THE、NORSE、IN NORTHAMERICA
1The Norse made the first documentedEuropean voyages to NorthAmerica, and there is evidence of these visits in the medieval sagas, a collection of stories that tell the history of the Icelandic people．The Icelandic sagas relate how the Norse captain LeifEriksson and his brother Thorvald were blown off course during a voyage from Norway to Greenland and landed to the west of Greenland, and also describe Thorfinn Karlsefni’s attempt to colonize a place called VinlanD、The sagas are a valuable source of details about these early voyages; however, historians have long expressed skepticism about their accuracy．
2Norsemen ventured far from their homeland in Scandinavia to found settlements on the Greenland coast．One of them, the traderBjarni Herjolfsson, was blown off course and subsequently discovered a wooded coastline, almost certainly that of NewfoundlanD、A1though Herjolfsson did not go ashore, this discovery made him the firstEuropean to set eyes on the continent of NorthAmericA、
3Herjolfsson’s account encouraged LeifEriksson to undertake a southward voyage of exploration, starting around the year 1000．In the course of his travels,Eriksson landed in a place he called Stoneland, which was probably the rocky, barren Labrador coast of NorthAmericA、Eriksson’s party finally landed in Vinland, where they spent a winter in rough Viking huts in a seemingly frost—free land of abundant vines and wild grapes．They established the firstEuropean colony in NorthAmerica at Vinland, the precise location of which remains a subject of scholarly dispute to this day．The Norsemen returned home in the spring，abandoning the rude settlement that, a few years later, would serve as home base for Thorfinn Karlsefni of GreenlanD、
4 Around 1004, the expedition led by Thorfinn Karlsefni set off southward, evidently with a longer stay in mind, as women and cattle accompanied the sailors．Karlsefni and his party passed two years in Vinland, exploring the coast and fighting the local aboriginal tribes, whom they called "skrelings." Thorfinn Karlsefni was killed in a bloody encounter with a native group．and continued threats from hostile tribes may have thwarted the Norse attempt at colonization．For some reason, they departed their settlement at Vinland, although Greenlanders continued to make occasional visits there in later years, using it as a fishing camp．
5Until the twentieth century, the Icelandic sagas were the primary source of information about the Norse exploration of NorthAmericA、They served as inspiration for Norwegian explorer and writer Helge Ingstad, who in the early 1960s traveled the coasts of eastern NorthAmerica searching for evidence of VinlanD、Encouraged by an alternative interpretation of"vin"as meaning"meadow"rather than vine or wine, he discovered a grassy site on the northern tio of Newfoundland that local people had believed was an aboriginal site haunted by ancient ghosts．There, Ingstad excavated the remains of eight sod huts, together with artifacts of Norse origin such as a bronze pin and sewing tools．He concluded that the grassland called L’Anse aux Meadows was, if not Vinland, then certainly a Norse settlement of some kinD、
6Huddled for protection from the wind, the cluster of sod—built structures at L’Anse aux Meadows was no temporary camp．Sod walls and sod roofs built over a timber frame indicated dwellings that were substantial enough for permanent occupation．The eight huts included three long．narrow buildings with features similar to those found in Norse structures in Greenland and IcelanD、Other smaller buildings, probably used for storage and workshops, included a forge that used iron ore extracted from peat bogs—evidence of the first iron working in NorthAmericA、
Glossary：
sod：soil held together by the roots of grass
Which sen

Green Power
You’ve insulated the attic, installed triple-glazed windows, and bought high-efficiency appliances.Can you make your home any more eco-friendly For an increasing number ofAmericans, the answer is yes. You can let nature help cut your utility bill. It may be as simple as replacing outdoor lights with solar-powered fixtures or signing up for your utility’s "green power" program. Thanks to rapid improving technology and government subsidies, thousands ofAmericans living in remote locations are finding it can be cheaper to use the sun and wind than fossil fuels.
However, don’t cut your ties to the local utility just yet.
A、[■] While renewable energy won’t replace coal and natural gas soon (or ever, critics contend), consumers have more choices in their energy mix than ever before.
B、[■]And they’re not at all whole-bran environmentalists: Roldan Montalvo runs a gas station here in Hebbronville, Texas.
C、[■]But when he wanted to bring electricity to his cabin eight miles out of town, he went solar. The reason was simple. The utility company wanted $100000 to extend its electric line to his cabin.
D、[■] Mr. Montalvo paid less than $8000 for his solar system, "It’s all right so far," he says, looking up at the three solar panels that run a few lights, a fan, and a TV inside. "I can run power tools."
Others, of course, take a more enthusiastic line. "There is a new focus on renewable." says Thomas White, chairman and chief executive ofEnron RenewableEnergyCorporation, which has completed the world’s largest wind farm in MinnesotA、"My feeling is that we are at the point in time where the personal computer was in the late 70s," adds Mac Moore,Director ofBusinessDevelopment forBP Solar, one of the largest manufacturers and marketers of solar electric systems in the worlD、"Over the next 10 years, if things go well, there’s going to be a revolutionary change in the way that we obtain power."
Wind power represents an even more compelling argument for remote homeowners. Turbines have become so much more efficient over the past decades that homeowners a quarter mile from a utility line may find it cheaper to put up a wind turbine than to pay the utility to extend its service.But for most consumers, barriers remain. For one thing, renewable energy systems are expensive to install and require more than a decade before consumers see a payback.
Even a good deal on solar panels in a high-sun area would still cost a typical homeowner 30 cents a kilowatt hour, explains theCEO of Strategy Unlimited, a technology-research firm in Mountain View,Calif. That’s far above the 6 to 15 cents thatAmericans typically pay their local utility, he adds. Small-scale wind turbines are much more competitive—anywhere from 8 to 15 cents a kilowatt-hour, says MikeBergey, President ofBergey Windpower in Norman, OklahomA、But they still require a $30000 to $35000 investment up front and it would take most homeowners 15 to 20 years before they’d see any payback.
There are other drawbacks. Since these systems only produce energy intermittently, there’s no guarantee homeowners can store enough energy to run their homes when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. Then there’s aesthetics. Will the neighbor accept those solar panels on your roofDo you want a 100-foot-high wind turbine humming in your backyard like a muffled helicopter That’s why companies likeBergey Windpower are targeting rural residents in the United States—especially those in states such asCalifornia, where the government will pay up to half the cost of installing renewable-energy systems. The word insulate in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.A．separate
B．decorate
C．install
D．expand

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