一、听力练习
1.
A. To build the first nuclear power plant in Australia.
B. To export coal and gas to support Australia's economy.
C. To deliver up to 6 gigawatts of green electricity annually.
D. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Singapore.
2.
A. Lee Hsien Loong and Anthony Albanese.
B. Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest.
C. Grok Ventures and Atlassian.
D. The Australian government and the opposition party.
3.
A. Environmental approvals were not granted.
B. A financing dispute between the initial backers.
C. A change in Australia's energy policy.
D. The takeover by Grok Ventures.
二、听力文本
A plan to build a huge solar farm in Australia is a step closer after the Australian government gave environmental approvals for the $19 billion project recently. Australian company Sun Cable plans to build a 12,400-hectare solar farm in a remote area of northern Australia. The farm will send electricity to the city of Darwin via an 800-kilometer overhead transmission line. Then the power will be transported to large industrial customers in Singapore through a 4,300-kilometer submarine cable. The Australia-Asia PowerLink project aims to deliver up to 6 gigawatts of green electricity each year. The project was first backed by Australian mining businessman Andrew Forrest and Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. The plans were discussed during a state visit by then-Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as part of a “Green Economy” agreement in 2022. In January 2023, the project collapsed when Sun Cable was involved in a financing dispute between Forrest and Cannon-Brookes. By May of that year, a group led by Cannon-Brookes' Grok Ventures acquired the company, finalizing the takeover in September 2023. The company said electricity supply would begin in the early 2030s. Energy has been a politically charged issue for nearly 20 years in Australia. The country depends on coal and gas as well as money from exporting those fuels to help support its economy. This dependence on fossil fuels has historically made it one of the world's worst greenhouse gas emitters on a per capita basis. Australia's main opposition party in June announced plans to build the country's first nuclear power plants as early as 2035. The announcement ensures the major parties will be divided on how to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions at elections due within a year. The parties have not gone to an election with the same carbon reduction policies since 2007.
Question 1: What is the main goal of the Australia-Asia PowerLink project?
Question 2: Who were the initial backers of the Sun Cable project?
Question 3: What caused the collapse of the Sun Cable project in January 2023?
三、重点词汇
1. hectare: a unit of measurement of an area of land (10,000 m2) 公顷
四、背景知识
周三（8月22日），澳大利亚当局批准建设一个巨型太阳能发电场的一期工程。这个项目名为“澳亚电力连系”（Australia-Asia PowerLink）太阳能发电项目，位于澳大利亚北方阳光普照的鲍威尔溪（Powell Creek）地区，占地1.2万公顷，建成后装机容量超过20吉瓦（Gigawatt，百万瓩），将成为世界最大的太阳能发电场项目。 项目的建设方为澳洲可再生能源公司——太阳电缆公司（SunCable），项目预计总投资达到300亿澳元（约203亿美元）。 该项目第一期计划是，建设每小时可发电4吉瓦的太阳能电池板阵列和40吉瓦的储能电池阵列。项目还包括架设一条800公里长的架空电缆到达澳大利亚北部港口达尔文市，然后铺设一条长达4300公里的海底电缆到达新加坡。 项目计划于2030年建成投产，预计每小时可以生产4吉瓦的能源供澳大利亚本国使用，另有2吉瓦的能源输往新加坡，可满足其约15%的电力需求。 新加坡近些年经济发展迅猛，对电力的需求量增加很多。这个庞大的项目是由澳大利亚科技巨头、环保倡议者布鲁克斯（Mike Cannon-Brookes）领头投资的。SunCable在去年5月被布鲁克斯收购，成为他旗下的公司。 澳大利亚环境部长普利伯塞克表示，这个宏伟的项目是决定本国一代人命运的基础设施，它将是全球最大的太阳能发电区，并预示着澳洲将成为全球绿色能源领导者。（背景知识来自于https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1808062286707561585&wfr=spider&for=pc）
五、参考答案
Question 1:
Question 2:
Question 3:
Question 4:
六、网络翻译
澳大利亚政府最近为一项价值190亿美元的大型太阳能农场项目提供了环境批准，这使得该项目离实现又近了一步。澳大利亚公司Sun Cable计划在澳大利亚北部的一个偏远地区建设一个占地12,400公顷的太阳能农场。该农场将通过一条800公里的架空输电线向达尔文市输送电力，然后通过一条4,300公里的海底电缆将电力输送给新加坡的大型工业客户。澳大利亚-亚洲电力链接项目（Australia-Asia PowerLink）旨在每年提供高达6吉瓦的绿色电力。 该项目最初得到了澳大利亚矿业企业家安德鲁·福雷斯特和Atlassian联合创始人迈克·坎农-布鲁克斯的支持。2022年，新加坡时任总理李显龙和澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔巴尼斯在一次国事访问中讨论了这一计划，作为“绿色经济”协议的一部分。然而，2023年1月，由于Sun Cable公司涉及福雷斯特和坎农-布鲁克斯之间的融资纠纷，项目宣告破裂。到当年5月，由坎农-布鲁克斯的Grok Ventures牵头的一个团体收购了该公司，并在2023年9月完成了接管。公司表示，电力供应将在2030年代初开始。 能源问题在澳大利亚近20年来一直是一个政治热点。该国依赖煤炭和天然气以及出口这些燃料的收入来支持经济。这种对化石燃料的依赖使得澳大利亚在历史上成为全球人均温室气体排放最严重的国家之一。澳大利亚的主要反对党在6月份宣布计划最早在2035年建造该国首座核电站。该声明确保了主要政党在即将到来的选举中将在如何减少澳大利亚的温室气体排放问题上存在分歧。自2007年以来，各政党在选举中未曾采用过相同的碳减排政策。
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