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On America’s Gulf coast, massive industrial facilities stand idle. Miles of twisting stainless-steel pipes and huge storage tank

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问题     On America’s Gulf coast, massive industrial facilities stand idle. Miles of twisting stainless-steel pipes and huge storage tanks gleam uselessly in the sun. They are a reminder of the hundreds of billions of dollars that America has invested in terminals for handling imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Thanks to the boom in domestic shale gas, those imports are no longer needed. America produces nearly as much gas as it consumes, and will soon produce far more.
    So the obvious thing to do with those idle terminals is to re-engineer them to handle exports. Instead of receiving shiploads of liquefied gas and re-gasifying it, they should be taking American gas, liquefying it and loading it onto tankers. Converting these plants will not be cheap—each one will cost at least $5 billion. But the potential rewards are much larger.
    In America gas sells for around $3.40 per million British thermal units (mBTU). In Europe it costs around $12. In gas-poor Asia, spot cargoes change hands for as much as $20 per mBTU. Since it costs roughly $5 per mBTU to liquefy the stuff, ship it and turn it back into gas, America could be making a fortune from gas exports. To the extent that such exports displaced dirty coal, they would also help curb global warming.
    Most of America’s two dozen LNG import terminals have applied for export licences. Yet only one, Sabine Pass in Louisiana, has actually started retooling its kit. Gas from there will start flowing onto global markets by the end of 2015. Why has every other terminal been so slow to seize this opportunity?
    Converting a plant is not easy: firms must build now upon row of expensive fridges, known as "liquefaction trains", to get gas moving in the opposite direction. But the real hold-up is political. No LNG facility besides Sabine has yet received permission to export. American law requires the Department of Energy to determine whether gas exports are in the public interest, and President Barack Obama’s administration is in no hurry to make up its mind.
America became less dependent on imported gas due to ______.
选项 A、the use of massive industrial facilities
B、billions of dollars invested in terminals
C、the prosperity of home-produced gas
D、the less consumption of domestic gas
答案C
解析 该题是第一题，一般设置在首段，第二题明确定位了Paragraph 2，也可以推断出第一题应该在第一段。该题目对应该段第四句：Thanks to the boom in domestic shale gas，those imports are no 1onger needed．而该句的“Thanks to”相当于题干的“due to”，故答案就在thanks to之后。选项A中的“massive industrial facilities”可以在首句找到，这只是原文提及的信息，并非美国更少地依赖进口气的原因。选项B中的“billions of dollars invested in terminals”也是原文信息，非答案。前面提到，该题答案在Thanks to之后，即“the boom in domestic shale gas”是答案。而选项C中的“prosperity”=“boom”，“home-produced”=“domestic”，故选项C为答案。原文最后一句提到：America produces nearly as much gas as it consumes, and will soon produce far more. 意为：美国生产的天然气与其消耗的几乎一样多，并将很快生产更多。而没提到选项D所说的“国内气的消耗量少了"。故选项D是错误的。
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