It is profitable to drill to depths more than 1,000 feet for oil and gas extraction, but only recently in California has it become profitable to pump water from this depth. The aquifers range from 1,000 to 3,000 feet below the ground, which means that pumping will be expensive and there are other concerns. The biggest concern of pumping out water from this deep in the gradual ttling down of the land surface. As the water is pumped out, the vacant space left is compacted by the weight of the earth above.
先生的英文amountofEven though pumping from the depths is expensive, it is still cheaper than desalinating(脱盐)the ocean water in the largely coastal state. Some desalination plants exist where feasible, but they are costly to run and can need constant repairs. Wells are
much more reliable sources of freshwater, and California is hoping that the deep wells may be the answer to their vere water shortage.
One problem with the sources is that the deep water also has a higher level of salt than shallower aquifers. This means that some wells may even need to undergo desalination after extraction, thus increasing the cost. Rearch from the exhaustive study of groundwater from over 950 drilling logs has just been published. New estimates of the water rerves now go up to 2,700 billion cubic meters of freshwater.
xxs是什么意思46.How could California’s drought crisis be solved according to some rearchers?
A) By building more rerves of groundwater.
B) By drawing water from the depths of the earth.
C) By developing more advanced drilling devices.
西安翻译公司D) By upgrading its water distribution system.
47.What can be inferred about extracting water from deep aquifers?
A) It was deemed vital to solving the water problem.
B) It was not considered worth the expen.
C) It may not provide quality freshwater.
D) It is bound to gain support from the local people.
48. What is mentioned as a conquence of extracting water from deep underground?
A) The sinking of land surface. C) The damage to aquifers.
B) The harm to the ecosystem. D) The change of the climate.
49. What does the author say about deep wells?
A) They run without any need for repairs.
B) They are entirely free from pollutants.
C) They are the ultimate solution to droughts.
spxD) They provide a steady supply of freshwater.
50. What may happen when deep aquifers are ud as water sources?
A) People’s health may improve with cleaner water.
B) People’s water bills may be lowered considerably.
C) The cost may go up due to desalination.
美容师培训D) They may be exhausted sooner or later.
Passage Two
Questions 51 to 55 are bad on the following passage.
The AlphaGo program’s victory is an example of how smart computers have become.
But can artificial intelligence (AI) machines act ethically, meaning can they be honest and fair?
One example of AI is driverless cars. They are already on California roads, so it is not too soon to ask whether we can program a machine to act ethically. As driverless cars improve, they will save lives. They will make fewer mistakes than human drivers do. Sometimes, however, they will face a choice between lives. Should the cars be programmed to avoid hitting a child running across the road, even if that will put their pasngers at risk? What about making a sudden turn to avoid a dog? What if the only risk is damage to the car itlf, not to the pasngers?
Perhaps there will be lessons to learn from driverless cars, but they are not super-intelligent beings. Teaching ethics to a machine even more intelligent than we are will be the bigger challenge.
