发布时间 : 星期一 文章全新版大学进阶英语第二册第1单元课文翻译更新完毕开始阅读
全新版大学进阶英语第二册第一单元课文中英对照
Living Off the Grid: How a Family of City-Dwellers Discovered the Simple Life
By Alison Zeuschel
1 After living in the 24-hour city of Las Vegas, Nevada for nearly ten years, my family and I decided to slow things down. My daughter wanted a horse. My husband wanted property. My son wanted a dirt bike. I wanted our family to be more self-sufficient.
2 None of us felt that this could be accomplished where we were living and we all agreed that a move to the country would be great for everyone.
3 Before long we set about looking for a home in Yucca, Arizona, a very small town of less than 1,000 people. It was while I was scanning listings from our real estate agent that I first learned of it. There was a home for sale there on 40 acres. When I called to inquire about the property, I was informed that there was no electricity available in the area. What? No electricity? I almost dismissed the idea immediately.
4 The property was off the grid. It was not connected whatsoever to any utilities — power, water or sewer. Power was supplied by a wind turbine and solar panels. Water had to be hauled in and stored in two tanks located on the property. Forty acres would give us plenty of room for all of our animals and give my husband and son space to ride their ATVs. Besides, what better way is there to become more self-sustainable? After giving it some thought, we decided to put in an offer and moved in on Thanksgiving Day.
5 When we first moved to the property, we did some remodeling and stayed in our motor home. We were confronted with real challenges at the time. The power kept going out, the main water line to the house broke, the plumbing backed up into the front yard and the generator died.
6 But the setbacks just made us work harder. We slowly got things fixed and moved into the
1
house after 38 days in the RV. The next challenge was to become familiar with your power system, and to learn the ins and outs of hauling your own water and generating your own power. 7 Our off-the-grid system consists of eight solar panels (1,000 watts) that are mounted on a sun tracker rack. We also have a wind turbine that generates 3,000 watts in 24 mph winds. The energy generated by the wind and sun is stored in 16 6v golf cart batteries. We also have two 2,500-gallon above-ground water tanks and a 250-gallon propane tank. Every weekend, we haul two 275-gallon water tanks to the nearby town of Yucca and fill them with water, which we then pump into our big water tanks.
8 While living here for the past four months has been a big adjustment, there are many benefits to living off the grid. I think one of the greatest is teaching my kids the importance of conservation. They used to take water, power and gas for granted. The first week we were here, we used almost 1,000 gallons of water. With only a 5,000-gallon water tank, it didn’t take them long to understand that we had to use less water. We started taking quicker showers, doing only full loads of laundry, turning off the water while brushing our teeth or shaving.
9 Over-consumption is even more clearly demonstrated by our electricity usage. We have a digital readout of how many volts of DC power we have stored in our batteries at any given time. If you turn on a light or the TV, the number goes down. In order to protect the batteries, the system is set up to shut the inverter off if the volts get too low. Then the power goes out. When we first moved in, we lost power almost daily. After this happens a few times, it becomes clear very quickly just how often you waste electricity. Everything from lights and ceiling fans to computers and radios were left on when they were not in use. The cell phone chargers were plugged in even when they weren’t charging anything. All of this uses unnecessary power. We are steadily learning to be more diligent with our power usage.
10 In addition, we are also trying to make other changes. They include reducing the amount of trash we generate by recycling and composting, growing our own organic vegetables, and reusing and repurposing things that we would normally toss. We also want to produce our own eggs and goat’s milk in the near future.
2
11 Overall, going off the grid has been great for our family. We have learned how to conserve power and water and to really appreciate what the earth gives to us every day. I hope that once my kids move out of the house, they will keep the habits that they have learned by living off the grid.
3
脱离电网的生活：一家城市居民如何发现了简单生活
艾莉森·佐谢尔
1
在内华达州的不眠之城拉斯维加斯生活了将近十年之后，我和我的家人决定放慢生活节
奏。女儿想要一匹马，我的丈夫想要一块地产，儿子想要一辆越野轻型摩托车，我想要一家人更加自给自足。 2
我们都感到这个梦想在我们居住的这个城市里不可能实现。大家一致认为，搬到乡下去
对谁都是最好的。 3
很快，我们便着手在亚利桑那州的尤卡，这个不满千人的小镇寻找房子。我是在浏览我
们的房地产经纪人提供的在售房屋清单时得知这个地方的。那儿有一处占地40英亩的房产在出售。我打电话去询问这处房产时，人家告诉我那个地区不通电。什么？不通电？我差点立刻打消在那里购房的念头。 4
这处房产不接电网，一切公用服务事业都没有——电、水、下水道。电由风力涡轮机和
太阳能电池板提供，水得靠人力拉进来，储存在房里的两个贮水箱里。40英亩的地给我们充裕的场地饲养动物，也给我的丈夫和儿子足够地方驾驶他们的全地形车。还有什么地方比这里更能够做到自给自足呢？考虑一番后，我们决定出价购买，并在感恩节那天搬了进去。 5
刚搬进来时，我们住在房车里，给房屋做了一些改建。当时，我们遇到了真正的挑战。
电老是断，通向房屋的主水管破裂，水管堵塞，水流到前院，发电机也停转了。 6
但是，这些挫折促使我们更加卖力地干活。慢慢地，我们把东西一一修好。在房车里住
了38天后，我们搬进了新家。接下来的挑战是逐步熟悉供电系统，了解自己拉水、自己发电的方方面面。 7
我们的不连网发电系统由8个安装在太阳跟踪架上的太阳能电池板(1,000瓦)组成。此
外，我们还有一个在风速达到每小时24英里时能发3,000瓦电的风力涡轮机。风能和太阳能发的电存储在16个6伏特的高尔夫球车电池中。我们还有两个蓄水量为2,500加仑的地上贮水箱和一个储量为250加仑的丙烷储气罐。每个周末，我们把两个275加仑的水箱拉到附近的尤卡镇，给它们加满水，再用泵把水抽入两个大的贮水箱中。 8
过去的四个月我们在这里生活，尽管经历了巨大的调整，却也得到了脱离电网生活的诸
多好处。我想，其中最大的一个好处在于教育孩子节约的重要性。以往，他们认为有水、有电、有煤气是理所当然的事。搬来的第一周，我们用掉将近1,000加仑的水，而水箱只能贮存5,000加仑。不久，他们便懂得我们必须少用水。于是，我们加快淋浴速度，洗衣机不满
4
不洗衣，刷牙或剃须时关掉水龙头。 9
过度消费在电的使用中表现得尤为明显。我们有一个数字读表器，它能显示在任何时刻
电池中储存有多少伏特的直流电。打开电灯或电视，数值就会下降。为了保护电池，系统设置在电压过低的情况下关闭变流器，然后断电。我们刚搬进来的时候，家里几乎天天断电。几次断电之后，你便很快明白你过去经常浪费电。从电灯、吊扇到电脑、收音机，不用的时候都开着。即便不在充电，手机的充电器也插在插座上。所有这一切都消耗着不该消耗的电。我们渐渐学会勤于省电。
10 此外，我们还试图在其他方面做出改变，包括通过再循环利用和堆制肥料来减少垃圾，自己种植有机蔬菜，对平日里打算丢弃的物品再利用或派作其他用途。我们还想在不久的将来养鸡生蛋、养羊产奶。
11 总体上讲，脱离电网的生活对我们一家人大有裨益。我们从中学会了怎样节约用电、用水，以及对地球每一天赐予我们的一切真正感恩。我希望孩子们将来搬出去住时，仍能保持他们在脱离电网生活期间养成的习惯。
5