关注“低碳生活”，提高GRE写作_GRE写作

关注“低碳生活”，提高GRE写作

　　1. 低碳经济，即low-carbon economy。网络百科全书维基百科收录有low-carbon economy词条，其篇首第一句话如下：A Low-Carbon Economy or Low-Fossil-Fuel Economy is a concept that refers to an economy which has a minimal output of greenhouse gas emissions into the biosphere, but specifically refers to the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.值得说明的是，虽然目前网络搜索结果显示，低碳的英文有的写成low carbon，有的写成low-carbon，但总体上说还是使用连字符号的居多，如美联社12月7日关于哥本哈根联合国气候变化大会召开的资讯报道中有这么一句话：On the sidelines, climate activists competed for attention to their campaigns on deforestation, clean energy and low-carbon growth。

　　2. 碳足迹，即carbon footprint。简单地说，碳足迹是用来衡量我们在日常生活中消耗的二氧化碳的一种方式。无论是开车上班、乘飞机旅行，还是使用电灯、电脑，我们都消耗石油、煤和天然气等化石燃料。这些化石燃料在燃烧时，会排放出诸如二氧化碳之类导致地球变暖的温室气体。对于carbon footprint，维基百科有如下定义：A carbon footprint is the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event or product. For simplicity of reporting, it is often expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent of other GHGs, emitted. 相关表达见如下例句：A new purpose-built office complex that will offer eco-friendly accommodation across 66,250 square feet is under construction in Wales. It is reported that the Cardiff Waterside project, entitled 3 Assembly Square, forms part of a 140 million construction project and will aim to offer business in the area an environment that has a lower carbon footprint than traditional office space. 上述句子的背景是，英国政府成立了一个The Low Carbon Building Programme ，即低碳建筑计划，维基百科解释说，LCBP is a Government programme in the United Kingdom administered by BERR . It offers grants towards the cost of installing domestic microgeneration technologies and larger scale distributed generation installations for public buildings and businesses, provided energy conservation standards are also met.