2024届高考英语外刊阅读天天练 阅读理解四

高考英语外刊阅读天天练：阅读理解模拟训练四 ① Cutting carbon out of making chips? In California, they’re going to try. The latest front in the war against natural gas is factory-made food. Whether they’re cooked, roasted or smoked, the chips, cookies, muffins, coffee and sausage rolling out of factory kitchens today are largely made in ovens and other equipment that burn methane. Now, a Southern California air agency is taking aim at those emissions, approving this month what environmentalists call a first-in-the-nation rule requiring many commercial bakeries and other food makers in the greater Los Angeles area to electrify their ovens and smokehouses. But doughnut makers, tortilla bakers and other commercial cookeries in the region expressed concerns to regulators about higher utility bills and the cost of upgrading equipment, as well as further straining California’s already- stretched grid. Many food makers say today’s electric ovens simply don’t cook as well as gas versions do. As many good chefs would say, baking requires precision. Consider the tortilla chip. Mark Schieldge, chief operating officer of Snak-King, says it is challenging to bake them without gas. He has yet to find an electric oven for sale that gets the texture and crisp right. “We’re working with other equipment suppliers to determine whether they think it’s possible,” Schieldge said. And getting rid of gas ovens involves more than just installing an electric one. Factories will need to be rewired to handle the higher voltage. “It’s not as easy as just simply unplugging one oven and plugging something else into the wall.” Schieldge said. Taking into account that feedback, the new rule gives more latitude to types of commercial cooking for which electric ovens are not commercially available yet, such as tortilla makers and nut roasters. Schieldge called the final rule “a reasonable approach.” But the air agency expects new industrial-scale electric ovens to hit the market in the coming years, and is planning to t