚房和浴室里你可能看到一些塑料器具，如塑料地板和塑料操作臺(tái)面、聚苯乙烯杯子、合成材料的浴簾、消毒劑和去污劑。所有這些都是來自稱為“Petroleum”的石油�！癙etroleum”（石油）是（由拉丁或希臘文"petro"（巖石）和拉丁文"oleum"（油）組成），深埋在地下。向藥廚里看看，你可以找到更多的石油產(chǎn)品，如藥用石蠟和凡士林。化妝品如雪花膏、唇膏、洗發(fā)劑等，常用石油作為基本原料。
3. When you're out, notice the fields and gardens. Fertilizers and insecticides made from petroleum can improve crop production. Recently protein feeds for animals have been developed by growing yeast in a petroleum based stock. As you head for your bus, train or car, all of which use petroleum products in the form of fuel to move them and lubricants to keep them in working order, take a look in the mirror. What are you wearing today? A polyester shirt or dress, nylon socks or stockings, and acrylic sweater-a raincoat of PVC （polyvinyl chloride）? All of these are based on petroleum products.
3、當(dāng)外出時(shí)你會(huì)看到農(nóng)田和花園�；屎蜌⑾x劑是由石油制取的，可以使農(nóng)作物增產(chǎn)。最近已經(jīng)研制出一種動(dòng)物食用的蛋白質(zhì)飼料，它是用石油作為基本原料加上酵母而制成的。公共汽車、貨車或小轎車，都是靠石油產(chǎn)品作燃料開動(dòng)的，用潤滑油保持這些車輛正常工作。當(dāng)你去乘車之前要照一照鏡子�？纯唇裉齑┦裁匆路茫渴腔w服裝（襯衫還是外套），是尼龍襪（短襪還是長襪），晴綸毛衣還是塑料雨衣？而所有這些都是用石油產(chǎn)品作原料的。
4. Scientists predict that the world's known oil resources will run out early in the next century. But long before then the world will have to decide on its priorities. Can we afford to use so much of our limited petroleum supplies for private motoring? Should airlines compete on similar routes allowing planes to fly long distances with empty passenger seats? What alternative energy resources can be developed?
4、科學(xué)家預(yù)言世界上已探明的石油資源將在下個(gè)世紀(jì)初用盡。但遠(yuǎn)在那時(shí)候以前，世界就必須確定石油是優(yōu)先考慮控制使用的物資。石油儲(chǔ)量既然有限，我們還能把那么多的石油用于私人汽車嗎？難道航空公司還應(yīng)該為了在類似的航線上競爭而允許他們的客機(jī)有空座的長途飛行嗎？能開發(fā)出什么樣的替代能源呢？
5. There is an old English saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention," which means that when you are faced with a need you will discover some way of fulfilling it. Already scientists are proposing some fascinating solutions. There is one suggestion that the wheeled traffic and the footsteps of crowds walking the streets in major cities could generate energy. One company has presented an idea in which metal strips inserted in pavements and roads operate fly wheels by means of a piston action using hydraulic fluid. They say the human and wheeled traffic in a busy city center could provide enough energy to light the streets of an entire town or power the heating system for a hospital or school. Some people are developing sophisticated versions of the windmill. Engines can run on alcohol, so surplus sugar cane could be used to produce energy. An air ship powered by energy from the sun has been suggested. Such "sun ship" would have a large enough surface area to carry the enormous number of solar cells necessary to move any appreciable load. Such "sun ship" might travel at over one hundred kilometers an hour. In such circumstances, of course, the tropical parts of the world would have a head start in the race to find new energy sources.
5、英國有一句古話“需要是發(fā)明之母”。這意味著當(dāng)你面對(duì)一種需要時(shí)，你將發(fā)現(xiàn)一種方法滿足它�？茖W(xué)家們已經(jīng)在提出一些迷人的解決方案。有一個(gè)建議提出，在大城市街道上，擁擠的人群走的腳步和路面上往來行使的車輛可以用來生產(chǎn)能量。一個(gè)公司提出這樣想法：嵌在人行道和路面上的金屬條用液壓活塞的作用使飛輪轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)。他們說，在繁華大城市的中心，人群和過往車輛可提供足夠的能量為整個(gè)城鎮(zhèn)的街道照明或者為一個(gè)醫(yī)院或?qū)W校提供供暖系統(tǒng)的動(dòng)力。某些人正在研制高級(jí)的風(fēng)車技術(shù)。發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)可用乙醇作燃料開動(dòng)，因此，過剩的甘蔗可用來產(chǎn)生能量。還有人建議用太陽能作動(dòng)力來驅(qū)使飛艇。這種“太陽能飛艇”必須要很大的面積以攜帶大量的太陽能電池，這樣才有可能運(yùn)載可觀的載荷。這種“太陽能飛艇”也許每小時(shí)能航行100多公里。當(dāng)然倘若這樣，世界的熱帶地區(qū)在尋找新能源的競賽中將會(huì)領(lǐng)先一步。
