考研英语历年真题来源报刊阅读100篇 (2).doc

Thermoelectrics：Every little helpsHERE is a thought: approximately 60% of the energy converted in power generation is wasted. The price of energy is high, both in terms of the actual cost to the consumer and the consequences of the climate change that generating power from fossil fuels causes. If even a small proportion of this wasted heat could be converted to useful power, it would be a good thing.At this weeks meeting of the American Physical Society, in Baltimore, Mercouri Kanatzidis of Michigan State University proposed such a scheme. He advocates attaching thermoelectric devices that convert heat into electricity to chimney stacks and vehicle exhausts, to squeeze more useful energy from power generation.The technology to do so has existed for years. If one end of an electrical conductor is heated while the other is kept cool, a small voltage is created between the two. Placing two dissimilar metals, or other electrically conductive materials, in contact with each other and then heating them also generates a voltage. Such devices, called thermocouples, are nowadays usually made using semiconductors. They are widely used as thermometers. But if they could be made cheaper, or more efficient, or both, they could also be employed to generate power.Dr Kanatzidis is developing new thermoelectric materials designed to be capable of converting up to 20% of the heat that would otherwise be wasted into useful electricity. The challenge lies in finding a substance that conducts electricity well and heat badly. These two properties define what physicists call the “figure of merit” of a thermoelectric substance, which describes the power a device made of that substance could generate. Dr Kanatzidiss group aims to make materials with higher figures of merit than those attainable with todays semiconductors.Since the electrical properties of solids depend on their crystal structures, his group is experimenting with new atomic lattices. In particular, they are working on a group of chemicals called chalcogenides. These are compounds of oxygen, sulphur, selenium and tellurium that are thought to be particularly suitable for thermoelectric applications because their structure allows electric currents to flow while blocking thermal currents. They thus have a high figure of merit. Dr Kanatzidiss group is developing new ways of making these compounds crystallise correctly.But even existing devices could become economically useful as fuel prices rise, Dr Kanatzidis argues. In America, transport accounts for a quarter of the energy used. Fitting small thermoelectric devices to the exhaust pipes of vehicles could squeeze another 10% from the fuela saving that would be especially relevant in hybrid petrol/electric devices where the battery is recharged in part by recycling energy that would otherwise be dissipated by energy-draining activities such as braking. Similarly, attaching thermoelectric devices to the flues of power plants could generate more useful power.And thermoelectric devices could be used in other areas. They could work alongside solar cells and solar heating systems. They could also be used in geothermal and nuclear power plants. Dr Kanatzidis argues that wherever heat is generated as part of power generation, thermoelectric devices could help extract more useful energy. Waste not, want not.考研词汇：converted knv:tid a.更换信仰的, 修改的advocate dvkit n.提倡者，鼓吹者；v.提倡，鼓吹真题例句One of the first advocates (n.) for a national list was a researcher at Laval University. 