一、听力练习
1.
A. To reduce their carbon footprint.
B. To secure electricity for their growing AI and cloud computing data centers.
C. To increase their investments in cryptocurrency.
D. To compete with other technology companies.
2.
A. They will consume less electricity than they do now.
B. They could use up to nine percent of the total electricity produced in the U.S.
C. They will decrease their energy consumption significantly.
D. They will rely entirely on renewable energy sources.
3.
A. They are increasing their cryptocurrency mining activities.
B. They are focusing solely on blockchain technology.
C. They are marketing their property and energy services to AI and cloud computing companies.
D. They are selling their assets to technology companies.
二、听力文本
U.S. technology companies are increasingly purchasing or leasing energy assets held by bitcoin miners. These moves come as technology companies hurry to secure a supply of electricity for their growing artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing data centers. Those data centers are driving the fastest increase in U.S. electricity demand since 2000. The demand is growing faster than the electricity grid. That means big technology companies, like Amazon and Microsoft, are aiming to secure large amounts of electricity. Growing power demand is affecting the cryptocurrency mining industry – an industry that uses a lot of energy. Some miners are making a profit by leasing or selling their power-connected infrastructure and centers. But other miners cannot get enough electricity to stay in business. Electric Power Research Institute is a non-profit energy research company based in Palo Alto, California. It said in May that data centers could use up to nine percent of total electricity produced in the U.S. by 2030. That is more than double their current use. This change comes as technology companies are paying a lot to grow their computing centers. The International Energy Agency (IEA) says that data centers currently account for about 1 to 1.3 percent of world electricity use. Crypto mining uses 0.4 percent. The IEA says that difference is expected to grow. Experts expect 20 percent of bitcoin mining power capacity to move to AI by the end of 2027. Over the past year, bitcoin miners have increasingly competed with AI data center owners for the same power production centers and business deals. That is what heads of more than six publicly traded U.S. crypto mining companies told Reuters. One example took place in Pennsylvania. Marathon Digital Holdings is the world's biggest publicly traded bitcoin miner. Two sources who know about the situation said the company was among those considering a nuclear-powered data center owned by Talen Energy in Pennsylvania. But technology company Amazon bought the center in a deal announced in March. Many large miners that own land and are connected to power centers are changing the way they do business. They are marketing their property and energy services to AI and cloud computing companies and doing less crypto mining. Morgan Stanley said providing electricity for AI and cloud computing could be profitable for big crypto miners. The investment bank said it could make their centers as much as five times more valuable. Morgan Stanley also said technology companies could save billions of dollars by buying or leasing space from a miner with at least 100 megawatts of electricity production. It said such deals could cut the wait times for a data center to launch by about 3.5 years.
Question 1: What is the main reason U.S. technology companies are purchasing or leasing energy assets from bitcoin miners?
Question 2: What does the Electric Power Research Institute predict about data centers by 2030?
Question 3: How are some bitcoin miners adapting to the changing energy market?
三、重点词汇
1. purchase: to buy something 购买
四、背景知识
人工智能（Artificial Intelligence），英文缩写为AI。是新一轮科技革命和产业变革的重要驱动力量，是研究、开发用于模拟、延伸和扩展人的智能的理论、方法、技术及应用系统的一门新的技术科学。（背景知识来自于百度百科）
五、参考答案
Question 1: B
Question 2: B
Question 3: C
六、网络翻译
美国技术公司越来越多地购买或租赁比特币矿工持有的能源资产。这些举措是由于技术公司急于为其不断增长的人工智能（AI）和云计算数据中心确保电力供应。这些数据中心推动了自 2000 年以来美国电力需求的最快增长。需求增长的速度快于电力网络的扩展。这意味着像亚马逊和微软这样的大型技术公司，正旨在确保大量电力。不断增长的电力需求正在影响加密货币挖矿行业——这是一个耗能较大的行业。一些矿工通过租赁或出售其电力连接的基础设施和中心来获利。但其他矿工无法获得足够的电力以维持业务。电力研究所（Electric Power Research Institute）是一个位于加利福尼亚州帕洛阿尔托的非营利能源研究公司。该机构在 5 月表示，到 2030 年，数据中心可能会使用美国总电力生产的九个百分点。这是目前使用量的两倍多。这一变化发生在技术公司为扩展其计算中心支付巨额费用的背景下。国际能源署（IEA）表示，数据中心目前占全球电力使用量的约 1% 至 1.3%。加密货币挖矿则占 0.4%。IEA 预计这种差距将进一步扩大。专家预计，到 2027 年底，20% 的比特币挖矿能力将转向 AI。在过去一年中，比特币矿工与 AI 数据中心所有者在同一电力生产中心和商业交易上竞争日益激烈。这是六家公开交易的美国加密货币矿业公司负责人告诉路透社的情况。一个例子发生在宾夕法尼亚州。Marathon Digital Holdings 是全球最大的上市比特币矿工。有两个知情人士表示，该公司正考虑由 Talen Energy 拥有的核能数据中心，但技术公司亚马逊在 3 月宣布的交易中购买了该中心。许多拥有土地并与电力中心相连的大型矿工正在改变他们的商业模式。他们把自己的财产和能源服务营销给 AI 和云计算公司，并减少加密货币挖矿。摩根士丹利表示，为 AI 和云计算提供电力可能对大型加密矿工来说是有利可图的。该投资银行表示，这可能使他们的中心价值增加多达五倍。摩根士丹利还表示，技术公司通过从至少生产 100 兆瓦电力的矿工那里购买或租赁空间，可以节省数十亿美元。这种交易可以将数据中心启动的等待时间缩短大约 3.5 年。
七、版权说明
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