陳蕙雅思教材 - 雅思閱讀精選 (Skyscrapers and Environment)

Skyscrapers and Environment

In the  late 1960's, many people in North America turned their attention  

to environmentalproblems, and new       steel-and-glassskyscrapers were  widely

criticized. Ecologistspointed out that a cluster of tall buildings in a  

city often overburdenspublic transportation and parking lot capacities.

Skyscrapers are alsolavish consumers, and wasters, of electric power. In

one recent year, theaddition of 17           million squarefeet of skyscraper

office space in New YorkCity raised the peak daily demand for electricity

by       120, 000 kilowatts -- enough to supply the entire city ofAlbany, New

York, for a day.

Glass-walled skyscraperscan be especially wasteful. The heat loss (or

gain) through a wall ofhalf-inch  plate  glass is  more than ten  times

that through atypical  masonry wall filled withinsulation board. To

lessen the      strain  on heating and air-conditioning  equipment, builders of

skyscrapers have begun touse double-glazed panels   of glass, andreflective

glasses coated withsilver  or  gold mirror  films  that reduce  glare

as  well as  heat  gain.   However,  mirror-walledskyscrapers raise the

temperature of thesurrounding air and affect neighboring buildings.

Skyscrapers put a severestrain on a city's sanitation facilities, too. If

fully occupied, the twoWorld Trade       Center towers in NewYork City would

alone generate 2.25million gallons of raw sewage each year -- as much as a        

city the size ofStanford, Connecticut, which has a population of more than

109, 000.

摩天大樓與環境

60  年代後期，許多北美人把注意力轉向了環境問題，那些嶄新的玻璃鋼摩天大樓受到 了廣泛的批評。  

生態學家指出，城市中密集的高層建築經常給公共交通與停車場的承載能 力造成過重的負擔。摩天大樓還是電能的過度消費者與浪費者。  最近的某一年，紐約市摩

天寫字樓 1，700 萬英尺辦公面積的增加使電能的最高日需求量提高了 120，000 千瓦。  這

些電能足以供紐約的整個奧爾巴尼市使用一天。玻璃表面的摩天大樓特別地浪費。  通過半

英寸的平板玻璃牆壁損失(或增加)的熱量是典型的加入絕緣板的石牆所允許的熱量損失(或 增加)的十倍以上。

為了減輕取暖設備或空調設備的壓力，摩天大樓的建造者們已經開始使 用雙面上釉的玻璃鑲板和塗上了金色或銀色反光薄膜的反光玻璃，來減少強光照射和熱量的

增加；但是，鏡面的摩天大樓會提高周圍空氣的溫度並會對附近的建築物產生影響。摩天大 樓也對城市的衛生設施造成了沉重的壓力。  

單單紐約市的二個世界貿易中心大樓如果完全 被占滿的話，每年就會產生 2，250，000 加侖的污水。  這相當於康涅狄格州的斯坦福市這

樣大的城市一年所產生的污水量，而康州的斯坦福市擁有 109，000 人口。