2005年新题型例句精译 Laval大学一位研究人员是首先提出创立全国性代理机构的倡导者之一。真题例句The journalist advocating (v.) participatory democracy in all phases of life, whose own children are enrolled in private schools.2000年阅读5例句精译 倡导终生参与民主制的新闻记者却把自己的子女送进私立学校。capable keipbla.有本领的，有能力的；（of）可以的，能的真题例句I believe that the most important forces behind the massive M&A wave are the same that underlie the globalization process: falling transportation and communication costs, lower trade and investment barriers and enlarged markets that require enlarged operations capable () of meeting customers demands.2001年阅读4例句精译 我认为，推动这股巨大的并购浪潮的最主要的力量，也是推动全球化进程的力量，包括日趋下降的运输与通讯费用，较低的贸易与投资壁垒，以及市场的扩大和为满足市场需求而进行的扩大生产。compound kmpaundn.混合物，化合物；a.混合的，化合的，复合的；v.合成真题例句Vitamins are organic compounds (n.) necessary in small amounts in the diet for the normal growth and maintenance of life of animals, including man.1996年完形例句精译 维生素是有机化合物，饮食中必须含有少量维生素以维持动物（包括人）的生存和正常生长。merit merit n.优点，价值，功绩；v.值得，应得draindreinn.排水沟，阴沟；消耗，负担；v.排去，放干背景常识介绍：热电转换技术是一种利用半导体材料实现热能和电能直接相互转换的绿色能源技术。使用这项技术，利用农作物、垃圾、汽车余热甚至人体热能，在住宅、农庄、汽车上就可以建立一个小型发电系统，满足人们对小功率电能的需求。采用不同的热电材料可以制成发电器或者制冷器，它们无须使用传动部件，系统体积小，适用温度范围广，工作时无噪音，与太阳能、风能、水能等二次能源一样，具有不排放污染物的优点。参考译文：热电学：每一小部分都是有用的有人认为，在发电过程中，其中大约有60%的能量在其转化成电能时被浪费掉。无论从消费者的实际花费， 还是从用化石燃料发电所引起的气候变化的角度而言，使用能源的代价都是很高的。如果把浪费掉的很小的一部分热能转换为有用的能量，这都是件好事。美国物理学会本周在巴尔的摩举行的例会上，密歇根州立大学的Mercouri Kanatzidis建议，把热电转化装置安装在烟囱和车辆排气管上，从而获得更多可用能源。这项技术已经研发出好多年了。如果电导体一段加热，另一端不加热，就会在电导体两端产生少量的电压。把两种不同的金属或其他非金属电导体连在一起，进行加热，也会产生一定的电压。这样的装置被称为热电偶，现在通常由半导体材料制成。这些热电偶被广泛用作温度计。如果它们的造价再低一些，或效用再高一些，或同时降低造价、提高效用，就可以用它们来发电了。Kanatzidis博士正在研发的一种新型热电材料，可以将原本会浪费掉的热能中的20%转化为电能。他目前面临的困难是，要找到一种物质，同时是很好的电导体又是热的不良导体。这两种属性决定着热电材料的“品质因数”。“品质因数”是用来描述用热电材料所制成的元器件的输出功率的单位。Kanatzidis博士团队的目标就是研制出“品质因数”更高的热电材料。由于固体的导电性能由其晶体结构所决定，Kanatzidis博士团队于是实验新的原子晶格。具体来说，他们就是在研究一种叫做“硫系化合物”的化学品，其成分包括氧、硫、砷、碲。这些元素被认为很适于热电应用，因为它们的结构能够在阻挡热流的同时允许电子流通过。因此，它们具有很高的“品质因数”。Kanatzidis博士团队正在研究能够使这些化合物适当结晶的方法。Kanatzidis博士认为，随着化石燃料价格上涨，即便是当前的热电装置，也可以变得更经济实用。在美国，交通运输所需能源占能源消耗总量的四分之一。在机动车排气管上安装小型的热电装置，可以节省另外10%的燃料。这部分燃料所包含的能量，在混合燃料发动机或电动发动机运转的过程中，通过位于发动机上的电池充电，被部分的再次利用，成为循环能量，从而不至于在诸如刹车这样的能量流动过程中白白流失。同理，在发电厂的烟囱上安装热电装置，就可以收集更多的能量，从而发更多的电。热电装置还可以用于其他领域，比如太阳能电池和太阳能加热系统。除此以外，还可以用在地热发电厂和核电站。Kanatzidis博士认为，热电装置可以收集发电过程中产生的热能，并将其转化为其他可用能量。俭以防匮。Tracking your every moveSome families in America and elsewhere have started buying childfriendly mobile phones outfitted with GPS (Global Positioning System) technology. These phones and their related tracking services allow parents to pinpoint the location of their children with ease. Parents agree to pick up the phone bill in return for the reassurance of knowing where their children are; children are prepared to put up with the snooping if they are allowed to have a phone. Mobile operators in America are now launching tracking services. Under a federal mandate known as E911, they had to upgrade their networks to ensure that anyone dialling the 911 emergency number could be located to within 100 metres. Some operators opted for triangulation technology, which determines the location of the handset by comparing the signals received by different basestations. But Verizon and Sprint chose to adopt the more expensive but more accurate GPS technology instead, and are now looking for ways to make money from it.Verizon calls its service “Chaperone”. For $10 a month, parents can call up the location of their childs LG Migo handset from their own mobile phones, or from a PC. The child receives a message saying that the handsets