The behaviour of a building's users may be at least as important as its design when it comes to energy use, according to new research from the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC). The UK promises to reduce its carbon emissions(排放) by 80 per cent by 2050, part of which will be achieved by all new homes being zero­carbon by 2016. But this report shows that sustainable building design on its own—though extremely important—is not enough to achieve such reductions: the behaviour of the people using the building has to change too.

The study suggests that the ways that people use and live in their homes have been largely ignored by existing efforts to improve energy efficiency(效率)，which instead focus on architectural and technological developments.

“Technology is going to assist but it is not going to do everything，” explains Katy Janda, a UKERC senior researcher，“consumption patterns of building users can defeat the most careful design.”In other words，old habits die hard, even in the best­designed eco­home.

Another part of the problem is information. Households and bill­payers don't have the knowledge they need to change their energy­use habits. Without specific information，it's hard to estimate the costs and benefits of making different choices. Feedback(反饋) facilities, like smart meters and energy monitors，could help bridge this information gap by helping people see how changing their behaviour directly affects their energy use; some studies have shown that households can achieve up to 15 per cent energy savings using smart meters.

Social science research has added a further dimension(方面)，suggesting that individuals' behaviour in the home can be personal and cannot be predicted—whether people throw open their windows rather than turn down the thermostat(恒溫器), for example.

Janda argues that education is the key. She calls for a focused programme to teach people about buildings and their own behaviour in them.

66. As to energy use, the new research from UKERC stresses the importance of ________.

A. zero­carbon homes

B. the behaviour of building users

C. sustainable building design

D. the reduction of carbon emissions

67. The underlined word “which” in Paragraph 2 refers to“________”.

A. the ways

B. their homes

C. developments

D. existing efforts

68. What are Katy Janda's words mainly about?

A. The importance of changing building users' habits.

B. The necessity of making a careful building design.

C. The variety of consumption patterns of building users.

D. The role of technology in improving energy efficiency.

69. The information gap in energy use ________.

A. can be bridged by feedback facilities

B. affects the study on energy monitors

C. brings about problems for smart meters

D. will be caused by building users' old habits

70. What does the dimension added by social science research suggest?

A. The social science research is to be furthered.

B. The education programme is under discussion.

C. The behaviour of building users is unpredictable.

D. The behaviour preference of building users is similar.

【要點(diǎn)綜述】 英國能源研究中心新的研究表明加強(qiáng)對人們的教育對于減少二氧化碳的排放是非常重要的。

66. B　細(xì)節(jié)理解題。文章第一句就提到了在能源使用方面，房子使用者的行為至少和設(shè)計(jì)一樣重要，因此英國能源研究中心新的研究強(qiáng)調(diào)的是房子使用者的行為。

67. D　詞義猜測題。根據(jù)上下文可知這里which指代的就是existing efforts。

68. A　推理判斷題。文章第三段Katy的話強(qiáng)調(diào)的是房子使用者的消耗習(xí)慣所起的重要作用，因此A項(xiàng)正確。

69. A　細(xì)節(jié)理解題。文章第四段的“Feedback(反饋) facilities…could help bridge this information gap by helping people see how changing their behaviour directly affects their energy use…”說明設(shè)施的反饋可以彌補(bǔ)信息差的局限性，因此A是正確答案。

70. C　推理判斷題。文章倒數(shù)第二段提到房子使用者的行為是不可預(yù)測的。