11. heat

See Paragraph 1: Today's high-tech world, however, demands high-tech refrigeration. Heat pumps are no longer up to the job. The search is on for something to replace them.

12. paraelectric

See Paragraph 3: Using commercially available paraelectric film, he and his colleagues have generated temperature drops five times bigger than any previously recorded.

13. thermoelectric

See Paragraph 7: ...the thermoelectric effect. Like paraelectric materials, this generates electricity from a heat source and produces cooling from an electrical source. Unlike paraelectrics, a significant body of researchers is already working on it.

14. radiator

See Paragraph 9: The last word in computer cooling, though, may go to a system even less techy than a heat pump--a miniature version of a car radiator.

★Seeking an energy holy trinity

Jan 10th 2007

From Economist.com

1     NEELIE KROES, the European Union’s competition commissioner, did not mince her words when reporting on Europe’s energy markets on Wednesday January 10th. Europe’s energy firms have failed to invest in networks and so customers are suffering. Those “vertically integrated” energy companies such as Electricité de France (EDF) or Germany’s E.ON, widely dubbed as “national champions”, are effectively behaving like local monopolies. Shy of competition, eager for artificially high prices, they are helping to block the efficient generation, transmission and distribution of energy on the continent.

2     Energy prices vary wildly across Europe. Ms Kroes wants to see cheaper energy, and intends to push suppliers to divest their distribution network and to get them to invest more in transportation systems so that more energy—in the form of gas, or electricity, for example—can flow easily over borders. It is remarkably hard, for example, for gas-poor Germany to import from the neighbouring, gas-rich Netherlands. Companies that dominate national markets have, so far, had little interest in improving the interconnections which would mean lower prices for consumers across the continent.

3     Ms Kroes, of course, will struggle to get her way. The European Commission, which on the same day presented its recommendation for improving EU energy policy, also wants to see the unbundling of ownership, the legal separation of energy suppliers and transporters, something that the integrated energy companies and interested governments, notably in France and Germany, are bound to oppose ferociously.

4     Complicating the matter is an argument over the security of energy supply in Europe. Much has been made of the risk for western Europe of depending too heavily on Russian exports of gas. Russia under Vladimir Putin is prone to using energy exports as a blunt tool of foreign policy, especially when trying to bully countries in its hinterland. Last year Russia interrupted gas deliveries to Ukraine, affecting supplies in central and western Europe too. This week it blocked oil exports passing via Belarus to Europe, though that spat was soon resolved.

5     The risk is that concerns about security of supply may be used spuriously by those in Europe who oppose the sort of liberalisation encouraged by Ms Kroes. The likes of E.ON and EDF may claim that only protected national champions are able to secure supply, by striking long-term deals with powerful foreign suppliers. The Commission disagrees. Such deals are too often politically motivated and far from transparent. Protection has been tried for long enough and evidently has not worked for the internal market, nor have these companies secured the best deals for consumers from the Russians.

6     In contrast, the Commission's new policy proposes, ideally, a break-up of these companies into suppliers and distributors. (As a second best solution, especially for France and Germany, it recommends the management of the networks by a third party.) Properly independent managers of Europe's energy networks would have a strong incentive to build interconnecting pipelines and power lines across borders. For the gas market another means of ensuring competition and security would be finding a more diverse range of suppliers, for example by building more terminals for the import of liquified natural gas. It would also be likely to mean lower prices, if the example of liberalised Britain over the past ten years is anything to go by.

7     Whether any of this is likely to happen soon, however, is another matter. The Commission is also calling for European governments to agree on a common effort to reduce carbon emissions by at least 20% by 2020 (compared with 1990 levels). If America is willing to play ball, the Commission proposes to reduce emissions by as much as 30%. Achieving either target would mean promoting cleaner cars, a more effective emissions-trading system for Europe, wider use of public transport and a sharp increase in the use of renewable sources of energy, like wind and solar power. All that is laudable enough, but will also require political horse-trading as governments—Europe’s leaders are due to meet in March to discuss the various energy proposals—try to avoid commitments that may hurt domestic energy companies or make European firms less competitive than rivals in America, Asia and elsewhere.

(689 words)

Questions 1-5

Do the following statements reflect the views of the writer in the reading passage?

In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet write

       YES               if the statement reflects the views of the writer

       NO               if the statement contradicts the views of the writer

       NOT GIVEN       if there is no information about this in the passage

1.      Europe’s energy companies have funded the construction of the distribution network.

2.      There has been a wide range of energy prices within Europe.

3.      Gas-poor Germany has to pay a price higher than average to import gas from its neighbour.

4.      E.ON and EDF may oppose the liberalisation due to their concerns about the security of energy supply.

5.      The European Commission proposes to reduce carbon emissions by 30% if the U.S. is willing to cut its.

Questions 6-10

Look at the box of countries below.

Choose One or Two countries to complete the following sentences.

Write your answers in boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet.