position has been requested, and the parents receive an address, or a marker on a webbased ap, giving the childs location. For an extra $10 per month, they can sign up for Child Zone, a service that, among other things, fires off an alert when a youngster (or, at least, the youngsters handset) trays outside a specified area.For its part, Sprint has launched a similar service that can also let parents know when a child arrives at a particular location.Another location service is available from Nextel, a mobile operator that was taken over by Sprint in 2005. Nextel opened up some of its systems to enable other firms to build their own software and services on top of its GPS technology. One example is AccuTracking, a small company which offers a tracking service for $6 a month and boasts that it is “ideal for vehicle tracking” or to keep “virtual eyes on kids”. Some customers are also using the service to track their spouses, by hiding phones in their cars.“Mine is hidden under the hood, hot-wired to the batteryit works very well and it is easy to hook up continuous power,” writes one customer on AccuTrackings message board, who is tracking her husband.Start-ups are working on everything from city-wide games of hide-and-seek to monitoring the locations of Alzheimers patients. Services that monitor jogging routes, and work out distance travelled and calories consumed, might also prove popular. As a result, mobile operators, handset-makers and start-ups could transform and expand a small, specialist market hitherto dominated by expensive, dedicated tracking systems.考研词汇：outfitautfitn.装备，供给pinpoint pinpint n. 精确a.极微小的v.查明reassuranceri:rns n. 放心snoopsnu:p vi. 探听, 调查, 偷窃 n.到处窥视, 爱管闲事的人, 私家侦探federalfedrla.联邦的真题例句A few premiers are suspicious of any federalprovincial dealmaking.2005年新题型例句精译 有几个省的政府官员对这种全国性代理机构持怀疑态度。spousespauzn.配偶（指夫或妻），保证人，主办人；vt.发起，主办；v.赞助背景常识介绍：GPS全称为“全球定位系统”，它是一种基于卫星的导航系统，其精确度已经达到10米以内。而用户无需为接收的卫星信号本身支付任何费用。而在手机上或者其他掌上移动设备中，当GPS的定位功能与数字地图相结合时，就可以为人们提供更加具体的更加直观的导航帮助，而不是仅仅告诉你目前的“经度、纬度”。特别是GPS系统与手机的结合，更是方便了大家的出行，既可以方便联系，也可以实现车载GPS系统的导航功能。参考译文：追踪你的一举一动美国与其他地方的一些家庭已开始购买适合儿童使用，配有GPS（全球卫星定位系统）的移动电话。这种电话与相关的追踪服务让父母可以轻而易举地查明孩子在什么地方。父母很情愿支付这笔电话费以知晓孩子身在何处，以换来自己的放心。孩子们想要父母给他们买个电话，则必须愿意忍受被秘密监视。美国的移动电话运营商们正在推出追踪服务。遵照一条叫做E911的联邦法令，他们要升级服务网络，确保能找到任何拨打911呼救电话的人所处的位置，误差不超过100米。一些运营商采用了三角定位技术，此技术通过比较不同基站接收的手机信号来确定手机所处的位置。Verizon 与 Sprint 两个运营商则选用了更昂贵、但更精确的GPS技术，现在正在此基础上推出新服务，希望能以此赚钱。Verizon 把它的服务叫做“陪护者”。每月花上10美元，父母用手机或个人电脑发出一个要求，就可以知道他们孩子的LG Migo手机的位置。孩子会收到一条“该手机的位置被要求发送”的信息，父母则收到一个地址，或是网络地图上的一个标记，指示出孩子的位置。如果每月多付10美元，父母就可以成为一个叫“孩子地带”的用户，如果一个年轻人（或至少是这年轻人的手机）在一个特定的区域外游荡时，该服务就会立刻发出警告给父母，类似的服务还有一些。Sprint在这方面是怎么做的呢？它推出了类似的服务，也能让父母知道孩子什么时候到达某个地点。2005年被Sprint兼并的Nextel 则有另一项定位服务。Nextel开放了它的部分系统，可以让其他公司在其GPS技术平台上建立自己的软件与服务。Accu寻踪公司就是一个范例，这家小公司提供的追踪服务每月收费6美元，号称是“理想的车辆追踪工具”，还可以“时刻盯着孩子”。有些客户把电话藏在配偶的车里，用Accu寻踪公司的服务追踪他们。该公司的一个顾客在公司网站的留言版写道：“我把电话藏在引擎盖下边，并插在汽车电池上真的很管用，而且挂接不间断电源也很容易。”这位女士是在追踪她的丈夫。新生的公司正推出各种各样的新服务，从全城范围的捉迷藏游戏到追踪老年痴呆患者。一边监控慢跑路线，同时算出跑的路程与消耗的热量，这样的服务可能也会受欢迎。寻踪服务的市场现在还只是个小规模的专业化市场，由收费昂贵、用途单一的各种寻踪服务把持，但移动运营商、手机制造商与许多新兴公司的介入可能使市场发生改变，并进一步扩大市场。