雅思阅读 049 · Four Bold Projects That Could Change Our Clean-Energy Future

改编自 Scientific American（Meghan Bartels et al., 2026）。题型：段落信息匹配 + T/F/NG + 填空。难度：中等偏上（Passage 2，约 800 词）。

---

🎧 课文朗读音频（约 1 分钟）

正文 Passage

A. The clean-energy revolution hits a wall

Two decades ago renewable energy was a bit player on the world stage. Today renewables account for nearly half of all global electrical capacity, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.

It's a stunning surge showing that the renewable revolution appears unstoppable. Clean energy still faces challenges, though.

One of the most significant problems is that solar and wind are intermittent, and the lithium-ion batteries currently available can't store enough energy from renewables to reliably meet demand. To squeeze the most juice out of solar and wind, we need longer-term storage.

Chinese companies are also pushing the limits on how large and how far offshore turbines can be so they can take advantage of steadier, stronger winds. Other ventures are trying to broaden the appeal of geothermal energy and crack the code on tidal power.

B. Geothermal energy for almost anywhere

Project: Fervo Energy's Cape Station, Utah. Technology: Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). Power generation: A projected 100 megawatts by early 2027, with 500 megawatts in total under construction.

Fervo drills down and then sideways, creating a network of long fractures in rock as deep as almost 2,750 metres; it then pushes water through these cracks to draw heat out of the earth.

The large network of fissures exposes much more water to much more hot rock than single-pipe geothermal setups do, increasing efficiency.

Unlike solar and wind, geothermal energy can be used 24/7. But to be economical, traditional geothermal requires perfect geology: hot rock that water naturally passes through and a reliably recharged water source. This necessity has limited its use to a handful of spots on Earth. By adding fractures, EGS creates more places where geothermal is economically feasible.

C. The power of the tides

Project: MeyGen, Scotland. Technology: Tidal stream energy. Power generation: Six megawatts, increasing to 65 megawatts by 2031.

Since 2016, MeyGen, located between the Scottish mainland and the Orkney Islands, has been the world's largest tidal stream energy project.

It exploits the fact that the tides that ebb and flow along our planet's coastlines carry tremendous energy, with a harvestable potential estimated at 1,200 terawatt-hours per year — more than a quarter of annual power generation in the U.S.

"In very simple layman's terms, you're putting a wind turbine underwater," says Drew Blaxland, CEO of Proteus Marine Renewables.

Unlike other renewable energy sources, tides are highly predictable. "We can tell at any point in time, any day, exactly how much energy we're producing," Blaxland says, "which you can't do with wind or solar."

Tides are as brutal as they are reliable, though; saltwater corrosion, ocean debris and the sheer force of rushing water often cause turbines to fail. But one of MeyGen's turbines has reached a major milestone in performance, running for more than seven years without unplanned maintenance.

MeyGen plans to add 20 turbines by 2031, boosting its capacity to 65 megawatts. According to Ampeak Energy, which owns the project, the site could ultimately produce nearly 400 megawatts.

D. The experts weigh in

Jefferson Tester, a Cornell University engineering professor, says he's excited by the work Fervo is doing but worries that the company might have promised its funders too much too soon. "You've got to prove that this thing actually works for a sustainable period of production," he says.

Although tidal energy will always be limited by geography and is unlikely to catch up to wind and solar anytime soon, it could account for 10 percent of the U.K.'s energy needs, Blaxland says.

"They've had a great track record of long-term generation from multiple large machines," says Brian Polagye, a mechanical engineer at the University of Washington who specializes in marine energy. "The hyperbole is well deserved."

---

题目 Questions

Questions 1-5: Which paragraph mentions the following?

1. the problem of solar and wind being intermittent

2. drilling sideways into rock to create fractures

3. MeyGen being between the Scottish mainland and the Orkney Islands

4. tides being highly predictable

5. Tester saying Fervo may have promised too much

Questions 6-9: T/F/NG

6. Renewables account for nearly half of all global electrical capacity.

7. Traditional geothermal requires perfect geology.

8. MeyGen currently produces 65 megawatts.

9. Tidal energy is likely to catch up to wind and solar soon.

Questions 10-13: Complete the notes. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS.

• Fervo Energy's Cape Station is in (10) ____________.
• Fervo drills as deep as almost (11) ____________ metres.
• The world's largest tidal stream energy project is called (12) ____________.
• The site could ultimately produce nearly (13) ____________ megawatts.

---

答案 Answers

题号	答案
1	A
2	B
3	C
4	C
5	D
6	TRUE
7	TRUE
8	FALSE (currently 6 MW, 65 MW by 2031)
9	FALSE (unlikely to catch up)
10	Utah
11	2,750
12	MeyGen
13	400

---

核心词汇

renewable energy / geothermal / tidal power / offshore wind / EGS / megawatt / fracture / turbine / Orkney Islands / intermittency