剑桥雅思18Test3Passage1阅读原文翻译 Materials to take us beyond concrete 混凝土的替代材料
剑桥雅思18阅读第三套题目第一篇文章的主题为混凝土的替代品。作者介绍了目前大规模使用混凝土所带来的问题，混凝土这种材料具有的优点，目前可能的替代品，以及这些替代品所存在缺陷。虽然文章用词不难，结构也十分清晰，但因为篇幅较长，在给定时间内读完还是有一定的困难。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
剑桥雅思18Test3Passage1阅读答案解析 Materials to take us beyond concrete 混凝土的替代材料
剑桥雅思18 Test3 Passage1阅读原文翻译
老烤鸭原创翻译，请勿抄袭转载
A部分
Concrete is the second most used substance in the global economy, after water – and one of the world’s biggest single sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The chemical process by which cement, the key ingredient of concrete, is created results in large quantities of carbon dioxide. The UN estimates that there will be 9.8 billion people living on the planet by mid-century. They will need somewhere to live. If concrete is the only answer to the construction of new cities, then carbon emissions will soar, aggravating global warming. And so scientists have started innovating with other materials, in a scramble for alternatives to a universal commodity that has underpinned our modern life for many years.
混凝土是全球经济中使用量仅次于水的第二大物质，也是全球最大的温室气体排放单一来源之一。混凝土的关键成分-水泥的化学制程会产生大量二氧化碳。联合国预计，到本世纪中叶地球上将有98亿人口。他们需要地方居住。如果混凝土是新城市建造的唯一解决方案，那么碳排放将飙升，加剧全球变暖。因此，科学家们开始开发其他材料，以寻找替代这种长期以来支撑我们现代生活的通用商品的方法。
B部分
The problem with replacing concrete is that it is so very good at what it does. Chris Cheeseman, an engineering professor at Imperial College London, says the key thing to consider is the extent to which concrete is used around the world, and is likely to continue to be used. ‘Concrete is not a high-carbon product. Cement is high carbon, but concrete is not. But it is the scale on which it is used that makes it high carbon. The sheer scale of manufacture is so huge, that is the issue.’
替代混凝土的问题在于它的表现太过出色。伦敦帝国理工学院的工程学教授克里斯·奇斯曼表示，关键要考虑的是混凝土在全球的使用范围，以及未来可能继续使用的范围。“混凝土并不是高碳产品。水泥才是高碳的，混凝土不是。但是它的高碳问题在于其使用规模。生产规模是如此巨大，这才是问题所在。”
C部分
Not only are the ingredients of concrete relatively cheap and found in abundance in most places around the globe, the stuff itself has marvelous properties: Portland cement, the vital component of concrete, is mouldable and pourable, but quickly sets hard. Cheeseman also notes another advantage: concrete and steel have similar thermal expansion properties, this article is from laokaoya website, so steel can be used to reinforce concrete, making it far stronger and more flexible as a building material than it could be on its own. According to Cheeseman, all these factors together make concrete hard to beat. ‘Concrete is amazing stuff. Making anything with similar properties is going to be very difficult.’
混凝土的原材料不仅相对廉价且在全球大多数地方都能充分获得。它本身还具有神奇的特性：混凝土的关键成分—波特兰水泥可塑性强、易于倾注，还能迅速变硬。奇斯曼还指出了另一个优点：混凝土和钢材具有相似的热膨胀特性，因此可以使用钢材来加固混凝土，使其比独立使用时更加坚固和更具弹性，成为一种优秀的建筑材料。根据奇斯曼的说法，所有这些因素共同使得混凝土难以被替代。“混凝土是令人惊叹的物质。要制造出具有类似特性的任何东西都将非常困难。”
D部分
A possible alternative to concrete is wood. Making buildings from wood may seem like a rather medieval idea, but climate change is driving architects to turn to treated timber as a possible resource. Recent years have seen the emergence of tall buildings constructed almost entirely from timber. Vancouver, Vienna and Brumunddal in Norway are all home to constructed tall, wooden buildings.
一种可能替代混凝土的材料是木材。用木材建造建筑物可能看起来有些像是中世纪的想法，但气候变化正在推动建筑师们将经过处理的木材作为一种可能的资源。近年来，几乎完全由木材建成的高层建筑越来越多。温哥华、维也纳和挪威的布鲁蒙达尔都有高层木制结构的建筑。
E部分
Using wood to construct buildings, however, is not straightforward. Wood expands as it absorbs moisture from the air and is susceptible to pests, not to mention fire. But treating wood and combining it with other materials can improve its properties. Cross-laminated timber is engineered wood. An adhesive is used to stick layers of solid-sawn timber together, crosswise, to form building blocks. This material is light but has the strength of concrete and steel. Construction experts say that wooden buildings can be constructed at a greater speed than ones of concrete and steel and the process, it seems, is quieter.
