When the Audet family turns on
the lights at Blue Farm, they are using electricity that comes from
cows—cow manure (糞肥), to be specific.
Cows produce a lot of wastes. One
cow can create 30 gallons of wastes each day. Now imagine the output of over
1,000 cows at Blue Farm. That’s really a big amount.
When farmers clean their barns,
they put the wastes in a big heap, and spread some of them on their fields for
fertilizer(肥料).
But now places like Blue Spruce Farm have a new way of using cow wastes. They
use them to produce electricity.
Here’s
how it works: A big machine moves back and forth cleaning the barn floor. “The cows aren’t bothered,” says Marie Audet. “They are animals of habit; they
get used to it, and just lift one foot and then another to let it go by.”
The machine pushes the manure
into a big 600-gallon tank like a small swimming pool. The tank is called a
digester (化糞池)
because what happens there is just like what happens inside a cow: Bacteria(細(xì)菌) get to work and continue to digest the manure.
Methane gas (甲烷、沼氣)in the atmosphere is
known as a “greenhouse” gas because it keeps heat just like a greenhouse does, causing
our planet to warm up. That’s an environmental concern. But
the digester has a good result. Its gas is kept and used to power electric
generators (發(fā)電機(jī)).
At Blue Farm, the generators make
enough electricity to power 400 homes. The Audet family sells the extra
electricity they can’t use themselves.
1. We learn from the text that the Audet
family is using cow wastes to ______.
A. make electricity B.
produce fertilizer C. build their farm D.
feed the cows
2. How are the cow wastes collected into the
digester at Blue Farm?
A. Marie Audet does the
work B.
The job is done by machine
C. The cows lift the cow wastes D.
Bacteria get to work on them
3. According to the passage, which of the
following is changed into electricity?
A. The power of moving
water. B.
The heat of burning coal.
C. The power of sunlight. D.
The heat of the methane gas
4.The new way of using cow wastes at Blue Farm
might be best described as ______.
A. reducing B.
saving C.
recycling D.
changing
5. What is the main purpose for writing the
passage?
A. To introduce a new way
of making electricity B.
To explain how a new energy works better
C. To show a new rebuilding plan for a big farm D.
To explain the reasons for green house effect
