【時(shí)事聚焦】時(shí)下，低碳生活已經(jīng)成為一種時(shí)尚，人們開(kāi)始從生活的點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴中來(lái)減少能源消耗，可實(shí)際上我們很多時(shí)候往往只關(guān)注于少量的能源消耗，如及時(shí)關(guān)燈，卻忽視了我們的大型家用電器對(duì)能源的消耗，如加熱器和干洗機(jī)等。具體請(qǐng)看以下《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家》周刊網(wǎng)站的一則相關(guān)報(bào)道：

People habitually underestimate their energy consumption

Environmental asceticism has created a vogue for upgrading light-bulbs and tweaking thermostats. But according to a new piece of research, many of these actions—however virtuous—arise from faulty perceptions of energy savings.

Shahzeen Attari of Columbia University and her colleagues used Craigslist, an online marketplace, to recruit 505 volunteers from across America. Each was asked to estimate the energy consumption of nine household devices (such as stereos and air conditioners) as well as the energy savings incurred by six green activities (like swapping incandescent bulbs for fluorescent ones). The researchers then compared the volunteers’ estimates with the actual energy requirements or savings in question.

Their results, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that although people do grasp basic energy trends, they are decidedly hazy on the details. On average, participants underestimated both energy use and energy savings by a factor of 2.8—mostly because they undervalued the requirements of large machines like heaters and clothes dryers. As a result, they failed to recognise the huge energy savings that can come from improving the efficiency of such appliances.

Miscalculations like these hinder conservation efforts. When asked to rank the single most effective way to save energy, participants typically endorsed activities with small savings, such as turning off lights, while ignoring what they could economise on larger devices. This suggests that people misallocate their efforts, fretting over an unattended lamp (at 100 watts) while neglecting the energy they could save by nudging their washer settings from “hot” to “warm” (4,000 watt-hours for each load of laundry).

A quirk of human psychology could help to explain these persistent underestimates. When calculating such things, people often adopt a familiar unit as a mental yardstick and then generate predictions based on that unit. As a side-effect, their estimates cluster too closely around the yardstick measure—a phenomenon called “anchoring”. In Dr Attari’s study, for example, the survey provided a reference measure by stating the amount of energy used by a standard light bulb. Participants may have responded by unconsciously anchoring their estimates to this value, compressing their predictions into the relatively low range of an incandescent bulb.

This suggests an obvious criticism: by providing the light-bulb figure, the researchers primed their subjects to underestimate energy consumption. But the authors argue that rather than introducing a methodological flaw, they simply acknowledged a shared point of reference. When it comes to an accessible, quantitative measure of energy, consumers are uniquely familiar with the 100W bulb. As a result, Dr Attari expects bulbs to exert an anchoring effect on the general population as well as on her volunteers, contributing to widespread underestimates of the energy demands of large appliances.

Fortunately, increased information seems to combat such miscalculations. In the study those who were better at maths made more accurate predictions, as did those with broadly pro-environmental attitudes. Ways of making energy consumption clearer, such as devices that constantly monitor household appliances, could therefore help people make better decisions about how to save energy.

【熱點(diǎn)話題】根據(jù)上文所述，人們從自身做起，保護(hù)環(huán)境，節(jié)省能源，如：不用白熾燈，改用熒光燈，再到主動(dòng)關(guān)燈?？墒牵藗兇_實(shí)忽視了一些大型的電器卻正在大肆地消耗著我們的能源。自從09年12月份的哥本哈根會(huì)議的召開(kāi)，節(jié)能、低碳這些環(huán)保的名稱成為時(shí)下的熱點(diǎn)話題，相應(yīng)也是雅思考試比較熱衷的考試主題。所以，建議2010年的考生對(duì)諸如此類話題千萬(wàn)不能忽視。再者，這類的話題對(duì)于考生來(lái)說(shuō)既不陌生但似乎又有些陌生，對(duì)于這方面的文章，大家應(yīng)該增加閱讀量，儲(chǔ)存必備的背景知識(shí)，做到有備無(wú)患。對(duì)于這樣的文章，學(xué)生也可能會(huì)碰到比較生僻和難的詞匯、句型、文章結(jié)構(gòu)，當(dāng)然廣泛閱讀也無(wú)疑能夠幫助考生提高閱讀速度，改善理解。

【難句詞匯】雅思考生的閱讀難點(diǎn)之一就是詞匯量和句型掌握程度的不同，如果學(xué)生的詞匯量不足，那么文章將看不懂，我們從上文中就可以學(xué)到很多的句型和詞匯。

Each was asked to estimate the energy consumption of nine household devices (such as stereos and air conditioners) as well as the energy savings incurred by six green activities (like swapping incandescent bulbs for fluorescent ones).

插入語(yǔ)：（? ）

household devices家庭電器

stereos 立體音響

swapping交換

incandescent bulbs 白熾燈泡

fluorescent: 熒光的

as well as = and ：和

When asked to rank the single most effective way to save energy, participants typically endorsed activities with small savings, such as turning off lights, while ignoring what they could economise on larger devices.

When引導(dǎo)的時(shí)間短語(yǔ)作整個(gè)句子的狀語(yǔ)和while引導(dǎo)表對(duì)比的非謂語(yǔ)動(dòng)詞短語(yǔ)

rank v. 將……列為……

endorse 贊同

economise v. 節(jié)約、節(jié)省