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Mister Collins says one reason for the increase is high prices for natural gas. Another is a federal tax credit (税收抵免) for wind production. The credit is almost two cents per kilowatt hour for the first ten years of production for a project. The production tax credit for renewable forms of energy was supposed to end this December. But Congress has extended it through 2008 Other reasons for the expansion include improved turbine technology and lower production costs. They also include policies that make it easier for wind power producers to sell their electricity. And they include the growth of markets for “green power” --- energy that does not create pollution. California is the leading state for wind power. But Mister Collins says production is also growing in Minnesota and other Midwestern states, all the way down to Texas. And he says many states in the West and Midwest have the wind resources to produce much more wind power. Wind power offers farmers a way to earn money for use of their land or, if they want, to operate their own turbines. Wind is free, of course. Not only that, the land under the turbines can usually be farmed. And farmers may be able to earn extra money by charging visitors to see their wind farm. But wind farms are not perfect. Keep in mind that there has to be enough wind to earn a profit. Also, the turbines can kill birds. And people sometimes object to the development of wind farms. They consider them ugly and noisy. 5. In ___ wind power is widely used to produce electricity. A. America B. Midwest C. Europe D. West 6. According to Mister Collins the reasons for the increase of wind using are ____. A. natural gas is expensive B. the tax is less for wind production C. wind energy is green energy D. both A and B 7. Which of the following can replace the underlined word in the last paragraph? A. refuse B. accept C. agree to D. are afraid of 8. From the passage we can conclude that ___. A. the government in the USA supports the use of wind power B. California has the most wind resource in the world C. visitors can watch the wind farm free D. wind power can bring farmers some trouble C Vint Cerf, who helped to build the Internet while working as a researcher in America, said that television was approaching its “iPod moment” In the same way that people now download their favourite music onto their iPod, he said that viewers would soon be downloading most of favourite programmes onto their computers. “85 percent of all video we watch is pre-recorded, so you can set your system to download it all the time, ” said Mr. Cerf, who is now the vice-president of the Google, the world’s largest search engine. “You are still going to need live television for certain things --- like news, sporting events and emergencies --- but increasingly it is going to be almost like the iPod, where you download content to look at later.” But some critics, including some internet service providers, have warned that the Internet will collapse under the strain of millions of people downloading programmes at the same time. Broadband companies claim that the service will cause “traffic jams”, which will cost millions of pounds to sort out. But Mr. Cerf dismissed the warnings as “scare tactics”, saying that critics had predicted 20 years ago that the net would collapse when people all around the world started to use it. “In the intervening 30ears it’s increased a million times… We’re far from exhausting the capacity,” he said. “It’s an understandable worry when they see huge amounts of information being moved around online.” “I want more Internet,” he said. “I want every one of the six billion people on the planet to be able to connect to the Internet.” 9. What can we learn from the passage about TV in future? A. The TV will be booming. B. The traditional television is to die. C. We are still going to need live television. D. The Internet will collapse. 10. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in this passage? A. Mr. Cerf wants everyone on the earth to download their favourite music onto their iPod. B. If people download the programmes the Internet will collapse. C. Not all Internet service providers are in for TV’s dying. D. Half of all video we watch is pre-recorded. 11. We know that Mr. Cerf is ___ A. an engineer B. a scientist C. a critic D. vice-president of the world’s largest search engine D One of the more common and destructive mental tendencies I’ve seen is that of focusing on what we want instead of what we have. We want this or that. If we don’t get what we want, we keep thinking about all that we don’t have and we remain dissatisfied. If we do get what we want, we simply recreate the same thinking in our new circumstances. So, despite getting what we want, we still remain unhappy. Happiness can’t be found when we are yearning (向往，渴望) for new desires. (责任编辑：admin) |