然而，使用木材建造建筑并不简单。木材会吸收空气中的水分膨胀，并容易受到害虫的侵害，更不用提发生火灾的风险了。但是通过对木材进行处理并与其他材料结合可以改善其性能。交叉层压木材是一种工程木材。使用胶粘剂将多层实木以交叉方式粘合在一起，形成建筑模块。这种材料虽然轻便，但具有混凝土和钢材的强度。建筑专家表示，与混凝土和钢材相比，木质建筑可以更快地建造，而且这个过程似乎更加安静。
F部分
Stora Enso is Europe’s biggest supplier of cross-laminated timber, and its vice-president Markus Mannstrom reports that the company is seeing increasing demand globally for building in wood, with climate change concerns the key driver. Finland, with its large forests, where Stora Enso is based, has been leading the way, but the company is seeing a rise in demand for its timber products across the world, including in Asia. Of course, using timber in a building also locks away the carbon that it absorbed as it grew. But even treated wood has its limitations and only when a wider range of construction projects has been proven in practice will it be possible to see wood as a real alternative to concrete in constructing tall buildings.
斯多拉恩索（Stora Enso）是欧洲最大的交叉层压木材供应商，其副总裁马库斯·曼斯特罗姆（Markus Mannstrom）表示，公司观察到全球对木制建筑需求的日益增长。气候变化问题是其主要驱动因素。芬兰是斯多拉恩索所在地，拥有广阔的森林资源，一直走在木制建筑的前沿，但该公司文章来自老烤鸭雅思也看到全球范围内，包括亚洲地区，对其木材产品的需求增长。当然，使用木制建筑还可以封存其生长过程中吸收的碳。然而，即使是经过处理的木材也有其局限性，只有在更广泛的建筑项目中经过实践验证后，才能将木材视为建造高层建筑的真正替代品。
G部分
Fly ash and slag from iron ore are possible alternatives to cement in a concrete mix. Fly ash, a byproduct of coal-burning power plants, can be incorporated into concrete mixes to make up as much as 15 to 30% of the cement, without harming the strength or durability of the resulting mix. Iron-ore slag, a byproduct of the iron-ore smelting process, can be used in a similar way. Their incorporation into concrete mixes has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
煤灰和铁矿石渣可以作为混凝土中水泥的替代品。煤灰是燃煤电厂的副产品，可以加入混凝土中，占15%到30%的比例，而不会损害混凝土的强度和耐久性。铁矿石渣是铁矿石冶炼过程的副产品，可以以类似的方式使用。将它们纳入混凝土原材料有可能能够减少温室气体的排放。
But Anna Surgenor, of the UK’s Green Building Council, notes that although these waste products can save carbon in the concrete mix, their use is not always straightforward. It’s possible to replace the cement content in concrete with waste products to lower the overall carbon impact. But there are several calculations that need to be considered across the entire life cycle of the building – these include factoring in where these materials are being shipped from. If they are transported over long distances, using fossil fuels, the use of alternative materials might not make sense from an overall carbon reduction perspective.’
但英国绿色建筑委员会的安娜·萨金纳指出，尽管这些废弃物可以用在混凝土中节省碳排放，但它们的使用并不总是简单明了的。可以用废弃物替代混凝土中的水泥，以降低整体碳足迹。但是，在整个建筑寿命周期中需要考虑多个因素，其中就包括这些材料的运输来源。如果它们经过长途运输并使用化石燃料，从减少整体碳排放的角度来看，使用替代材料可能并不合理。
H部分
While these technologies are all promising ideas, they are either unproven or based on materials that are not abundant. In their overview of innovation in the concrete industry, Felix Preston and Johanna Lehne of the UK’s Royal Institute of International Affairs reached the conclusion that, ‘Some novel cements have been discussed for more than a decade within the research community, without breaking through. At present, these alternatives are rarely as cost-effective as conventional cement, and they face raw-material shortages and resistance from customers.’
虽然这些技术都有一定的前景，但它们要么尚未经过验证，要么需要稀缺的材料。在对混凝土行业创新的概述中，英国皇家国际事务研究所的费利克斯·普雷斯顿（Felix Preston）和约翰娜·莱恩（Johanna Lehne）得出结论：“一些新型水泥已经在研究界讨论了十多年，但尚未取得突破。目前，这些替代品很少像传统水泥一样具有成本效益，并且它们面临着原材料短缺和客户的抵制。”
剑桥雅思18Test3Passage2阅读原文翻译 The steam Car 蒸汽汽车
剑桥雅思18Test3Passage3阅读原文翻译 The case for mixed-ability classes 混合能力的班级
