上外考研翻硕英语阅读理解能源环保题材阅读理解模拟题.pdfVIP

上外考研翻硕英语 阅读理解能源环保题材阅读理解模拟题 For its supporters, the idea of growing single-celled algae on exhaust gas piped from power stations is the ultimate in recycling. For its detractors, it is a mere pipe dream. Whoever turns out to be right, though, it is an intriguing idea: instead of releasing the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels into the atmosphere, why not recapture it by photosynthesis? The result could then be turned into biodiesel (since many species of algae store their food reserves as oil), or even simply dried and fed back into the power station. Of course, if it were really that easy, someone would have done it already. But although no one has yet commercialised the technology, several groups are trying. One of them is GS CleanTech, which has developed a bioreactor based on a patent held by a group of scientists at the Ohio Coal Research Centre, at the University of Ohio. The GS CleanTech bioreactor uses a parabolic mirror to funnel sunlight into fibre-optic cables that carry the light to acrylic “glow plates” inside the reactor. These diffuse the light over vertical sheets of polyester that form the platform on which the algae grow. Eventually the polyester is unable to support the weight of the algae, and they fall off into a collection duct positioned underneath. GreenFuel Technologies, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has a different approach. Its reactor is composed of a series of clear tubes, each 1 with a second, opaque tube nested inside. This arrangement makes it possible to bubble the exhaust gas down through the outer compartment and then bubble it back up through the opaque middle. The bubbling gas causes turbulence and