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 21^st 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 21^st 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?

Doors and windows can’t keep them out; airport immigration officers can’t stop them and the Internet is a complete reproduction soil. They seem harmless in small doses, but large imports threaten Japan’s very uniqueness, say critics. “They are foreign words and they are infecting the Japanese language”.

“Sometimes I feel like I need a translator to understand my own language, ”says Yoko Fujimura with little anger, a 5-year-old Tokyo restaurant worker.“It’s becoming incomprehensible”.

It’s not only Japan who is on the defensive. Countries around th globe are wet through their hands over the rapid spread of American English. Coca?Cola,for example, is one of the most recognized terms on Earth.

It is made worse for Japan, however, by its unique writing system. The country writes all imported utterances(言论) except Chinese?in a different script called katakana (片假名). It is the only country to keep up such a difference. Katakana takes far more space to write than kanji?the core pictograph (象形文字) characters that the Japanese borrowed from China 1,500 years ago. Because it stands out, readers complain that sentences packed with foreign words start to look like extended strings of lights. As if that weren’t enough, katakana terms tend to get puzzling.

 For example, digital camera first appears as degitaru kamera. Then they became the more ear?pleasing digi kamey. But kamey is also the Japanese word for turtle. “It’s very disappointing not knowing what young people are talking about,” says humorously Minoru Shiratori, a 53?year?old bus driver. “Sometimes I can’t tell if they’re discussing cameras or turtles.”

In a bid to stop the flood of katakana, the government has formed a Foreign Words Committee to find suitable Japanese replacements. The committee is slightly different from French?style language police, which try to support a law that forbids advertising in English. Rather, committee members and traditionalists hope a non?stop campaign of persuasion, gentle criticism and leadership by example can turn the tide.

12.According to the author, the reason why the Japanese is infectd greatly by English is .      

A.that nothing can prevent it from entering into Japan

B.that English is the most recognized language in the world

C.that the government has not set up a special administration department to control this trend   before it becomes popular in Japan

D.not clearly mentioned in this passage

13.By saying “counties around the globe are wet through their hands over the rapid spread of American English,”the author infers that        .

A.even a restaurant worker in Japan may feel the English infection on Japanese

B.the flood of katakana has covered most of countries in the world

C.Coca?Cola is the most popuar on the earth and this product covers all the global market

D.many other countries are affected greatly by American English

14.According to the author, the last paragraph mainly deals with.      

A.how French-style language police has prevented the infection of English

B.how Japanese Foreign Words Committee prevents the infection of foreign words

C.the suitable Japanese replacements

D.why committee members and traditionalists begin to declare a war against the infection of foreign words

15.Which conclusion can be drawn based on the opinions from the Japanese people (in paragraph 2 and 4 of this passage)?

A.The elders strongly advocates replacing the foreign words than young people.

B.All the people dislike speaking the foreign words, such as “digi kamey”.

C.They are so old that it is necessary to give some language assistance by a specialist.

D.People’s work determines the language they speak.