It’s amazing what a little free beer can accomplish. In 1997 the small Danish island of Samso, located in the Kattegat Strail, won a contest hosted by the Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy. Samso, then known for its dairy and pig farms, would become Denmark’s showcase for sustainable power, eventually going carbon-free. How that would happen, however, was far from clear, since the government initially offered no funding, tax breaks or technical expertise(专门知识).
Given that almost all its power came from oil or coal — and the island’s 4,300 residents didn’t know a wind turbine(风力发电机) from a grain silo(谷仓) — Samso seemed an strange choice. Soren Hermansen, though, saw an opportunity. A restless native son who grew up on a family farm, Hermansen was teaching environmental studies at a local school when he heard about Samso’s award. He volunteered to be the first — and only — participant. “I realized this could happen,” he says. “This was realistic.” He may have been the only one who thought so.
Hermansen knew Samso islanders were conservative, but that could be an advantage: once he convinced enough potential first movers to act, the rest would follow. So Hermansen showed up at every community or club meeting to campaign for the renewable-energy project. He pointed to the island’s unexplored potential for wind power and the economic benefits of making Samso energy-independent. He sometimes brought free beer.
It worked. The islanders bought shares in new wind turbines to build 11 large land-based turbines, enough to meet the entire island’s electricity needs. Not satisfied with that, they supported the construction of 10 huge offshore turbines，which provide power that the island’s dependence on cars and ferries needs. Today Samso isn’t just carbon-free — it actually produces 10% more clean electricity than it uses, with the extra power fed back into the national electricity network at a profit.
Hermansen has become a green angel, traveling from country to country telling the story of Samso’s success when he’s not at home running the Energy Academy, a research center for clean power. But he’s the first to say that the real credit belongs to the islanders，and that Samso’s lesson is that environmental change can only come from the ground up.
【小题1】What was Hermansen’t response to the Samso’s winning the contest?

In the dining room of my grandfather’s house stood a massive grandfather clock. Meals in that dining room were a time for three    36  to become one. The table was always spread with    37   containing love as the main ingredient (成分). And that grandfather clock stood like an old family friend, watching over the    38   that was a part of our lives.
As a child, the old clock fascinated me. I    39  and listened to it during meals. Even more wonderful to me was my grandfather’s ritual (老习惯). He wound (上发条) that clock with a(n)    40   key carefully each day. I remember watching   41   my grandfather took the key from his pocket and opened the hidden door in the clock. He inserted the key and wound — not too much, nor too    42  . He never let that clock wind down and    43 . He showed us grandchildren how to open the door and let us each take    44    winding the key.
After my grandfather died, it was days after the funeral    45  I remembered the clock! The tears    46   freely when I entered the dining room. The clock stood there quiet.
Some time later, my grandmother gave me the key. The old house was   47 . No laughter over the dinner table, no ticking or chiming of the    48   — all was still. I took the key in my shaking hand and    49   the clock door. All of a sudden, I was a    50   again, watching my grandfather with his silver-white hair and blue eyes. He was there,    51   at me, at the secret of the clock's magic, at the key that held so much power.
I stood there,    52   in thought for a long time. Then slowly and    53   I inserted the key and wound the clock. It sprang to life. Tick-tock, tick-tock, life and chimes were breathed into the dining room, into the house and into my    54  . With the movement of the hands of the clock, my grandfather    55   again.

Scientists studying the impact of climate change on the Arctic need to consider ways to reduce their own carbon footprints(碳排放量), says Ryan Brook, a researcher who regularly flies north to study the health of caribous(驯鹿).He calls on scientists to show leadership by examining and sharing ways to reduce the impact of working in polar regions.
“The importance of the research is not at question here. It is important to our understanding of and adapting to climate change. But we need to think about better approaches,” says Brook.
“This is an issue for all scientists, though polar researchers often travel particularly long distances using commercial air travel. We also rely extensively on small aircraft, icebreakers, and snowmobiles, all of which produce large amounts of carbon.”
Brook studies the health of caribou herds in Nunavut and Northwest Territories. He works with northern wildlife managers. This work typically takes him north five or six times per year and when he calculated his own carbon footprint, he was not happy with the result.
“My research footprints are about the same as the annual footprints of an average Toronto resident. Basically, I have two footprints — my own personal life, which is moderate, and my research footprint.”
Climate scientists can rightly argue that Arctic research is a specialized field and the community of scientists who travel north is relatively small. Even if all scientists working in the north reduced their carbon emissions, it would not make a big impact on the global scale. For Brook, it’s the option that matters.
There are ways researchers can reduce the amount of carbon they use. Some helicopters use less fuel than others. Solar and wind power are alternatives to gas-fired generators. And while carbon offsets(抵消) don’t reduce the amount of carbon emitted, they are an easy first step.
“There aren’t necessarily any easy answers, but we need to start talking about it,” says Brook. “This is particularly important for the next generation of scientists being trained and I hope to see them become leaders in this issue.”
【小题1】What did Brook find when he calculated his own carbon footprints?

