首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The appeal of hydrogen fuel cells has long been obvious. Because these devices use electrochemical reactions to generate electri
The appeal of hydrogen fuel cells has long been obvious. Because these devices use electrochemical reactions to generate electri
admin
2017-12-02
54
问题
The appeal of hydrogen fuel cells has long been obvious. Because these devices use electrochemical reactions to generate electricity from hydrogen, emitting only heat and water in the process, they offer a particularly green source of power, especially for vehicles. What has not been so obvious, however, is how to make hydrogen fuel cells practical. In 2009, Steven Chu, then the U. S. Secretary of Energy,told an interviewer that in order for hydrogen fuel-cell transportation to work, "four miracles" needed to happen. First, scientists had to find an efficient and low-cost way to produce hydrogen. Second, they had to develop a safe, high-density method of storing hydrogen in automobiles. Third, an infrastructure for distributing hydrogen had to be built so that fuel-cell vehicles would have ample refueling options. Fourth, researchers had to improve the capacity of the fuel-cell systems themselves, which were not as durable, powerful, and low cost as the internal combustion engine. Chu concluded that achieving all four big breakthroughs would be unlikely. "Saints only need three miracles," he added.
Accordingly, the U. S. Department of Energy dramatically cut funding for fuel cells, reducing its support for various programs to nearly a third of previous levels. For the rest of Chu’s tenure, the department awarded nearly no new grants to develop the technology at universities, national labs, or private companies. Although the department’s total expenditures on fuel cells and hydrogen had always amounted to a small fraction of overall global investment in the sector, the change in posture sent a deeply pessimistic signal worldwide.
Immediately after Chu’s comments made the rounds, the hydrogen community issued a defense, contending that major progress had been made. But the damage was done. Universities stopped hiring faculty in an area perceived to be dying, top students fled to other subjects, and programs at national labs were forced to reconfigure their efforts. Established scientists saw an abrupt decrease in funding opportunities for hydrogen and refocused their research on other technologies. The overall effect was a drastic shrinking of the human-resource pipeline feeding hydrogen and fuel-cell research.
All of this was not necessarily a bad thing: new technologies come along all the time, pushing aside older ones that are no longer bound for the market. In the case of hydrogen fuel cells, however, scientists really had made big breakthroughs, and the technology was finally in the process of hitting the market. Rather than redirecting limited resources to more realistic technologies, the U. S. government’s policy arguably amounted to pulling the rug out from under hydrogen and fuel-cell research and development in the United States and handing over leadership in the sector to other countries. Patents are perhaps the best indicator of how much practical progress a technology is making, and even as the U. S. government decreased its support for research into hydrogen fuel cells(and increased its support for other clean energy technologies), the number of U. S. patents related to fuel cells continued to dwarf those of other energy technologies, with the exception of solar power.
The phrase "pulling the rug out from under"(para. 4)most likely means______.
选项
A、drawing attention to
B、withdrawing support for
C、paving the floor for
D、recognizing the importance of
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/L7cO777K
本试题收录于:
NAETI中级口译笔试题库外语翻译证书(NAETI)分类
0
NAETI中级口译笔试
外语翻译证书(NAETI)
相关试题推荐
Lastyear,over700peoplewerekilledinKarachi’sviolence.Inthepastthreemonthsthefigurehas【C1】______300.Businessmen
Butthat’sexactlywhatitfacedaftertheSovietUnioncollapsed.Livingconditionsslid,TBcasesroseandbudgetfundswither
Americans’ParadoxicalBehaviorOneofthegeneralitiesmostoftennotedaboutAmericansisthatwearearestless,adissati
Tryingtomakeuphisstereotypedimage,heinvitesmetogotomoviewithhimintheNewYeareve.
Itisincredibletosayaggressionagainstthesmallcountryshouldnothavebeenmetwiththefullforceofthemilitarypower
OnememberwhichlivesinHanoverParkexplainshisinitiationintotheAmericans,probablythelargestgang.
Asthefederalgovernmentshutdownapproachesthetwo-weekmark,it’sbecomepainfullyapparentthatthepubliccannolongerru
BertrandRussell—TheAnalysisofMind(TruthandFalsehood)Onthefeatureswhichdistinguishknowledgefromaccuracyofres
Researchersallovertheworldhavebeenseekingfordetermininghowearlyinfancyconceptualthinkingispossible.
A、Itcankeepyourimmunesystemstrong.B、Itcanassistinyourefforttoreduceweight.C、Itcaneasilyreplacethenutrition
随机试题
生脉散的证治要点是四君子汤的证治要点是
下列药物中毒时需忌服牛奶的是
测绘类专业博士学位取得注册测绘师资格应当具备的业务条件是从事测绘业务工作应满()。
劳动合同应当以书面形式订立,并要具备诸如:劳动合同期限;工作内容;劳动报酬以及()条款。
为购建固定资产而借入的专门借款的利息应全部记入固定资产的成本。
根据公司法律制度的规定,下列事项变更时,应当自变更决议或者决定作出之日起30日内申请变更登记的有()。
面对计算能力强大的人工智能,当前人类并没有设置任何障碍来________开发。人们现在对人工智能的________大都存在于文艺作品中,而对人工智能技术可能导致的技术垄断、权力滥用、数据泄密等问题所采取的防范措施还比较有限。
SELECT语句中有子句“WHERE工资额>1000”,该子句的含义是()。
Achievingasustainablelifestyletodayisofparamountimportanceforthehealthoffuturegenerations.Thedevastationofour
Womenarequiteoftencompetentdrivers,buttheyareveryseldomconsistentlyfirstclass.Atbesttheyareamildhazard,at【C
最新回复
(
0
)