2019年12月四级第3套仔细阅读 Passage 2 原文翻译及答案解析

Popping food into the microwave for a couple of minutes may seem utterly harmless, but Europe's stock of these quick-cooking ovens emits as much carbon as nearly 7 million cars, a new study has found. And the problem is growing. With costs falling and kitchen appliances becoming "status" items, owners are throwing away microwaves after an average of eight years. This is putting sales of new microwaves, which are expected to reach 13.5 million annually in the EU by the end of the decade.

将食物放入微波炉加热几分钟似乎完全无害，但一项新研究发现，欧洲的这些快速烹饪烤箱的碳排放量相当于近700万辆汽车。而且问题还在加剧。随着成本下降和厨房电器成为“身份”物品，用户平均在八年后就会丢弃微波炉。这导致新微波炉的销量增加，预计到本十年末，欧盟的年销量将达到1350万台。

A study by the University of Manchester calculated the emissions of CO2—the main greenhouse gas responsible for climate change—at every stage of microwaves, from manufacture to waste disposal. "It is electricity consumption by microwaves that has the biggest impact on the environment," say the authors. The authors also calculate that the emissions from using 19 microwaves over a year are the same as those from using a car. According to the same study, efforts to reduce consumption should focus on improving consumer awareness and behavior. For example, consumers could use appliances in a more efficient way by adjusting the time of cooking to the type of food.

曼彻斯特大学的一项研究计算了微波炉从制造到废物处理的每个阶段的二氧化碳排放量——二氧化碳是导致气候变化的主要温室气体。“微波炉的用电对环境影响最大，”作者说。作者还计算出，一年内使用19台微波炉的排放量相当于使用一辆汽车的排放量。根据同一研究，减少消耗的努力应集中在提高消费者意识和行为上。例如，消费者可以通过根据食物类型调整烹饪时间，更高效地使用电器。

However, David Reay, professor of carbon management, argues that, although microwaves use a great deal of energy, their emissions are minor compared to those from cars. In the UK alone, there are around 30 million cars. These cars emit more than all the microwaves in the EU. Backing this up, recent data show that passenger cars in the UK emitted 69 million tons of CO2 in 2015. This is 10 times the amount this new microwave oven study estimates for annual emissions for all the microwave ovens in the EU. Further, the energy used by microwaves is lower than any other form of cooking. Among common kitchen appliances used for cooking, microwaves are the most energy efficient, followed by a stove and finally a standard oven. Thus, rising microwave sales could be seen as a positive thing.

然而，碳管理教授戴维·雷认为，尽管微波炉消耗大量能源，但其排放量与汽车相比微不足道。仅在英国，就有约3000万辆汽车。这些汽车的排放量超过了欧盟所有微波炉的排放量。支持这一点的是，最近的数据显示，2015年英国乘用车排放了6900万吨二氧化碳。这是新微波炉研究估计的欧盟所有微波炉年排放量的10倍。此外，微波炉使用的能源低于任何其他烹饪形式。在用于烹饪的常见厨房电器中，微波炉是最节能的，其次是炉灶，最后是标准烤箱。因此，微波炉销量的上升可以被视为一件积极的事。