     Ausubel of Rockefeller University in New York, US. says the key renewable energy sources, including sun, wind and biofuels, would all require vast     1     of land if developed up to large scale production¹ – unlike nuclear power. That land would be far better left alone², he says. Renewables look attractive when they are quite     2    . But if we start producing renewable energy on a large scale, the fallout is going to be horrible. Instead, Ausubel argues     3     renewed development of nuclear.

     Ausubel draws his conclusions by analysing the amount of energy renewables, natural gas and nuclear can produce in terms of power per square metre of land used³. Moreover, he claims that as renewable energy use increases, this measure of efficiency⁴ will     4     as the best land for wind, biofuels, and solar power gets used up.

    Using biofuels to obtain the     5     amount of energy as a 1000 megawatt nuclear power plant would require 2500 square kilometres of farm     6    , Ausubel says. "We should be sparing land for nature⁵, not using it as pasture for cars and trucks," he adds.

     Solar power is much more efficient than biofuel in terms of the area of land     7    , but it would still require 150 square kilometres of photovoltaic cells to     8     the energy production of the 1000 MW nuclear plant. In another example, he says meeting the 2005 US electricity demand via wind power alone would need 780,000 square kilometres, an area the size of Texas.

     However, several experts are highly critical     9     Ausubel’s conclusions. John Turner of the US government’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory says that     10     the US got all of its power from solar energy, it would still need less than half the amount of land that has been paved over for highways. Further, it need not     11     additional land. The US could get a quarter of its energy just from covering rooftops of     12     buildings, he says.

     According to Turner, the same "dual use" also applies to wind power⁶. "The footprint for wind⁷ is only 5% of the land that it     13    . Farmers can still farm the land that the turbines are on⁸. Turner says looking solely at land use is an oversimplification of the     14    . "I’m not sure I’d want to build one of these nuclear plants in Afghanistan⁹, but we could     15     put in wind and solar power," he adds.

A. figures       B. amounts          C, unmbers        D. digits

A. small        B. huge             C. little            D. vast

A. at           B. over             C. for             D. against

A. expand      B. minimize          C. enlarge         D. decrease

A. same        B. similar           C. alike            D. identical

A. region       B. site              C. area            D. land

A. leased       B. cultivated         C. used            D. purchased

A. patch        B. match           C. catch            D. fetch

A. in           B. with            C. of               D. on

A. even if      B. only if           C. what if          D. as if

A. lock up       B. take up           C. give up         D. set up

A. towering      B. interesting        C. nice-looking     D. existing

A.surrounds    B. contains       C. includes        D. covers

A. issue       B. stuff           C. summary       D. suggestion

A. doubtfully  B. supposedly      C. certainly       D. honestly

It’s amazing what a little free beer can accomplish. In 1997 the small Danish island of Samso, located in the Kattegat Strail, won a contest hosted by the Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy. Samso, then known for its dairy and pig farms, would become Denmark’s showcase for sustainable power, eventually going carbon-free. How that would happen, however, was far from clear, since the government initially offered no funding, tax breaks or technical expertise(专门知识).

Given that almost all its power came from oil or coal — and the island’s 4,300 residents didn’t know a wind turbine(风力发电机) from a grain silo(谷仓) — Samso seemed an strange choice. Soren Hermansen, though, saw an opportunity. A restless native son who grew up on a family farm, Hermansen was teaching environmental studies at a local school when he heard about Samso’s award. He volunteered to be the first — and only — participant. “I realized this could happen,” he says. “This was realistic.” He may have been the only one who thought so.

Hermansen knew Samso islanders were conservative, but that could be an advantage: once he convinced enough potential first movers to act, the rest would follow. So Hermansen showed up at every community or club meeting to campaign for the renewable-energy project. He pointed to the island’s unexplored potential for wind power and the economic benefits of making Samso energy-independent. He sometimes brought free beer.

It worked. The islanders bought shares in new wind turbines to build 11 large land-based turbines, enough to meet the entire island’s electricity needs. Not satisfied with that, they supported the construction of 10 huge offshore turbines，which provide power that the island’s dependence on cars and ferries needs. Today Samso isn’t just carbon-free — it actually produces 10% more clean electricity than it uses, with the extra power fed back into the national electricity network at a profit.

Hermansen has become a green angel, traveling from country to country telling the story of Samso’s success when he’s not at home running the Energy Academy, a research center for clean power. But he’s the first to say that the real credit belongs to the islanders，and that Samso’s lesson is that environmental change can only come from the ground up.

1.What was Hermansen’t response to the Samso’s winning the contest?

A. He regarded it as a chance.

B. He was not satisfied with the award.

C. He thought it was strange.

D. He thought it was reasonable.

2.From the second paragraph we can learn that __________.

A. many Samso islanders participated in the green project actively

B. most Samso islanders were against the renewable energy project

C. Samso has a long history of making use of renewable energy

D. at first people showed little interest in the renewable energy project

3.Why did Hermansen show up at every community or club meeting?

A. It was his duty to keep the islanders informed of government policies.

B. He wanted to convince the islanders to use clean power instead of oil or coal.

C. He wanted to persuade the islanders to be involved in the wind power project.

D. He wanted to share his beer with other islanders.

4.What can we learn about Hermansen’s personality from the last paragraph?

A. He is practical.                 B. He is courageous.

C. He is modest.                  D. He is ambitious.