Question

The behaviour of a building’s users may be at least as important as its design when it comes to energy use, according to new research from the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC). The UK promises to reduce its carbon emissions (排放）by 80 percent by 2050, part of which will be achieved by all new homes being zero-carbon by 2016. But this report shows that sustainable building design on its own — though extremely important- is not enough to achieve such reductions: the behaviour of the people using the building has to change too.

The study suggests that the ways that people use and live in their homes have been largely ignored by existing efforts to improve energy efficiency (效率)，which instead focus on architectural and technological developments.

‘Technology is going to assist but it is not going to do everything,’explains Katy Janda, a UKERC senior researcher，‘consumption patterns of building users can defeat the most careful design. ’In other words，old habits die hard, even in the best-designed eco-home.

Another part of the problem is information. Households and bill-payers don’t have the knowledge they need to change their energy-use habits. Without specific information，it’s hard to estimate the costs and benefits of making different choices. Feedback (反饋） facilities, like smart meters and energy monitors，could help bridge this information gap by helping people see how changing their behaviour directly affects their energy use; some studies have shown that households can achieve up to 15 percent energy savings using smart meters.

Social science research has added a further dimension (方面），suggesting that individuals’behaviour in the home can be personal and cannot be predicted 一 whether people throw open their windows rather than turn down the thermostat (恒溫器) , for example. Janda argues that education is the key. She calls for a focused programme to teach people about buildings and their own behaviour in them.

1.As to energy use, the new research from UKERC stresses the importance of________.

A. zero-carbon homes

B. the behaviour of building users

C. sustainable building design

D. the reduction of carbon emissions

2.The underlined word “which” in Paragraph 2 refers to”________.”

A.the ways B.their homes C.developments D.existing efforts

3.What are Katy Janda’s words mainly about?

A. The importance of changing building users, habits.

B. The necessity of making a careful building design.

C. The variety of consumption patterns of building users.

D. The role of technology in improving energy efficiency.

4.The information gap in energy use _______.

A. can be bridged by feedback facilities

B. affects the study on energy monitors

C. brings about problems for smart meters

D. will be caused by building users’ old habits

5.What does the dimension added by social science research suggest?

A. The social science research is to be furthered.

B. The education programme is under discussion.

C. The behaviour of building users is unpredictable.

D. The behaviour preference of building users is similar.

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.D

3.A

4.A

5.C

【解析】文章大意：UKERC的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)居民的行為和房屋的設(shè)計在節(jié)能方面同樣的重要。文章號召我們要注意自己的行為切實注意環(huán)保節(jié)能。

1.The behaviour of a building’s users may be at least as important as its design when it comes to energy use, according to new research from the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC).居民的行為和房屋的設(shè)計在節(jié)能方面同樣的重要。這是UKERC的研究的結(jié)果。所以如果我們要想達到節(jié)能的目的，我們必須要注意使用者的行為。故B正確。

2.The study suggests that the ways that people use and live in their homes have been largely ignored by existing efforts to improve energy efficiency (效率)，which instead focus on architectural and technological developments.可知：這個研究說明人們現(xiàn)在提高能源使用效率的努力忽視了使用者的行為，卻把太多的注意力集中到了房屋的設(shè)計和技術(shù)的發(fā)展方面。故本句中的which是指existing efforts。故D正確。

3.Technology is going to assist but it is not going to do everything,’和‘consumption patterns of building users can defeat the most careful design. ’In other words，old habits die hard, even in the best-designed eco-home.可知技術(shù)是可以給我們帶來幫助，但是它不能解決所有的問題。房屋使用者的使用行為可以讓最細(xì)心的設(shè)計都失去效果。本句說明Katy Janda認(rèn)為房屋使用者的習(xí)慣很重要。故A正確。

4.Feedback (反饋） facilities, like smart meters and energy monitors，could help bridge this information gap by helping people see how changing their behaviour directly affects their energy use可知Feedback facilities可以bridge the information gap。故A正確。

5.Social science research has added a further dimension (方面），suggesting that individuals’behaviour in the home can be personal and cannot be predicted可知很多家庭的個人行為是很難預(yù)測的。故C正確。