Countries

A.     Belarus

B.     Britain

C.     France

D.    Germany

E.     Russia

F.      Ukraine

G.    The U.S.

6.      It’s dangerous for western Europe to depend too much on gas imports from ……

7.      A liberalised policy of energy supply was enforced over ten years in …

8.      Last year energy supplies in central and western Europe was affected owing to the interruption of gas deliveries to …

9.      The governments in …… are bound to oppose the separation of energy suppliers and transporters?

10.  Oil exports passing via … to Europe was blocked this week.

Questions 11-14

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the reading passage above for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 11-14.

11.  The EC disagrees with energy firms to strike long-term deals with foreign suppliers because such deals are usually far from …

12.  The EC proposes to split those “national champions” into …

13.  A more diverse range of suppliers would guarantee …in the European gas market.

14.  The realization of carbon emissions reduction would require the promotion of cleaner cars, a better emissions-trading system, wider use of public transport and more use of … of energy.

Key and Explanations:

1. No

See para.1: Europe’s energy firms have failed to invest in networks…

2. Yes

See para.2: Energy prices vary wildly across Europe.

3. Not Given

See para.2: It is remarkably hard, for example, for gas-poor Germany to import from the neighbouring, gas-rich Netherlands.

4. No

See para.5: The risk is that concerns about security of supply may be used spuriously by those in Europe who oppose the sort of liberalisation encouraged by Ms Kroes. The likes of E.ON and EDF may claim that…

5. Yes

See para.7: If America is willing to play ball, the Commission proposes to reduce emissions by as much as 30%.

6. E

See para.4: Much has been made of the risk for western Europe of depending too heavily on Russian exports of gas.

7. B

See para.6: It would also be likely to mean lower prices, if the example of liberalised Britain over the past ten years is anything to go by.

8. F

See para.4: Last year Russia interrupted gas deliveries to Ukraine, affecting supplies in central and western Europe too.

9. C, D

See para.3: …the legal separation of energy suppliers and transporters, something that the integrated energy companies and interested governments, notably in France and Germany, are bound to oppose ferociously.

10. A

See para.4: This week it blocked oil exports passing via Belarus to Europe, though that spat was soon resolved.

11. transparent

See para.5: by striking long-term deals with powerful foreign suppliers. The Commission disagrees. Such deals are too often politically motivated and far from transparent.

12. suppliers and distributors

See the sentences in para.1 (Those “vertically integrated” energy companies such as Electricité de France (EDF) or Germany’s E.ON, widely dubbed as “national champions”…) and para.6 (…the Commission's new policy proposes, ideally, a break-up of these companies into suppliers and distributors.)

13. competition and security

See para.6: For the gas market another means of ensuring competition and security would be finding a more diverse range of suppliers…

14. renewable sources

See para.7: Achieving either target would mean promoting cleaner cars, a more effective emissions-trading system for Europe, wider use of public transport and a sharp increase in the use of renewable sources of energy…

★Study Finds Web Antifraud Measure Ineffective

Published: February 5, 2007      New York Times

1. Internet security experts have long known that simple passwords do not fully defend online bank accounts from determined fraud artists. Now a study suggests that a popular secondary security measure provides little additional protection.

2.The study, produced jointly by researchers at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, looked at a technology called site-authentication images. In the system, currently used by financial institutions like Bank of America, ING Direct and Vanguard, online banking customers are asked to select an image, like a dog or chess piece, that they will see every time they log in to their account.

3.The idea is that if customers do not see their image, they could be at a fraudulent Web site, dummied up to look like their bank’s, and should not enter their passwords.

4.The Harvard and M.I.T. researchers tested that hypothesis. In October, they brought 67 Bank of America customers in the Boston area into a controlled environment and asked them to conduct routine online banking activities, like looking up account balances. But the researchers had secretly withdrawn the images.

5.Of 60 participants who got that far into the study and whose results could be verified, 58 entered passwords anyway. Only two chose not to log on, citing security concerns.

6.“The premise is that site-authentication images increase security because customers will not enter their passwords if they do not see the correct image,” said Stuart Schechter, a computer scientist at the M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory. “From the study we learned that the premise is right less than 10 percent of the time.”

7.He added: “If a bank were to ask me if they should deploy it, I would say no, wait for something better,” he said.

8.The system has some high-power supporters in the financial services world, many trying to comply with new online banking regulations. In 2005, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, an interagency body of federal banking regulators, determined that passwords alone did not effectively thwart intruders like identity thieves.

9.It issued new guidelines, asking financial Web sites to find better ways for banks and customers to identify each other online. January 2007 was set as the compliance date, though the council has yet to begin enforcing the mandate.

10.Banks immediately knew what they did not want to do: ask customers to download new security software, or carry around hardware devices that feed them PIN codes they can use to authenticate their identities. Both solutions would add an extra layer of security but, the banks believed, detract from the convenience of online banking.

11.The image system, introduced in 2004 by a Silicon Valley firm called PassMark Security, offered banks a pain-free addition to their security arsenals. Bank of America was amon

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