World Crude Oil Production May Peak a Decade Earlier Than Some Predict

       In a finding that may speed efforts to conserve oil，scientists in Kuwait predict that world conventional crude oil production will peak in 2014.This prediction is almost a decade earlier than some other predictions. Their study is in ACS’Energy&Fuels¹.
　　Ibrahim Nashawi and colleagues point out that rapid growth in global oil consumption has sparked a growing interest in predicting "peak oil". "Peak oil" is the point where oil production reaches a maximum and then declines. Scientists have developed several models to forecast this point，and some put the date at 2020 or later. One of the most famous forecast models is called the Hubbert model².It assumes that global oil production will follow a bell shaped curve³.A related concept is that⁴ of "Peak Oil." The term "Peak Oil" indicates the moment in which world wide production will peak，afterwards to start on irreversible decline.
　　The Hubbert model accurately predicted that oil production would peak in the United States in 1970.The model has since gained in popularity and has been used to forecast oil production worldwide.
　　However，recent studies show that the model is insufficient to account for⁵ more complex oil production cycles of some countries. Those cycles can be heavily influenced by technology changes，politics，and other factors，the scientists say.
　　The new study describes development of a new version of the Hubbert model that provides a more realistic and accurate oil production forecast. Using the new model，the scientists evaluated the oil production trends of 47 major oil-producing countries，which supply most of the world’s conventional crude oil⁶.They estimated that worldwide conventional crude oil production will peak in 2014，years earlier than anticipated. The scientists also showed that the world’s oil reserves⁷ are being reduced at a rate of 2.1 percent a year. The new model could help inform energy-related decisions and public policy debate，they suggest.

      In a finding that may speed efforts to conserve oil，scientists in Kuwait predict that world conventional crude oil production will peak in 2014.This prediction is almost a decade earlier than some other predictions. Their study is in ACS’Energy&Fuels1.
　　Ibrahim Nashawi and colleagues point out that rapid growth in global oil consumption has sparked a growing interest in predicting "peak oil". "Peak oil" is the point where oil production reaches a maximum and then declines. Scientists have developed several models to forecast this point，and some put the date at 2020 or later. One of the most famous forecast models is called the Hubbert model2.It assumes that global oil production will follow a bell shaped curve3.A related concept is that4 of "Peak Oil." The term "Peak Oil" indicates the moment in which world wide production will peak，afterwards to start on irreversible decline.
　　The Hubbert model accurately predicted that oil production would peak in the United Statesin 1970.The model has since gained in popularity and has been used to forecast oil production worldwide.
　　However，recent studies show that the model is insufficient to account for5 more complex oil production cycles of some countries. Those cycles can be heavily influenced by technology changes，politics，and other factors，the scientists say.
　　The new study describes development of a new version of the Hubbert model that provides a more realistic and accurate oil production forecast. Using the new model，the scientists evaluated the oil production trends of 47 major oil-producing countries，which supply most of the world’s conventional crude oil6.They estimated that worldwide conventional crude oil production will peak in 2014，years earlier than anticipated. The scientists also showed that the world’s oil reserves7 are being reduced at a rate of 2.1 percent a year. The new model could help inform energy-related decisions and public policy debate，they suggest.

 

词汇：

conserve / kən"sɜ:v/ v.保护，保存

irreversible / ˌɪrɪ"vɜ:səbl /adj.不可逆的，不可改变的

crude oil原油

spark / spɑ:k /v.闪耀;激发;鼓舞

insufficient / ˌɪnsə"fɪʃnt/ 不充分的，不足的
curve/ kə:v/ n.曲线

 

注释：

1.ACS’Energy&Fuels：ACS是American Chemical Society(美国化学学会)的缩写。该学会成立于1876年，现已成为世界最大的科技协会。多年来，ACS一直致力于为全球化学研究机构、企业及个人提供高品质的文献资讯及服务。ACS出版的期刊有34种，这些期刊在化学领域中是被引用次数最多的化学期刊，Energy&Fuels即是其中一本。
2.the Hubbert model：赫伯特模型是美国地质学家M.King Hubbert于1956年创建的，这是一个随时间增长的模型，Hubbert将其引入油气田开发，经推导使其成为一个可以预测油气田累积产量、瞬时产量、年产量和可采储量等多项开发指标的多功能预测模型。
3.a bell shaped curve：钟形曲线
4.that of peak oil：that指代concept。
5.account for：说明，解释
6.conventional crude oil：常规原油
7.oil reserves：石油储量。通常使用复数形式reserves。

Who develop the new version of the Hubbert model ?

