Question

【题目】Electric cars are dirty. In fact, not only are they dirty, they might even be more dirty than their gasoline-powered cousins.

People in California love to talk about “zero-emissions vehicles,” but people in California seem to be clueless about where electricity comes from. Power plants most all use fire to make it. Aside from the few folks who have their roofs covered with solar cells, we get our electricity from generators. Generators are fueled by something — usually coal, oil, but also by heat generated in nuclear power plants. There are a few wind farms and geothermal plants as well, but by far we get electricity mainly by burning something.

In other words, those “zero-emissions” cars are likely coal-burning cars. It's just the coal is burned somewhere else so it looks clean. It is not. It’s as if the California Greens are covering their eyes — “If I can’t see it, it’s not happening.” Gasoline is an incredibly efficient way to power a vehicle; a gallon of gas has a lot of energy in it. But when you take that gas (or another fuel) and first use it to make electricity, you waste a nice part of that energy, mostly in the form of wasted heat — at the generator, through the transmission lines, etc.

A gallon of gas may propel your car 25 miles. But the electricity you get from that gallon of gas won't get you nearly as far — so electric cars burn more fuel than gas-powered ones. If our electricity came mostly from nukes, or geothermal, or hydro, or solar, or wind, then an electric car truly would be clean. But for political, technical, and economic reasons, we don’t use much of those energy sources.

In addition, electric cars’ batteries which are poisonous for a long time will eventually end up in a landfill. And finally, when cars are the polluters, the pollution is spread across all the roads. When it’s a power plant, though, all the junk is in one place. Nature is very good at cleaning up when things are not too concentrated, but it takes a lot longer when all the garbage is in one spot.

【1】 What does the underlined word“clueless” mean in paragraph 2?

A．The California Greens are covering their eyes.

B．People in California love to talk about zero-emissions vehicles

C．People in California love to have their roofs covered with solar cells

D. People there have no idea that so far electricity mainly comes from burning coal, oil, etc.

【2】What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Electric cars are not clean at all.

B. Electric cars are better than gasonline-powered ones.

C. People cast doubts on electric cars’batteries.

D. Gasonline is an efficient way to power a vehicle.

【3】 The electricity we get from a gallon of gas may make our car run __________.

A. not less than 25 miles.

B. more than 25 miles.

C. no less than 25 miles.

D. not more than 25 miles.

【4】According to the passage, electric cars _________.

A. do not burn fuel and more environmental.

B. are toxic and it is difficult for nature to clean it up when their batteries are buried in one spot.

C. are very good at cleaning up when things are not too concentrated

D. are poisonous for a long time and will eventually end up in a landfill

【5】 It can be inferred from the passage that __________.

A.Being green is good and should be encouraged in communications

B.Electric cars are not clean in that we get electricity mainly by burning something.

C.Zero-emissions vehicles should be chosen to protect our environment.

D.Electric cars are now the dominant vehicle compared with gasoline-powered cousins.

Answer 1

【答案】【1】D

【2】A

【3】D

【4】B

【5】B

【解析】【1】词义猜测题。从本句中的but可知clueless与love to talk about意思相反。故选D项。

【2】主旨大意题。文章第一端的第一句“Electric cars are dirty.”是主旨所在：主要讲述电动车的污染并不比其他汽油车少。

【3】细节理解题。从第四段的第一、二句A gallon of gas may propel your car 25 miles. But the electricity you get from that gallon of gas won't get you nearly as far…可知答案为D。

【4】细节理解题。从最后一段的第一句“In addition, electric cars’ batteries which are poisonous for a long time will eventually end up in a landfill.”可知B项正确，而D项是指其电池而不是车本身。

【5】推理判断题。从第二段的第四句“Generators are fueled by something — usually coal, oil, but also by heat generated in nuclear power plants.”可推知。