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Less use of air conditioners would be better for us all A strict no-air-conditioning ban was enforced for 87,000 Taiwanese students taking the college entrance examinations this month despite temperatures in many areas reaching 34 to 36 degrees Celsius. Although this long-term practice is being promoted as a pragmatic means to ensure fairness, since air conditioning is not available at all exam locations, rather than for environmental reasons, it nevertheless offers a good opportunity for the country to reconsider its addiction to air conditioning. If students can manage without A/C in the heat of examinations, could not the rest of the population go cold turkey once in a while? If not 'Off,' then 'Down,' since air conditioners consume energy and contribute to climate change in proportion to each degree they are set below ambient temperature. Vehicle A/C systems can be a cause of sinusitis in some people, while poorly maintained air conditioning may lead to the proliferation of micro-organisms such as Legionella pneumophila, the cause of Legionnaires' disease. The problem with new high-tech machines is that they present a sizable contribution to man-made climate change. Cooling agents such as CFCs and their modern replacements are greenhouse gases with far more global-warming potential than carbon dioxide should they leak into the atmosphere. It is everyone's responsibility to minimize his or her own contribution to the problem.

ban (n.) 禁令；禁止 The government has placed a ban on smoking in public places.

pragmatic (adj.) 務實的；實用的 Your proposal was intriguing, but not very pragmatic.

addiction (n.) 成癮；入迷 Jim dropped out of school due to his addiction to online video games.

proportion (n.) 比例；比率 What is the proportion of boys to girls in this class?

ambient (adj.) 週遭的；環繞的 The ice cubes are melting because they are colder than the ambient room temperature.

proliferation (n.) （生物）增殖；激增 Our government must take action against the recent proliferation of violent crime.

replacement (n.) 取代；代替 Racecar teams make sure they have plenty of replacement parts on hand when they are racing at a track.

to go cold turkey 戒除壞習慣 After seeing how yellow the walls got from his years of smoking, my father quit cold turkey.

high-tech 高科技的 A decade ago, cell phones were considered high-tech gadgets.

global-warming 全球暖化的 Do people who live in cold climates consider global-warming a bad thing?