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第一部分 选修六 Unit 5 Ⅰ.阅读理解 (2017·海口市调测) Born out of technology developed in the search for the world's most powerful bomb, nuclear power has ever since cast a heavy shadow over its benefits. The pictures of what was left of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 after the United States dropped the atomic bomb left the world with a feeling of mental pain—200 000 people died in a second, and oncecrowded cities were destroyed completely. But it was the cloud of radiation that couldn't be seen and no one could defend against that affected generations. Popular American movies like the 1983 film The Day After played on people's fears with pictures of a nuclear winter so destructive that it would kill almost every living thing. Yet, by that same year, nuclear energy plants were being built from Argentina to South Korea to satisfy the demand for cheap, dependable sources of energy. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, by 2009, nuclear energy produced almost 14 percent of the world's electricity supplies. And the total demand for energy worldwide has continued to rise, although the latest nuclear disaster at Japan's Fukushima plant appears to have discouraged enthusiasm for the energy source. Other major sources of energy have their own benefits—and their own set of risks. Oil is limited, likely to be affected by political pressure and rising prices, and has caused serious environmental disasters of its own. Coal is blamed for serious air pollution, and mining for coal is an often perilous profession: coal mining accidents from Colombia to China have resulted in thousands of deaths. Natural gas pollutes the air less than oil or coal, but old and leakprone(容易泄漏的) natural gas pipelines can explode, killing and injuring dozens of people. | 
