NEW YORK (Reuters) Electric cars will not be dramatically cleaner than autos powered by fossil fuels until they rely less on electricity produced from usual coal-fired power plants, scientists said on Monday.

"For electric vehicles to become a major green alternative, the power fuel has to move away from coal, or cleaner coal technologies have to be developed," said Jared Cohon, the chair of a National Research Council report released on Monday.

About half of U. S. power is generated (产生) by burning coal, which gives off many times more of traditional pollutants than natural gas, and about twice as much of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

Nuclear and renewable power would have to generate a larger portion of U. S. power for electric cars to become much greener compared to gasoline-powered cars, Cohan, who is president of Carnegie Mellon University, said in an interview.

Advances in coal burning, like capturing carbon at power plants for permanent burial underground, could also help electric cars become a cleaner alternative to vehicles powered by fossil fuels, he said.

Pollution from energy sources did $120 billion worth of damage to human health, agriculture and recreation in 2008, and electricity was responsible for more than half of file damage, said the NRC report.

Electric cars have their benefits such as reducing imports of foreign oil. But they also have hidden costs.

Materials in electric car batteries are hard to produce, which adds to the energy it takes to make them. In fact, the health and environmental costs of making electric cars can be 20 percent greater than usual cars, the report said.

The report estimated that electric cars could still cost more than gas-powered cars to operate and manufacture in 2030 unless U. S. power production becomes cleaner.

64. Why are electric cars not clean enough?

A. Because they run too slowly.                         B. Because they are too expensive.

C. Because they rely on coal-fired power.           D. Because they give off more carbon dioxide.

65. We can infer from the passage that ________.

A. electric cars will soon take the place of gas-powered cars

B. no one holds hope for electric cars at present

C. electric cars waste more energy than before

D. some people believe that electric cars are more cleaner

66. Which of the following is not mentioned as a way to make electric cars cleaner?

A. Developing cleaner coal technologies.            B. Making electric cars run faster.

C. Generating more nuclear power.                    D. Making advances in coal burning.

67. What kind of attitude the writer holds towards the future of electric cars?

A. The writer thinks highly of electric cars.

B. The writer believes electric cars will disappear in the end.

C. The writer thinks it' s hard to popularize electric cars at present.

D. The writer thinks it' s impossible for us to use electric cars before 2030.

第Ⅱ卷 (共45分)

注意事项:

    1.用黑色或蓝色钢笔、圆珠笔直接答在试卷上。

    2.答卷前将密封线内的项目填写清楚。

第四部分:书面表达(共两节,满分45分)

第一节:阅读表达(共5小题;每小题3分,共15分)

阅读下面的短文,并根据短文后的要求答题。(请注意问题后的词数要求)

[1]It seems parents have long been right. Going to bed early is key to getting enough sleep and helping adolescents feel on top of the world, a new study reported.

[2]A lack of sleep among youngsters may trigger depression and suicidal thoughts, according to the study by the Columbia University Medical Center.

[3]"Our results are consistent with the theory that inadequate sleep is a risk factor for depression, working with other risk and protective factors through multiple possible causal ways to the development of this mood disorder," said lead author James Gangwisch.

[4]"Adequate quality sleep could therefore be a preventative measure against depression and a treatment for depression," he added in the study published in the Friday issue of Sleep magazine.

[5]The study followed the nightly habits of some 15,659 college and high-school students, and found those who consistently turned in after midnight had a 24 percent higher risk of depression than those who                     before 10:00 pm. Night owls also ran a 20 percent higher risk of battling suicidal thoughts, the study added.

[6]The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that adolescents should sleep at least nine hours or more a night. Those who were tucked in before 10:00 pm reported they slept on average about eight hours and 10 minutes. But that amount of sleep dropped significantly for those in bed after midnight.

[7]And adolescents who slept five hours or less a night were 71 percent more likely to suffer depression and 48 percent more at risk of becoming suicidal, the study said.

[8]"It is a common perception and societal expectation that adolescents do not need as much sleep as pre-adolescents. Yet studies suggest that adolescents may actually require more sleep." said Gangwisch.

[9]"Studies have found that adolescents do not go to bed early enough to make up for earlier school start time. And transitions to earlier school start times have been shown to be associated with significant sleep deprivation."

76. What’s the main idea of the passage? (Please answer within 8 words)

                                                                        

77. What theory are the study results similar to? (Please answer within 20 words)

                                                                        

78. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 5 with proper words. (Please answer within 6 words)

                                                                        

79. Which sentence in the text is the closest in meaning to the following one?

   It’s widely accepted that the youngsters needn’t sleep as much as the child.

                                                                        

80. Translate the underlined sentence in Paragraph 9 into Chinese.

                                                                         

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