Treasure on the ocean floorTODAY, deep-ocean mining is done only by the oil and gas industry. Yet the dream of mining the mineral wealth of the deep has never gone away. Now two firms hope to succeed where others have failed.Nautilus Minerals, based in Vancouver, is the more advanced of the pair. It has an exploratory licence from Papua New Guinea and has already begun drilling operations 1,600 metres below sea level off the east coast of the country. Another company, Neptune Minerals, based in London and Sydney, has completed test drilling in the deep waters near New Zealand.Nautiluss deep-water exploration relies on a modified deep-sea remotely operated vehicle (ROV) of the kind normally used in the oil and telecoms industries. It has a manipulator hand containing drilling and cutting tools that allow the robot to retrieve samples of rock from the ocean bed. So far the drilling has only been exploratory, but the prospects look good.The presence of these rich deposits has been known about for years, says Steven Scott, a geologist at the University of Toronto. He has been researching underwater geology since the 1980s, and in the 1990s he co-discovered the deposit that Nautilus is exploring. So why has it taken so long to move towards the commercial exploitation of deep sea massive sulphide deposits? Mr Heydon says it is because the ROV technology has only recently become capable enough. He eventually hopes to use rock-cutting ROVs that will drive across the sea floor, grinding ore as they go and sending it to the surface via a tube at a rate of 400 tonnes per hour. It might also be possible to lift large deposits using compressed air.All of this can be done, Mr Heydon believes, for about half as much as opening a new landbased mine. Nautilus has spent about $12m in the past year on exploration, and Dr Scott says one test drilling found deposits 19 metres deep. Unlike manganese nodules, which are like golf balls scattered across the seabed, these deep-ocean deposits occur in small areas around extinct hydrothermal vents. Such concentrated deposits ought to make underwater mining highly efficient.Even if the economics stack up, however, Nautilus and Neptune must overcome concerns over environmental damage. Dr Scott argues that underwater mining will be far less disruptive to the environment than terrestrial mining: there will be no piles of waste rock, since the deposits are directly on the sea floor. And whereas the oil industry lays pipelines underwater, mining would not leave any permanent structures behind. But governments will need to be convinced of the merit of these arguments before mining can begin. 考研词汇：terrestrialtirestrila.陆地的；n.陆地生物remotelyrimutliad.遥远地, 偏僻地retrieveritri:vv.重新得到；n.找回depositdipzitv.存放；储蓄；使沉淀；付（保证金）；n.存款，保证金；沉积物真题例句More and more of these credit cards can be read automatically, making it possible to withdraw or deposit (v.) money in scattered locations, whether or not the local branch bank is open.1994年阅读2例句精译 越来越多的信用卡可以自动读取，于是持卡人就可以在不同地方存取，而不管本地支行是否营业。grindinga.磨的, 磨擦的, 碾的scattersktv.散开，驱散；散布，散播真题例句More and more of these credit cards can be read automatically, making it possible to withdraw or deposit money in scattered () locations, whether or not the local branch bank is open.1994年阅读2例句精译 越来越多的信用卡可以自动读取，于是持卡人就可以在不同地方存取，而不管本地支行是否营业。背景常识介绍：深海采矿技术是深海采矿业中的支柱性技术，它对海洋的其他产业技术，如近海矿产业、深海油气业、海洋能源业、船舶制造业等都会有重大的影响。专家们预测，未来的深海采矿业很可能是一组采矿、海洋能源利用和深海农牧渔业等综合发展的高新技术产业群。深海采矿技术是未来海洋产业中的先导性行业技术，它对整个海洋高新技术的潜在影响是深远的。参考译文：海底宝藏今天，深海采矿只是在石油和天然气工业领域得以实现。然而开发深海金属矿藏的念头始终萦绕在人们脑海中。现在两家公司正希望去实现别人未能完成的愿望。位于温哥华的鹦鹉螺矿业公司是这两家公司里比较超前的一家。它拥有巴布亚新几内亚的开发执照并且已经开始在该国东海岸海面下1600米处进行钻探。另一家公司是海王星矿业公司，分别设在伦敦和悉尼。该公司已经在新西兰附近完成了深水钻探。鹦鹉螺公司的深水开发依赖于一种由普通用在石油和电信工业上的深水远程操作工具改进而来的机器。这种机器有一个操作臂，其中包括了钻头和开掘工具，使得机器人可以从深海海底回收岩石样品。到目前为止这种钻探仅仅是探索性的，但是其前景很看好。知道这些富矿的存在已经有多年了，多伦多大学地质学家史蒂芬斯科特说。史蒂芬斯科特自20世纪80年代就开始研究水下地质学。在20世纪90年代，他与别人共同发现了鹦鹉螺公司正在开发的这个矿藏。那么为什么深海金属硫化物矿的商业化开发要等这么长时间？