A:American scientists. B:Kuwaiti scientists. C:British scientists. D:Scientists of 47 major oil-producing countries.

Imagine being asked to spend twelve or so years of your life in a society which consisted only of members of your own sex. How would you react Unless there was something definitely wrong with you, you wouldn’t be too happy about it, to say the least. It is all the more surprising, therefore, that so many parents in the world choose to impose such abnormal conditions on their children--conditions which they themselves wouldn’t put up with for one minute!
Any discussion of this topic is bound to question the aims of education. Stuffing children’s heads full of knowledge is far from being foremost among them. One of the chief aims of education is to equip future citizens with all they require to take their place in adult society. Now adult society is made up of men and women, so how can a segregated school possibly offer the right sort of preparation for it Anyone entering adult society after years of segregation can only be in for a shock.
A co-educational school offers children nothing less than a true version of society in miniature. Boys and girls are given the opportunity to get to know each other, to learn to live together from their earliest years. They are put in a position where they can compare themselves with each other in terms of academic ability, athletic achievement and many of the extra-curricular activities which are part of school life. What a practical advantage it is (to give just a small example) to be able to put on a school play in which the male parts will be taken by boys and the female parts by girls! What nonsense, boys and girls are made to feel that they are a race apart. Rivalry between the sexes is fostered. In a co-educational school, everything falls into its proper place.
But perhaps the greatest contribution of co-education is the healthy attitude to life it encourages. Boys don’t grow up believing that women are mysterious creatures—airy goddesses, more like book-illustrations to a fairy-tale, than human beings. Girls don’t grow up imagining that men axe romantic heroes. Years of living together at school dispel illusions of this kind. There axe no goddesses with freckles, pigtails, piercing voices and inky fingers. There are no romantic heroes with knobby knees, dirty fingernails and unkempt hair. The awkward stage of adolescence brings into sharp focus some of the physical and emotional problems involved in growing up. These can better be overcome in a coeducational environment. Segregated schools sometimes provide the right conditions for sexual deviation. This is hardly possible under a co-educational system. When the time comes for the pupils to leave school, they are fully prepared to enter society as well-adjusted adults. They have already had years of experience in coping with many of the problems that face men and women.
What does co-education offer to children

A:A society. B:A true small model of society. C:A real life. D:True version of social condition.

"Target apologizes for any discomfort," said a spokesman for the discount chain. "that may have been caused by the baseball caps and shorts carrying the insignia ’88’ ." He explained that it was not the company’s intent to promote hate.
Since when does 88 mean "hate" It turns out that some neoNazis have discovered that the eighth letter of the alphabet is "h", and to them the number 88 is an oh-so- secret ceded symbol for "heil Hitler" .
The Boston Herald recalled the days of dot-and-dash telegraphy, with its two-digit codes for common phrases, and observed that "on CB and ham radio, and at the bottom of an odd e-mail, you still run across ’88’—’love and kisses’, which no gallant will dare use anymore to pique the interest of the YLs ( young ladies) for fear they’ll think he is a bug-eyed, swastika--tattooed nutcake"
Fans of Chet Gould’s "Dick Tracy" strip of the 1950’s will remember a piano-playing cartoon character with the musical name "88 Keys", played by Mandy Patinkin in the 1990 movie version. It comes from the number of keys on a piano keyboard, and its symbol can be the opposite of hatred: "Some of those 88 keys are white, and some black," notes Larry Horn of Yale University, "all playing together in peaceful harmony-and each set pretty boring on its own. Makes you wonder."
This latest superstition imposed on a number, and its panicky effect on merchants, is nothing new. It’s a variant of 311, throe references to the 11th letter, k, for the Ku Klux Klan. (Manufacturers who may have inadvertently turned out baseball caps with that number on it will now turn white as a sheet.)
Before that, 666 was a hot number for the nervous. In the New Testament’s Revelation 13: 9-18, the Apostle John recalls a vision of a boast that was an opponent of Christ: "Count the number of the beast," goes the King James Version, "for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six."
Extrapolating this into a name is an example of gematria, an ancient numbers game that assigns each letter of the alphabet a numerical value. Some scholars point out that the verse characterizes, but does not name, the beast-which aren’t Satan.
Numbers are not letters. Hate groups and concerned cabals do not own the numbers, which can be used to stand for anything. So wear 88 all you like, and if you have nightmares about 666, as soda jerks used to say I’m 86 on the mail.
What does "the musical name ’88 Keys’" ( Line 2, Par

