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
61
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 author’s attitude towards the U. S. government’s policy regarding hydrogen fuel cell can best be summarized as______.
选项
A、critical
B、ambiguous
C、impartial
D、appreciative
答案
A
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/Q7cO777K
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
BritishCookingBritishcookinghasundergoneachangeduringthepastdecadeasaresultofthescarcityof【C1】______which
BritishCookingBritishcookinghasundergoneachangeduringthepastdecadeasaresultofthescarcityof【C1】______which
BritishCookingBritishcookinghasundergoneachangeduringthepastdecadeasaresultofthescarcityof【C1】______which
AttheendofarecentfeastatRestaurantRevolutioninNewOrleans,Iorderedacupofhotteaandwaspresentedwithanelega
NowadayswecanseenumerousforeignfilmsandTVprograms______inandmanyotherimportedproductsdominatingourmarkets.
Everyautumn,retailershirelargenumbersofseasonalworkerstohandletherushofholidaybusiness.Then,afterthenewyear
BertrandRussell—TheAnalysisofMind(TruthandFalsehood)Onthefeatureswhichdistinguishknowledgefromaccuracyofres
Agoodhandatmanagementusuallyhassecond________toone’sbow,abestcardtobeplayedwhenneeded.
Whatdoesthespeakerfeelaboutsummerpictures?
Thecultureofanysocietyisusuallythoughttobeoftwokinds:materialandnonmaterial.Materialcultureincludestheman-ma
随机试题
幼年类风湿关节炎的诊断主要依赖于
A.紫杉B.葛根C.陈皮D.麻黄E.满山红含大豆素的药材是
思维的基本过程和创造性思维的过程分别是什么?
急性心包压塞病情危急,可先作心包腔穿刺减压缓解,同时输血补液,为争取剖胸抢救时间。()
能增加肺弹性阻力的是
滴虫性阴道炎获得根治的方法
患儿发热,随后出现呕吐和意识障碍。应首先考虑的是()
(2009)图示结构受均布荷载作用,以下内力图和变形图错误的是()。
王先生三年前购买了一套住房,从银行贷了40万元房款,贷款期限15年,假设贷款利率为7%,王先生贷款时采取等额本息还款法。王先生第一个月还了()利息。
按照ITU-T标准,传输速度为9.954Gbps的标准是()。
最新回复
(
0
)