海登说，这是因为ROV技术只是在最近才得以真正用于实战。他最终希望能用可以横穿海底的岩石开掘机ROV将矿石碾碎，然后通过一条管道以每小时400吨的速度将其运至海面。利用压缩空气来向海面运送大块矿石或许也是可行的。海登相信，只要花费相当于一个陆地矿井一半的费用，所有这些就都可以实现。斯科特博士说，鹦鹉螺公司过去的一年中在勘测上花费了1200万美元，有一次钻探发现了19米深的矿物层。与锰结核像高尔夫球洞一样分散在海底不同的是，这些深海矿物层则在熄灭了的海底烟囱附近小范围内存在。这样的集中式分布可以使水下开采效率大大提高。即使经济上的问题堆积如山，鹦鹉螺公司与海王星公司仍必须克服人们对于环境破坏的忧虑。斯科特辩解说水下开采将比陆地开采带来的环境破坏少得多：由于是直接在海底作业，因此将不会有大量的岩石废料。由石油工业在海底铺设的管线而留下的永久建筑，在采矿业中将不会出现。但是在开采启动之前，政府仍需相信这些辩解中提到的优点。University bonds: An education in financeLess well known is the increasing willingness of colleges to borrow in the markets, too. On May 15th, for example, Cornell University sold $250m-worth of bonds.In recent weeks both Harvard and the University of Texas have also raised hundreds of millions of dollars in this way.Such debt-raising is becoming more common. There are abundant reasons to believe that the market will grow much bigger yet.Largely this is because colleges are only belatedly becoming aware of how useful the financial markets can be. No doubt some of their hesitation has been cultural: academics may have been reluctant to look at their universities as businesses; or they may have misunderstood what was needed to help those businesses grow. If they did look at their institutions in economic terms, people in education tended not to think that universities lacked capital. Rather, they thought that they had a structural inability to use capital and labour more efficiently. Unlike the car industry, many schools felt that they must maintain, or even increase, the ratio of employees (teachers) to customers (students). Small class sizes are taken as a signal of high quality, so investing money to save on teachers salaries is not an attractive strategy.Schools had other reservations as well. Poor schools were worried about being unable to service debt. Rich schools with huge endowments may have seen no need. So much for an academic perspective. A growing number of investors saw things differently. Those lovely buildings on rolling campuses, the better universities reputations, taxpayers backing of state-owned institutions: all this looked to them like a deep pool of assets against which lots of money could be borrowed. The money raised could be used to attract more customers, who are choosy about the product and whose demand varies little with the price (loudly though they may complain).Some of the richest universities may be using another tactic too, although they would be loth to admit it. To understand this, it helps to know that America has three types of university-public ones; private, not-for-profit institutions; and private schools run for profit. Both public and not-for-profit universities often issue tax-exempt debt. This tends to be cheap. They can then invest the money they raise in the higheryielding taxable market but, because of their non-profit status, avoid taxes. This is not quite a licence to print money, but it is not far off. Under a 1986 law, money has to be raised for a purpose, such as a building.However, this is a matter of substance rather than form. Money is fungible. As long as the tax authorities are happy that the promised sum is being spent on the stated projects, a university can borrow cheaply and, in effect, earn a spread. Reflecting just how complex this market has become, most universities borrow at variable rates and then hedge their interest-rate risk through swaps.It is all pretty clever. Outside America, schools have been hesitant to take this approach largely because their operations and spending