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Sweden Burns Through All Its Trash 瑞典化垃圾为能源

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Sweden faces a strange problem－not having enough trash. This wouldn’t be an issue in most places, but in Sweden, it’s a concern. Sweden produces 20 percent of its heat supply by incinerating garbage. Some 250,000 homes also receive electricity from the burning of waste material. As a remedy, Sweden plans to import 800,000 tons of trash per year, mostly from Norway.

瑞典面临了一个奇怪的问题－垃圾不够多。对大部分的国家来说，这不会是个问题，但对瑞典来说却是一件十分重要的事。瑞典焚烧垃圾以提供20%的热能，而国内25万户家庭也从废弃物燃烧中获得电力。为了改善垃圾不足的情况，瑞典计划主要从挪威，进口每年80万吨的垃圾。

Sweden must look for garbage from elsewhere because of its own efficient use of resources. The government made it illegal to put organic material in landfills in 2005, and it has imposed strict recycling laws. As a result, the country only buries 4 percent of its waste in the ground. That rate is tiny compared to the 34 percent of waste buried in the US. Therefore, in the future, Sweden might import refuse from other European countries, such as Italy and Bulgaria, which use landfills heavily.

由于瑞典高效能的资源利用，使它必须从其他地方寻找垃圾。在2005年，瑞典政府便宣布有机物质掩埋为非法的行为，并且施行了严格的资源回收法令；因此，他们只掩埋了4%的垃圾，与美国的34%相比，极为少量。所以，未来瑞典可能会从其他垃圾掩埋量大的欧洲国家进口废弃物，像是意大利和保加利亚。

As part of their current agreement, Norway pays Sweden to take its trash. However, Swedish environmental advisor Catarina Ostlund said that Sweden will likely have to pay for trash in the future. As the supplies of other fuels dwindle, garbage might become worth something.

    瑞典与挪威的部分协议中提到，挪威会付给瑞典垃圾收取费；然而，瑞典环保局顾问卡特琳娜．奥斯特伦德谈及未来瑞典有可能须付费买垃圾。由于能源供能给逐渐减少，垃圾可能会变得很值钱。

－by Geoffrey Tager

单词发音

Vocabulary

issue [ˋɪʃjʊ] n. 问题

incinerate [ɪnˋsɪnə͵ret] v. 烧成灰；焚化

efficient [ɪˋfɪʃənt] adj. 效率高的; 有效的

resource [rɪˋsors] n. 资源

illegal [ɪˋlig!] adj. 不合法的，非法的

organic [ɔrˋgænɪk] adj. 有机的

landfill [ˋlændfɪl] n. 垃圾填埋

refuse [ˋrɛfjuz] n. 废物；垃圾

fuel [ˋfjʊəl] n. 燃料

dwindle [ˋdwɪnd!] v. 渐渐减少

Reading Comprehension

1.   What do we know about Sweden's law made in 2005?

(A)  It says people cannot use landfills to bury anything.

(B)  It prevents people from putting certain things into landfills.

(C)  It makes people put organic material in special landfills.

(D)  It forces people to burn all of their organic materials.

2.   Which of the following is true?

(A)  Sweden only gets heat by burning garbage.

(B)  Sweden only gets electricity by burning garbage.

(C)  Sweden gets neither heat nor electricity by burning garbage.

(D)  Sweden gets both heat and electricity by burning garbage.

3.   How does Sweden plan to solve its problem?

(A)  It will import trash from the United States.

(B)  It will send trash to other European countries.

(C)  Sweden will start to keep more trash in landfills.

(D)  Sweden will take garbage from other countries.

Answer