英语高级视听_听力原文_Unit 6 The Coal Cowboy

America's dependence on foreign oil - President Bush called it "an addiction" in his State of the Union address国情咨文- has become a threat to the country's economy and security.
While the president spent much of last week promoting energy alternatives可替代能源of the future, like hybrid杂种，混血儿；混合物cars(使用电池、汽油的)双动力汽车and fuels made from wood chips木片，木屑, the governor of Montana, Brian Schweitzer, says there's something we can have up把某人请来作客；起诉and running in the next five years.
What he has in mind is using the coal, billions of tons of it, under the high plains高地平原；高平原of his home state家乡州. The governor tells correspondent Lesley Stahl he wants to use an existing process to turn that coal into a synthetic综合的；合成的，人造的liquid fuel液体燃料；液态燃料, or synfuel合成燃料.
The plan is controversial, but Gov. Schweitzer - half Renaissance man文艺复兴人；多才多艺的人, half rodeo竞技表演；竞技者cowboy牛仔；牧童；莽撞的人- seems ready for the challenge. In fact, he sounds like he's ready to take on承担；呈现；具有；流行；接纳；雇用；穿上the world.
"Why wouldn't we create an economic engine经济引擎经济发动机that will take us into the next century, and let those sheiks酋长，族长（阿拉伯人的）and dictators and rats and crooks from all over the world boil in their own oil?" Schweitzer said at a press conference记者招待会，新闻发布会.
Schweitzer has called them rats and crooks and hasn't held back on抑制bit. "Hugo Chavez 乌戈·查韦斯（委内瑞拉总统）, the Saudi沙乌地阿拉伯（人或语）的royal family王室；皇族, the leaders of Iran," he said. "How about the countries that end with 'stan'? Nigeria尼日利亚（位于非洲）? You tell me. Sheiks, rats, crooks, dictators, sure."
He's a governor with his own foreign policy and no one is calling Brian Schweitzer a wuss胆小鬼，软弱无用的人. He says flat平直地；断然地out竭尽全力；用全速；疲惫that his plan will change the world, and that the key to the country's energy future is buried in the grassy长满草的；草绿色的plains of eastern Montana.
"Probably about half of eastern Montana has coal underneath it," Schweitzer explains.
Montana is already mining 矿业；采矿a small fraction of its coal.
But unlike the deep shaft 拍杆；轴；箭杆；杆状物(电梯等的) 垂直通道利用mining done in West Virginia, Montana coal is surface mined and there hasn't been a fatal致命的；重大的；毁灭性的；命中注定的accident in 15 years. The governor took 60 Minutes down into one of those huge pits矿井；深坑；陷阱；（物体或人体表面上的）凹陷；（英国剧场的）正厅后排；正厅后排的观众.
"We are surrounded by energy," Schweitzer said. "There's no going down into a mine. It's a road. They drive right out of here."
"But, let me ask you something. Coal has such a bad reputation" Stahl said. "It's dirty. I can feel it. I'm gonna be filthy肮脏的；污秽的；猥亵的. I can smell it. It's awful, awful, awful. How many of these would you have to dig out to produce enough of what you're talking about to make it make sense?"
"If we got to 20 of these kinds of pits, we could produce a serious amount of energy for the future of this country," the governor said.
It's not enough to completely break our addiction to foreign oil过分依赖外国石油, but a start. Most coal today is used for electricity but the governor's plan is to turn Montana's billions of tons of untapped coal into a liquid diesel fuel柴油；柴油机燃料for our cars.
Schweitzer wants to take coal that's been pressurized into a gas, and then use something called the Fischer-Tropsch process 费歇尔—特罗普希法，费—托法to convert that gas into a clean diesel fuel, similar to what is made at a demonstration plant示范装置；样板厂in Oklahoma美国俄克拉荷马州.
The governor handed Stahl a jar罐；广口瓶；震动；刺耳声of this synthetic fuel合成燃料；人造燃料, which looked and smelled clean. "Chanel No. 37," Schweitzer said, laughing. "It is diesel. You can pour that in your diesel car柴油汽车，柴油机动车or truck right now."
The Fischer-Tropsch process does have a track record径赛成绩记录；过去的成绩或成就, along with a sinister history. It was first put into wide-scale大规模的；广泛的use in the Nazi era, when Hitler had few oil-rich石油藏量丰富的allies. Ninety percent of his Luftwaffe （二战时期的）纳粹德国空军planes ran on coal-based fuels
Later on, South Africa, also isolated because of Apartheid种族隔离used the process.
