字神帝國英語天地

 洪欣老師推薦：托福聽力最好的課外教材：60-Second Science
 康康精選托福會考的主題，堅持每天精聽一定會進步的哦!!

 建議方法：
1. 先聽兩三遍 (不看文稿)
2. 再一句一句聽寫 (每句都要聽寫數遍，直到寫出85%以上的字)
3. 最後check文稿，看哪聽不出來，單字沒背過，還是發音不熟。
4. 堅持天天聽，就能每天進步哦。

 MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：喜歡的同學，幫忙推或按讚哦~~
http://online1.tingclass.net/voas…/2015/20150127sa_earth.mp3

 只有音檔怎夠，聽不懂地方，不用怕，康康幫你準備好中英文稿了：

 中英文稿：
The lubricant of the global economy is having a fire sale: a barrel of crude oil in Texasnow costs less than $50. Which makes now the perfect time to raise taxes on gas.
減價促銷無疑是全球經濟的一個潤滑劑：現在德克薩斯州一桶原油的價格已不到50美元。這使得現在成為提高燃油稅收的絕佳時機。

The U.S., of course, already has a gas tax, but it has not gone up since 1993. As a result, the things the gas tax is supposed to pay for—roads, bridges, tunnels—are crumbling. And when gas is cheap, people tend to use more of it, and they buy gas guzzling SUV’s while sales of hybrids and other fuel-efficient cars languish.
當然美國早就有燃油稅，不過自1993年以來該稅一直沒有提高過。因此，本應由這些燃油稅付錢維護的公共設施——道路、橋樑、隧道都搖搖欲墜。而且汽油價 格便宜時，人們往往會使用得更多。尤其是此時人們紛紛購買耗油的多功能汽車，導致混合動力車和其他節能型汽車市場蕭條。

As a result the air gets worse, whether you're talking about choking smog, insidious soot or, yes, climate change. A gas tax would help reduce all that damage. And it's an idea that even some tax-hating politicians have warmed to—as long as it's called a user fee instead.
結果就導致空氣變得更糟：包括令人窒息的煙霧、有害煙塵，當然還有氣候變化。而提高燃油稅將有助於減少這些危害。只要稱其為“使用費”，連一些厭惡稅收的政客都會傾向于支援這一觀點。

And if we really want to get serious about climate change and other environmental ills, we might consider taxing all fossil fuels, which are too cheap given the health costs they impose. Such a carbon tax could help keep coal, oil and natural gas safely in the ground in favor of alternatives like electric cars and cleaner power plants. For American politicians, however, such a notion may be a bridge too far.
如果我們確實想認真對待氣候變化及其他環境問題，或許我們該考慮對所有的化石燃料徵稅。畢竟，比起那些它們帶來的高額衛生事業費，其價格實在太便宜了。這 種煙塵排放稅可以減少煤、石油和天然氣的使用，增加其他替代品如電動汽車和較清潔的發電廠的使用。然而對美國政客們來說，這樣一個概念可能就像“遙遠的 橋”一樣。