题目内容
Let’s a___________ the problem and see what went wrong.
analyse
As the railroads and the highways shaped the American West in the past centuries, a new electrical generating(发电)and transmission (输送) system for the 21st century will leave a lasting mark on the West, for better or worse. Much of the real significance of railroads and highways is not in their direct physical effect on the scenery, but in the ways that they affect the surrounding community. The same is true of big solar plants and the power lines that will be laid down to move electricity around.
The 19 th century saw land grants(政府拨地) offered to railroad companies to build the transcontinental railroads, leaving public land in between privately owned land. In much of the West, some of the railroad sections were developed while others remained undeveloped, and in both cases the landownership has presented unique challenges to land management. With the completion of the interstate highway system, many of the small towns, which sprang up as railway stops and developed well, have lost their lifeblood and died.
Big solar plants and their power lines will also have effects far beyond their direct footprint in the West. This is not an argument against building them. We need alternative energy badly, and to really take advantage of it we need to be able to move electricity around far more readily than we can now.
So trade-offs will have to be made. Some scenic spots will be sacrificed. Some species(物种) will be forced to move, or will be carefully moved to special accommodations. Deals will be struck to reduce the immediate effects.
The lasting effects of these trade-offs are another matter. The 21st century development of the American West as an ideal place for alternative energy is going to throw off a lot of power and money in the region. There are chances for that power and money to do a lot of good. But it is just as likely that they will be spent wastefully and will leave new problems behind, just like the railroads and the highways.
The money set aside in negotiated trade-offs and the institutions that control it will shape the West far beyond the immediate footprint of power plants and transmission lines. So let’s remember the effects of the railroads and the highways as we construct these new power plants in the West.
【小题1】What was the problem caused by the construction of the railways?
| A.Small towns along the railways became abandoned. |
| B.Land in the West was hard to manage. |
| C.Some railroad stops remained underused. |
| D.Land grants went into private hands. |
| A.The use of money and power. |
| B.The transmission of power. |
| C.The conservation of solar energy. |
| D.The selection of an ideal place. |
| A.Disapproving. | B.Approving. | C.Doubtful. | D.Cautious. |
| A.How the Railways Have Affected the West |
| B.How the Effects of Power Plants Can Be Reduced |
| C.How Solar Energy Could Reshape the West |
| D.How the Problems of the Highways Have Been Settled |
As the railroads and the highways shaped the American West in the past centuries, a new electrical generating(发电)and transmission (输送) system for the 21st century will leave a lasting mark on the West, for better or worse. Much of the real significance of railroads and highways is not in their direct physical effect on the scenery, but in the ways that they affect the surrounding community. The same is true of big solar plants and the power lines that will be laid down to move electricity around.
The 19 th century saw land grants(政府拨地) offered to railroad companies to build the transcontinental railroads, leaving public land in between privately owned land. In much of the West, some of the railroad sections were developed while others remained undeveloped, and in both cases the landownership has presented unique challenges to land management. With the completion of the interstate highway system, many of the small towns, which sprang up as railway stops and developed well, have lost their lifeblood and died.
Big solar plants and their power lines will also have effects far beyond their direct footprint in the West. This is not an argument against building them. We need alternative energy badly, and to really take advantage of it we need to be able to move electricity around far more readily than we can now.
So trade-offs will have to be made. Some scenic spots will be sacrificed. Some species(物种) will be forced to move, or will be carefully moved to special accommodations. Deals will be struck to reduce the immediate effects.
The lasting effects of these trade-offs are another matter. The 21st century development of the American West as an ideal place for alternative energy is going to throw off a lot of power and money in the region. There are chances for that power and money to do a lot of good. But it is just as likely that they will be spent wastefully and will leave new problems behind, just like the railroads and the highways.
The money set aside in negotiated trade-offs and the institutions that control it will shape the West far beyond the immediate footprint of power plants and transmission lines. So let’s remember the effects of the railroads and the highways as we construct these new power plants in the West.
【小题1】What was the problem caused by the construction of the railways?
| A.Small towns along the railways became abandoned. |
| B.Land in the West was hard to manage. |
| C.Some railroad stops remained underused. |
| D.Land grants went into private hands. |
| A.The use of money and power. |
| B.The transmission of power. |
| C.The conservation of solar energy. |
| D.The selection of an ideal place. |
| A.Disapproving. | B.Approving. | C.Doubtful. | D.Cautious. |
| A.How the Railways Have Affected the West |
| B.How the Effects of Power Plants Can Be Reduced |
| C.How Solar Energy Could Reshape the West |
| D.How the Problems of the Highways Have Been Settled |
To tweet, or not to tweet?
A guide to the social networking/ microblogging service Tewitter
SINCE its creation in 2006, Twitter, the social networking service, has taken cyber space by storm. At first glance it might seem like Facebook, but Twitter is in a league of its own, connecting people with fast-paced updates. It has become a place for activities, celebrities, businesses and everyday people to let others know about videos, opinions, interesting news, advertisements-and, yes what they are eating for lunch.
The phenomenon includes a host of new vocabulary terms and concepts that every self-respecting Twitter-er should know. Here’s a quick course on Twitter.
So you’ve finally been swept up by the techno-tide and gotten a Twitter account. But what to write? Who knew 140 characters could be so overwhelming?
Darren Rowse of the TwiTip blog(www.twitip.com) recommends a two- step tweeting process: figure out what your follows want, and then give it to them. Some combination of cool links, conversation- starting quotes or questions , retweets and photos works well, Rowse writes.
Keep in mind that Twitter doesn’t directly offer photo hosting. You will need to use a third-party site like TwitPic (www.twitip.com) to upload your photos. Other sites, like TwitVid (tweetdeck.com/beta) can be used to post videos.
If you th ink the Twitter Web Site too complicated, try a Twiiter client—Tweetdeck(tweetdeck. Com/beta) and the Mac-only Tweetie(www. stebits. com)are popular, and both also are available as iPhone apps(应用程序).
Even without an iphone, you can update you Twitter on the go. After adding your phone number to your Twitter account, you can text updates to 40404(check Twitter’s Web site for numbers to use outside the United States)
But no matter how you tweet, remember that people can see what you post, and Twitter might not be the best place to complain about your boss, even if you make your Twitter private, your followers may not share your sense of discretion.
Twitter is crowded with celebrith accounts. The famous , who once avoided the media in their private lives, are posting everything on Twitter for all the cyber world to see, gathering followers in the millions. Who’s leading the celebrity pack? TwitterCounter(www.twittercounter.com), a site that tracks the most popular Twitter users, lists Ashton Kuntcher and former fashion model, as the nost popular Twitter-er with, as of our publication date, 2,691,112 followers.
Title: To tweet, or not to tweet?
| Introductionto Twitter | (71) in 2006, twitter, the soclal networking service, has enjoyed(72) among the cyber world. |
| Basic Twitter(73) | ●twitter-er ●tweet ●retwwet |
| (74) to tweet your tweets | ●Follow a two-step tweeting process, according to the (75) of Darren Rowse. ●Use a third-party site to upload your photos and post videos. ●Try Twitter clients to help you (76) Twitter, among which the Tweet-deck and the Mac-only Tweetie are well (77) . ●Add your phone number to your Twitter account if you don’t have an iPhone. ●Be(78) of what you post even if your twitter is made private |
| Celebrity twitter-ers | Celebrties now are (79) about tweeting, among whom Ashton Kutcher is the most popular, (80) by the largest number of twitter users. |