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英语原文

The Other Solar Power

Scientists find a way to use the sun’s energy to pull carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into fuel.

FEW ACTIVITIES swell our carbon footprint quite like flying. A one-hour flight on a twin-engine jet aircraft burns almost 6,000 pounds of kerosene and adds almost 19,000 pounds of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The environmental impact of air travel is so stark that Swedes even have a term for it: flygskam, or flight shame. But what if flying could be made zero carbon?

“We have developed a solar technology that is able to produce liquid fuels using just two ingredients: solar energy and ambient air,” says Aldo Steinfeld, a renewable energy expert at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. “These hydrocarbon fuels release only as much carbon dioxide during combustion as was previously extracted from the air.”

It may seem like alchemy, but the solar refinery Steinfeld has helped build in Móstoles, on the outskirts of Madrid, follows some straightforward chemistry.An array of mirrors called a heliostat tracks the sun, boosting the sunlight’s intensity by a factor of 2,500  while reflecting it onto a 50-foot-high tower.

This dazzling beam of light heats a reactor with a core made of cerium oxide, an inexpensive compound often used to polish glass. At 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit, oxygen is liberated from the cerium and removed, after which water and carbon dioxide captured from the air are injected into the reactor. As the reactor cools, the reduced cerium claws back oxygen molecules from the added material, leaving a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide called syngas. This is funneled into a second reactor, where the syngas is converted into kerosene molecules. In June 2019, the Móstoles refinery announced its first trickle of fuel.

But why turn solar energy into fuel at all? While road and rail transport are open to electrification, existing battery technology does not pack the punch needed to drive heavy industries such as sea freight and air travel. “There is no way around jet fuel for long-haul commercial aviation,” says Steinfeld. “Can you imagine a Boeing or Airbus flying trans-Atlantic on batteries? I think it violates the laws of physics.”

Solar kerosene has the potential to slot into existing global infrastructure for storing, transporting and using fossil fuels. But it still can’t compete with them for price: It would likely ring up around $9 per gallon if it’s sold to consumers. But that cost should fall as the technology improves in efficiency and grows in scale.

(节选自《发现》2020年7月/8月)

考生译文

另一种太阳能科学家们发现了一种利用太阳能，将空气中的二氧化碳转化为燃料的方法

几乎没有什么活动像飞行那样增加我们的碳足迹。双引擎喷气式飞机飞行1小时燃烧近6000磅的煤油，同时向大气中排放近19000磅的二氧化碳。航空旅行对环境的影响如此严重，以至于瑞典人甚至有专门的术语来形容它:flygskam，即飞行耻辱。但是倘若飞行能够做到零碳呢?

瑞士联邦理工学院的可再生能源专家奥尔多·斯坦菲尔德（Aldo Steinfeld）表示：“我们开发了一种太阳能技术，只需太阳能和周围的空气这两种原料就能生产液体燃料。这些碳氢化合物燃料在燃烧过程中释放的二氧化碳仅相当于之前从空气中提取的量。”

这看起来像是炼金术，但斯坦菲尔德在马德里郊区莫斯特尔斯帮助建造的太阳能精炼厂遵循了一些简单的化学原理。一组称为定日镜的镜子跟踪太阳，将太阳光强度提高到原来的2500倍，同时将其反射到50英尺高的塔上。

这束耀眼的光加热一个反应堆，其核心由氧化铈制成,氧化铈是一种便宜的化合物,常用于抛光玻璃。在华氏2700度,氧气从铈中释放出来并被除去，之后，从空中获取的水和二氧化碳被注入反应堆。随着反应堆冷却,减少后的铈从添加物中抓回氧分子，形成一种氢和一氧化碳的混合物，称为合成气。这些气体被注入第二个反应堆,在这里合成气转化为煤油分子。2019年6月,莫斯托尔斯炼油厂首次公开了第一批燃料。

但是为什么要把太阳能转化为燃料呢?尽管公路和铁路运输对电气化开放，但现有的电池技术无法提供推动海运和航空等重工业所需的动力。斯坦菲尔德说:“对于长途商业航空来说，没有办法避开喷气燃料。你能想象一架波音或空客靠电池飞越大西洋吗? 我认为这违反了物理学定律。”

太阳能煤油有潜力投入到现有的全球基础设施中，用于储存、运输和使用化石燃料。但太阳能煤油在价格上仍无法与化石燃料竞争：如果将其卖给消费者，价格可能会达到每加仑9美元左右。但随着技术效率的提高以及规模的扩大，成本应该会下降。

老师点评

1. The environmental impact of air travel is so stark that Swedes even have a term for it: flygskam, or flight shame. But what if flying could be made zero carbon?

航空旅行对环境的影响如此严重，以至于瑞典人甚至有专门的术语来形容它:flygskam，即飞行耻辱。但是倘若飞行能够做到零碳呢?

点评：What if...表达的是意思：what would happen if...? “要是...会怎么样呢？” 此外，zero carbon 指的是零碳排放。这句话应译为：“但是倘若飞机能做到零碳排放会怎么样呢？”

2. It may seem like alchemy, but the solar refinery Steinfeld has helped build in Móstoles, on the outskirts of Madrid, follows some straightforward chemistry.

这看起来像是炼金术，但斯坦菲尔德在马德里郊区莫斯特尔斯帮助建造的太阳能精炼厂遵循了一些简单的化学原理。

点评：原译文“斯坦菲尔德......遵循了一些简单的化学原理”；这里follows some straightforward chemistry翻译为“采用了一些简单的化学原理”更贴切。

3. An array of mirrors called a heliostat tracks the sun, boosting the sunlight’s intensity by a factor of 2,500 while reflecting it onto a 50-foot-high tower.

一组称为定日镜的镜子跟踪太阳，将太阳光强度提高到原来的2500倍，同时将其反射到50英尺高的塔上。

点评：原译文是“将太阳光强度提高到原来的2500倍”；“强度”与“提高”搭配不符合汉语习惯，应译为“将太阳光强度加大至原来的2500倍”。

4. after which water and carbon dioxide captured from the air are injected into the reactor. 

之后，从空中获取的水和二氧化碳被注入反应堆。

点评：from the air 应译为“从空气中”，原译文“从空中”不够准确，因为在第二段就提到，液态燃料的生产需要太阳能和空气。

5. As the reactor cools, the reduced cerium5 claws back oxygen molecules6 from the added material, leaving a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide called syngas. 

随着反应堆冷却,减少后的铈从添加物中抓回氧分子，形成一种氢和一氧化碳的混合物，称为合成气。

点评：reduced cerium译为“减少的铈”意思表达不明确。从前一句看，当温度达到2700华氏度的时候，空气将从铈中分离出来，因此译为“还原的铈”更贴切。claws back oxygen molecules译为“抓回氧分子”是望文生义，应译为“吸收回氧分子”更符合原文意思。

6.  This is funneled into a second reactor. 

这些气体被注入第二个反应堆。

点评：这一句中的This是指的“合成气”，原译文中“这些气体”指代不明。

7. Solar kerosene has the potential to slot into existing global infrastructure for storing, transporting and using fossil fuels.

太阳能煤油有潜力投入到现有的全球基础设施中，用于储存、运输和使用化石燃料。

点评：这一句里，storing, transporting and using fossil fuels都是做介词for的宾语，因此并列的几个部分应译为相同的语法结构。而原译文中“储存、运输和使用化石燃料”，前面两个可看作名词短语，“使用化石燃料”是动词短语，应译为“化石燃料的使用”。