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  • 能源使用

    A woman in Burkina Faso cooks over a wood fire, using simple pots and utensils.

    This woman in Burkina Faso uses a simple wood fire for cooking. For many people in the world, wood is their main resource. They burn it to stay warm as well as to cook their food. Other energy resources, such as oil or , are simply not available to them or are far too expensive for most people to use. However, if you live in the U.S. or another of the richer nations of the world, you probably depend almost totally on these more expensive energy resources, especially oil. 
    ::布基那法索的这个女人用简单的木柴火做饭。 对于世界上的许多人来说,木柴是他们的主要资源。他们烧木柴是为了保暖和烹饪食物。 其他能源,比如石油或者石油,根本得不到,或者对大多数人来说太贵了。 但是,如果你生活在美国或者世界上其他富裕国家,你可能几乎完全依赖这些更昂贵的能源,特别是石油。

    Use of Energy Resources
    ::能源资源的使用

    Look at the circle graph in the Figure . It shows that oil is the single most commonly used energy resource in the U.S., followed by natural gas, and then by coal. All of these energy resources are nonrenewable. Nonrenewable resources are resources that are limited in supply and cannot be replaced as quickly as they are used up. Renewable resources , in contrast, provide only 8 percent of all energy used in the U.S. Renewable resources are natural resources that can be replaced in a relatively short period of time or are virtually limitless in supply. They include solar energy from sunlight, geothermal energy from under Earth’s surface, wind, biomass (from once-living things or their wastes), and hydropower (from running water).
    ::看看图中的圆形图。它表明,石油是美国最常用的能源资源,其次是天然气,然后是煤炭。所有这些能源资源都是不可再生的。不可再生资源是供应有限的资源,不能随着耗尽的速度被取代。 相比之下,可再生资源只占美国所有能源的8%。 可再生资源是自然资源,可以在相对较短的时间内被取代,或者几乎是无穷无尽的。 它们包括来自阳光的太阳能、来自地球表面的地热能源、风能、生物量(来自一次性生物或其废料 ) 和水力(来自自来水 ) 。

    Circle graph illustrating U.S. energy consumption by source in 2011, highlighting oil usage.

    Oil Use by Nation
    ::国家使用石油的情况

    People in the U.S. use far more energy—especially energy from oil—than people in any other nation. The bar graph in the Figure compares the amount of oil used by the top ten oil-using nations. The U.S. uses more oil than several other top-ten countries combined. If you also consider the population size in these countries, the differences are even more stunning. The average person in the U.S. uses a whopping 23 barrels of oil a year! In comparison, the average person in India or China uses just 1 or 2 barrels of oil a year. 
    ::美国人民使用的能源——特别是石油能源——远远多于任何其他国家人民。图中的条形图比较了使用石油最多的10个国家使用的石油数量。美国使用的石油比其他10个以上国家的总和要多。如果你也考虑到这些国家的人口规模,差异就更加惊人。美国普通人每年使用23桶石油。相比之下,印度或中国的普通人每年只使用1或2桶石油。

    Bar graph comparing oil usage among the top ten oil-consuming nations.

    Q: How does the use of oil and other fossil fuels relate to pollution?
    ::问题:石油和其他矿物燃料的使用如何与污染相关?

    A: Greater use of oil and other fossil fuels causes more pollution.
    ::A:更多地使用石油和其他矿物燃料造成更多的污染。

    Summary
    ::摘要

    • Oil is the single most commonly used energy resource in the U.S., followed by natural gas, and then by coal. These are all nonrenewable energy resources. Only 8 percent of all energy used in the U.S. comes from renewable energy resources, such as solar, wind, and biomass energy.
      ::石油是美国最常用的单一能源资源,其次是天然气,其次是煤炭。 这些都是不可再生的能源。 在美国使用的所有能源中只有8%来自可再生能源,如太阳能、风能和生物量能源。
    • People in the U.S. use far more energy per person—especially energy from oil—than people in any other nation.
      ::美国人民每人使用的能源——特别是石油产生的能源——远远超过任何其他国家人民。

    Review
    ::回顾

    1. Outline the use of energy resources in the U.S.
      ::概述美国能源资源的使用情况。
    2. Compare the use of oil in the U.S. with oil use in other nations.
      ::将美国的石油使用量与其他国家的石油使用量作比较。