"So, here you have these horrible regimes政权，政体；社会制度；管理体制, and now we want to take their technology. There's something kind of …spooky幽灵般的；有鬼般的；令人毛骨悚然的," Stahl said.
"Science is neutral," said Schweitzer. "They were pushed against the wall被逼到墙根了，走投无路了, because they couldn't get oil. We're pushed against the wall because the oil is so expensive."
The price tag价格标签；标价to get his plan rolling - $1.5 billion - is a bargain, the governor says, now that crude is trading around $60 a barrel.
Dr. Robert Williams, a senior energy scientist at Princeton, agrees.
"At the oil prices油价；原油价格that we expect for the long-term, it would be economic," Williams said.
Stahl told Williams about the jar of diesel Schweitzer showed her. Is this synthetic fuel going to be that clean and smell that good?
"Oh, yes. The Fischer-Tropsch diesel is a superb fuel," said Williams. "Not only is [it] cleaner than conventional符合习俗的，传统的；常见的；惯例的diesel, but it also leads to improved engine performance引擎性能."
And he explained why the process works environmentally.
"The reason this works and is much cleaner is you're not burning coal. You're instead gasifying气化coal," Williams said.
"And, therefore, things don't go up into the atmosphere?" Stahl asked.
"Well, when you gasify coal, you can take the pollutants out," Williams explained.
"You're saying before the coal is ever burned in any way, you can separate out the bad stuff?" Stahl asked.
"You do that very early on," Williams replied.
The new Fischer-Tropsch plants, Schweitzer says, wouldn't have the traditional smoke-belching 喷射smokestacks烟囱，烟窗低技术制造业的；大工厂的associated with today's coal-fired 烧煤的power plants. But he does acknowledge there would be some emissions.
"There would be less than one percent than you get in进入；到达；陷入；收获a plant like this," the governor said, pointing at smoking smokestacks in the background. "This is old coal technology. We're talking about the new way."
But even in the new way there's an environmental problem, and it's a big one: carbon dioxide, which, while not a poison, is the No. 1 cause of global warming.
"Carbon dioxide will be generated at a rate that would lead to greenhouse gas emissions温室气体排放量that are twice those for conventional crude oil," said Williams.
Williams says this process will produce twice as much carbon dioxide than traditional petroleum 石油if you vent the CO2 to the atmosphere.
But Schweitzer has promised not to do that. "This spent耗尽了的；精疲力尽的carbon dioxide, we have a home for it. Right back into the earth, 5,000 feet deep," the governor explains.
He plans to sell that carbon dioxide to oil companies that use it to boost促进宣扬；偷窃the amount of oil they can pump. "It's called enhanced oil recovery提高采收率石油増进回収法. It's worth money to the oil business," Schweitzer said.
The sales pitch推销商品的言辞keeps coming: Schweitzer says the fuel will not only be cleaner, it'll be cheaper, too.
"We can produce this fuel for about $1 a gallon. We have gas taxes天然气税, depending on what state you're in, of 60, 70, 80 cents a gallon. So, do the math," he said.
"You know, it sounds almost too good to be true,好得令人难以置信；太好而有失真实" Stahl said.
"Well, that's what got me excited," Schweitzer replied.
He's been so excited, he's been traveling the country selling his big idea好主意. But back home they say he can be arrogant.
"Are you a little, let's say cocky自大的；骄傲的；过于自信的?" Stahl asked.
"When I have a vision, I get single-minded专心的；纯真的；真诚的；率直的about it. I say, 'I'm going to continue to work on this until we get her done,' " Schweitzer said.
That cowboy bravado虚张声势；冒险is just what you might expect from a guy who grew up roping calves on a Montana ranch大农场；大牧场.
"We have a little bit different way of looking at the world. And I think it's about self reliance 自力更生；依靠自已," Schweitzer said.
And, yet, the cowboy is a bit of一点a geek who went to graduate school研究所，研究院to study soil science土壤科学，社会科学；土壤学. In the 1980s he went to work in Saudi Arabia - land of the sheiks - running farm projects.
Schweitzer says the Saudis embarked on an ambitious野心勃勃的；有雄心的；热望的；炫耀的agricultural program to become self sufficient自给自足的；极为自负的in food, to wean使断奶；使断念；使放弃themselves off our wheat. Now, he wants to wean America off their oil.
