Day 20

英文重現

Finally, older production technologies often continue to generate toxic wastes that were not regulated when the technology was first adopted. New regulations have imposed extensive compliance costs on companies still using older industrial coal-fired burners that generate high sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide outputs, for example, whereas new facilities generally avoid processes that would create such waste products.

——GMAT OG 2015, Reading Comprehension, Passage 13

解析

1.“that were not regulated when the technology was first adopted”是定語從句，修飾前面的“toxic wastes”，此處的“the technology”指的就是上文出現的“older production technologies”。“when the technology was first adopted”是“when”引導的時間狀語從句，修飾“regulate”。

2.第二個句子的骨干結構是連詞“whereas”連接的“仍使用老設備的公司”和“新的工廠”的對比：“New regulations have imposed extensive compliance costs on companies, whereas new facilities generally avoid processes that would create such waste”。“whereas”用于陳述相反的話，引出對比、對立或者直接相反的狀語從句，需要注意的是，“whereas”引導的從句與主句在意義上是對立和相反的，結構上卻是并列的。

3.詞組“impose A on B”意思是“把A強加在B上；對B征收A”。

4.“still using…burners”是現在分詞短語作定語，修飾“companies”；“that generate…oxide outputs”則是定語從句，修飾“burners”。

詞義辨析

參考翻譯

最后，較老的生產技術通常會繼續產生有害廢物，這些有害廢物在該技術（即這些較老的技術）首次被采用的時候并沒有受到（規章制度）管理。新的制度針對一些公司征收了大量的合規成本，這些公司仍然在使用較老的、會產生大量諸如二氧化硫及氧化氮等廢物的工業燃煤火爐（即仍然在使用較老的技術），而新的工廠通常會避免產生這些廢物的過程。

實戰演練

...Finally, older production technologies often continue to generate toxic wastes that were not regulated when the technology was first adopted. New regulations have imposed extensive compliance costs on companies still using older industrial coal-fired burners that generate high sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide outputs, for example, whereas new facilities generally avoid processes that would create such waste products. By realizing that they have discretion and that not all industries are affected equally by environmental regulation, environmental managers can help their companies to achieve a competitive edge by anticipating regulatory pressure and exploring all possibilities for addressing how changing regulations will affect their companies specifically.

According to the passage, which of the following statements about sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide outputs is true?

(A) Older production technologies cannot be adapted so as to reduce production of these outputs as waste products.

(B) Under the most recent environmental regulations, industrial plants are no longer permitted to produce these outputs.

(C) Although these outputs are environmentally hazardous, some plants still generate them as waste products despite the high compliance costs they impose.

(D) Many older plants have developed innovative technological processes that reduce the amounts of these outputs generated as waste products.

(E) Since the production processes that generate these outputs are less costly than alternative processes, these less expensive processes are sometimes adopted despite their acknowledged environmental hazards.

答案：C

答案解析

題目問關于二氧化硫和氧化氮輸出，以下哪一項是正確的。

選項A“較老的生產技術不能被改造，以便降低廢品的輸出”在文中未被提及。

選項B“在最新的環境制度下，工廠不再被允許生產這些廢物”錯在文中雖然提到“新的制度會（對使用老設備的工廠）征收費用”（New regulations have imposed extensive compliance costs on companies still using older industrial coal-fired burners），但是并沒有說

“不允許這些工廠產生廢物”。

選項C“盡管這些輸出物（即廢品）對環境有危害，有些工廠仍然會產生這些廢物，盡管它們會帶來高昂的合規成本”與原文“New regulations have imposed extensive compliance costs on companies still using older industrial coal-fired burners that generate high sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide outputs”意思相符，為正確答案。

選項D“很多較老的工廠已經開發了新的技術工序，這些工序能夠降低廢物的輸出量”錯誤，文中并未提及較老工廠開發了新技術。

選項E“因為會產生這些廢物的生產工序比替代工序所需的費用低，這些價格較低的工序有時候會被采用，盡管它們有公認的環境危害”錯誤，文中并未提及“alternative processes”，也沒有將二者的費用進行比較。