A:A．4) imply A piano-playing cartoon character. A 1990 movie version. Peaceful harmony. Hatre

"Target apologizes for any discomfort," said a spokesman for the discount chain. "that may have been caused by the baseball caps and shorts carrying the insignia ’88’ ." He explained that it was not the company’s intent to promote hate.
Since when does 88 mean "hate" It turns out that some neoNazis have discovered that the eighth letter of the alphabet is "h", and to them the number 88 is an oh-so- secret ceded symbol for "heil Hitler" .
The Boston Herald recalled the days of dot-and-dash telegraphy, with its two-digit codes for common phrases, and observed that "on CB and ham radio, and at the bottom of an odd e-mail, you still run across ’88’—’love and kisses’, which no gallant will dare use anymore to pique the interest of the YLs ( young ladies) for fear they’ll think he is a bug-eyed, swastika--tattooed nutcake"
Fans of Chet Gould’s "Dick Tracy" strip of the 1950’s will remember a piano-playing cartoon character with the musical name "88 Keys", played by Mandy Patinkin in the 1990 movie version. It comes from the number of keys on a piano keyboard, and its symbol can be the opposite of hatred: "Some of those 88 keys are white, and some black," notes Larry Horn of Yale University, "all playing together in peaceful harmony-and each set pretty boring on its own. Makes you wonder."
This latest superstition imposed on a number, and its panicky effect on merchants, is nothing new. It’s a variant of 311, throe references to the 11th letter, k, for the Ku Klux Klan. (Manufacturers who may have inadvertently turned out baseball caps with that number on it will now turn white as a sheet.)
Before that, 666 was a hot number for the nervous. In the New Testament’s Revelation 13: 9-18, the Apostle John recalls a vision of a boast that was an opponent of Christ: "Count the number of the beast," goes the King James Version, "for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six."
Extrapolating this into a name is an example of gematria, an ancient numbers game that assigns each letter of the alphabet a numerical value. Some scholars point out that the verse characterizes, but does not name, the beast-which aren’t Satan.
Numbers are not letters. Hate groups and concerned cabals do not own the numbers, which can be used to stand for anything. So wear 88 all you like, and if you have nightmares about 666, as soda jerks used to say I’m 86 on the mail.

What does "the musical name ’88 Keys’" ( Line 2, ParA．4) imply（）

A:A piano-playing cartoon character. B:A 1990 movie version. C:Peaceful harmony. D:Hatre

Text 4

What does "the musical name ’88 Keys’" ( Line 2, Para. 4) imply

A:A piano-playing cartoon character. B:A 1990 movie version. C:Peaceful harmony. D:Hatred.

the latest version

All computers need some sort of （） (OS). Tile majority of modem home computers use some form of Microsofts OS. The original Microsoft OS was called DOS though most computers use Windows. Windows comes in various versions beginning with （） 3. x then 95, 98, ME and currently XP. A few computers use IBMs O/S2. Apples Mac uses their own OS beginning with OS I though most modem Macs use version 8. x or 9. x. Apples latest version is OS 10.1. x. In the past large companies and institutions would have an OS design exclusively for them but as the Commercial OS become more sophisticated the benefits of this practice is becoming less apparent. Some computer professionals, （） (ISP) and （） computer users use an OS such as UNIX (or a variant such as Linux), Windows NT or 2000 (Win2k) or one of the other network or  （） based OS.

Windows comes in various versions beginning with （） 3. x then 95, 98, ME and currently XP.

A:type B:version C:kind D:account