He got into politics as a Democrat民主党人；民主主义者；民主政体论者. But in his ads in the 2004 governor's race, he looked as un-like John Kerry as possible and even picked a Republican running mate竞选伙伴.
In red state红色州（选民倾向于投票给共和党的州）Montana, Schweitzer squeaked 告密；吱吱叫；侥幸成功out a four-point win. But today he has a 65 percent approval rating支持率, buoyed使浮起；支撑；鼓励浮标；浮筒；救生圈；航标by his good ol' boy persona人物角色；伪装的外表and his image making. That includes his dog, Jag, who goes with him everywhere, even on the state plane 政府飞机专机状态平面.
Now there's a fledgling无经验的人；刚会飞的幼鸟online movement to draft Schweitzer into征召…入(伍) the next presidential race.
Schweitzer says "President Schweitzer of the United States" sounds a little silly to him. "I'm the governor of Montana. We have 920,000 people. This is the first office I've ever been elected to选举为(委员等)，选举(某人)担任and I've only been here a year."
He may answer that question with an "aw shucks哦，呸“胡说八道”," but some Montanans complain that he does have his eye on the national stage.
"Right now he is the governor of Montana. He cannot turn his back on不搭理；不理睬拒绝帮助us looking for bigger and better things," said Helen Waller, who leads the Northern Plains Resource Council, a group of farmers and ranchers大农场经营者；大农场工人fighting the governor's coal-to-diesel plan.
"I think he has more of 更大程度上的…更多的…a perspective of trying to save the world. And that's a …good goal but you've got to start by pieces," said Waller.
One of the pieces, she says, should not be more mining. She points out that in the past, mining companies came to Montana, dug out掘出；发现the precious minerals and, despite their promises to clean things up清理；大捞一笔, they left behind toxic eyesores眼中钉；难看的东西.
"The place would be changed to the point where it wouldn't be like home any more," Waller said.
But Schweitzer says there's now a state law州法律that requires mining companies to restore the land after the digging is done.
The governor showed Stahl a piece of land that used to be a mine but is now used for agriculture. He says he would force mining companies to restore the land after the mines are closed.
Mining companies have gotten around 到处走走；逃避；说服；传开来（等于get round）；有办法应付the law in the past so Waller thinks it's crazy to dig up the coal; instead Montana should be producing bio-diesel, a fuel made from plant seeds植物种子.
"We've got all that land there that can be used to produce bio-fuels and it is competitive," she said. "There's a better way! That's what I'm saying. Other states are way out ahead遥遥领先于of us."
"Well maybe they don't have as much coal as you have," Stahl said.
"Well, that's probably the case可能是如此吧," Waller acknowledged.
Asked why the money shouldn't all be invested in bio-diesel, Schweitzer said, "If we replaced all the acres of wheat, corn and soybeans that we export across America, you would only replace 15 percent of our diesel demands in this country. Do the math. It's not enough."
China is already working with Shell on Fischer-Tropsch projects in Asia but to build them in the United States, the governor has to raise investment money from private industry私人企业.
Who's in?
"Well no one's in yet. I haven't seen the check yet," said Schweitzer.
Asked why investors are reluctant, Schweitzer said: "Everybody wants to be the first one to build the second plant. Because that's the fact. Because the first plant is going to be a lot of engineering设计；管理（engineer的ing形式）；建造on the fly在飞行中；忙忙碌碌. So, there will be cost over-runs成本超支. I'm telling you."
Even people who like the governor say he's a big dreamer梦想家；做梦的人；不切实际的人but nothing seems to discourage him. With his cowboy swagger大摇大摆；吹牛；威吓；下摆散开状的女式短大衣, he just keeps pushing his plan for Montana, despite the obstacles.
push for奋力争取
"I have heard about synfuels 30 years at least," Stahl said. "Out here（老远）到这里；即将离开in the west. And it always seems to fail. The minute the price of oil comes down a little, these things just go into bankruptcy."
"If you believe the price of oil is going to drop back to $25 or $30 a barrel, you shouldn't walk away from this project. You should run," said Schweitzer. "But the overwhelming majority压倒性多数of the people who understand the oil market worldwide do not believe that we will spend much time below $30 a barrel. This is the right thing to do. We can do it. Let's get started."
By Miguel Sancho。