Skyscrapers and Environment
In the late 1960's，many people in North America turned their attention to environmental problems，and new steel-and-glass skyscrapers were widely criticized. Ecologists pointed out that a cluster of tall buildings in a city often overburdens public transportation and parking lot capacities.
Skyscrapers are also lavish consumers，and wasters，of electric power. In one recent year，the addition of 17 million square feet of skyscraper office space in New York City raised the peak daily demand for electricity by 120，000 kilowatts-enough to supply the entire city of Albany，New York，for a day.
Class-walled skyscrapers can be especially wasteful. The heat loss（or gain）through a wall of half-inch plate glass is more than ten times that through a typical masonry wall（砌筑墙）filled with insulation board（隔热板）.To lessen the strain on heating and air-conditioning equipment，builders of skyscrapers have begun to use double-glazed panels of glass，and reflective glasses coated with silver or gold mirror films that reduce glare as well as heat gain. However，mirror-walled skyscrapers raise the temperature of the surrounding air and affect neighboring buildings.
S②xorld Trade Center towers in New York City would alone generate 2.25 million gallons of raw sewage each year-as much as a city the size of Stanford，Connecticut，which has a population of more than 109，000.
【第15题】Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A、 Skyscrapers provide more usable space than other buildings.
B、 The skyscrapers first appeared in the late 1960's.
C、 Where there are skyscrapers, television reception is poor.
D、 The two World Trade Center towers are skyscrapers.
【正确答案】：D
【题目解析】：文中最后一段在说到摩天大楼给城市的卫生设备系统也造成了巨大的压力时，列举了世贸中心双塔，由此可以看出，世贸中心双塔属于摩天大楼，故选D。而A、B、C所述内容，文章均未提及。
