托福独立写作范文:摩天大楼与环境
日期:2013-03-13 18:33

(单词翻译:单击)

Skyscrapers and Environment

In the late 1960's, many people in North America turned their attention to environmental problems, and new steel-and-glass skyscrapers were widely criticized. Ecologists pointed out that a cluster of tall buildings in a city often overburdens public transportation and parking lot capacities.

Skyscrapers are also lavish consumers, and wasters, of electric power. In one recent year, the addition of 17 million square feet of skyscraper office space in New York City raised the peak daily demand for electricity by 120, 000 kilowatts-enough to supply the entire city of Albany, New York, for a day.

Glass-walled skyscrapers can be especially wasteful. The heat loss (or gain)through a wall of half-inch plate glass is more than ten times that through a typical masonry wall filled with insulation board. To lessen the strain on heating and air-conditioning equipment, builders of skyscrapers have begun to use double-glazed panels of glass, and reflective glasses coated with silver or gold mirror films that reduce glare as well as heat gain. However, mirror-walled skyscrapers raise the temperature of the surrounding air and affect neighboring buildings.

Skyscrapers put a severe strain on a city's sanitation facilities, too. If fully occupied, the two World Trade Center towers in New York City would alone generate 2.25 million gallons of raw sewage each year-as much as a city the size of Stanford, Connecticut , which has a population of more than 109, 000.


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重点单词
  • sanitationn. 环境卫生(卫生设备,下水道设备)
  • reflectiveadj. 反射的,反映的;沉思的 adj. 【语】反身的
  • generatevt. 产生,发生,引起
  • occupiedadj. 已占用的;使用中的;无空闲的 v. 占有(oc
  • severeadj. 剧烈的,严重的,严峻的,严厉的,严格的
  • typicaladj. 典型的,有代表性的,特有的,独特的
  • lessenv. 减少,变小,减轻
  • lavishadj. 大方的,丰富的,浪费的 vt. 浪费,慷慨给予
  • strainn. 紧张,拉紧,血统 v. 劳累,拉紧,过份使用
  • additionn. 增加,附加物,加法