四級晨讀主題美文100篇 74
解讀石油價格(Getting real about gas prices)
Woe! Woe to the politician who is perceived to be failing to do something about the soaring price of gasoline, which has jumped about 20 percent in the past six months. AAA estimates the average two-car household will consume more than 1,200 gallons of gasoline a year. That means the 50-cents-a-gallon increase over the past year has families spending an extra $600 of after-tax money each year, squeezing middle- and low-income families the most.
可悲!在過去的六個月，政客們對石油價格驟升20%束手無策真是可悲。每星期，當司機加油時,總感覺被宰了。AAA估計平均有兩部車的家庭一年要消耗1200多加侖汽油，也就是說，每加侖汽油升價50美分就使這個家庭在交稅以后，還要多付600美元，這使得中下收入的家庭更加拮據(jù)。
Chinese drivers. This time nobody is sure that the spike in oil prices will be short-lived.For Asia.,who could have imagined that India and China would become such big consumers? Chinese demand grew by 33 percent last year and by an additional 20 percent this year, pushing consumption to over 6 million barrels a day. China is on the verge of an exploding demand for automobiles. Gasoline consumption will have risen from about 10 percent of China's oil needs 10 years ago to an estimated 40 percent by the end of this decade, when private car ownership is expected to soar to almost 28 million. Those people with incomes high enough to afford autos in India and China are growing by about 12 percent a year. No longer will 80 percent of the world's energy be used by only 20 percent of the world's population.
在中國，司機都認為這次石油價格驟升不會是短期的。對于亞洲，誰曾想得到印度和中國會成為這么大的消耗國。中國需求去年增長33%，今年還要再增加20%，使得消耗量每天超過600萬桶。中國對汽車的需求很快就要激增，當私人汽車增加到2800萬時，汽油的消耗也要從十年前的10%增加到這個年代底的估計的40%。在中國和印度能買得起汽車的人以每年12%增加。世界能源的80%不再是只被20%的人口所使用。
And what about supply? No one is paying attention to the experts' warnings, any more than they did nearly 50 years ago. Back then, the United States was the world's biggest oil producer, pumping more than half as much again as the Soviet Union and twice as much as many Middle Eastern countries. But the Cassandras, as it turned out, were right. U.S. production peaked, in 1970, at about 10 million barrels a day and is now at least 30 percent below that. As for the OPEC countries, we know very little about their potential for new energy sources. Most of their oil comes from a handful of old oil fields, concentrated in a small area called the "golden triangle." It has been years since any significant new fields have been found. Whether Saudi Arabia could step up production from its current level, 8 million barrels a day, to 20 million barrels a day by 2020 is questionable. Political turmoil, meanwhile, besets producers like Venezuela and Nigeria.
那么供應呢?盡管專家在50年前就提出警告,但沒人注意.那時,美國是世界最大的石油出產國,出油量比蘇聯(lián)多一半,是一些中東國家有二倍.但事實證明,預言家是正確的.美國在1970年頂端時,每天出產大約1000萬桶,而現(xiàn)在至少下降了30%.至于OPEC國家,我們對于他的能源潛力知之甚少。他們的大多數(shù)石油來自老的油井，集中在“金三角”地帶，在新的油田發(fā)現(xiàn)之前，這狀況還要持續(xù)很多年。沙特阿拉伯半島能否在現(xiàn)在的每天800萬桶水平上提高到2020年的2000萬桶還是個問題。同時，政治上的騷亂困擾像委內瑞拉、尼日利亞這樣的生產國。
So a crisis looms. Matthew Simmons of Strategic Economic Decisions says that the crisis will be global because the $3 trillion-a-year energy industry underpins every aspect of society。
所以能源危機正在迫近，經濟戰(zhàn)略中心的Matthew Simmons說這個危機是全球性的，因為每年3萬億的能源行業(yè)支撐著社會的各個方面。
What to do? We must provide an environment certain to attract the huge capital investment necessary to enhance and improve production of every energy resource--oil, gas, nuclear, hydro, coal, and renewables. The auto industry has shown how it can improve fuel efficiency, so we must work out a timely updating of such standards for cars, light trucks, and SUVs。No progress will be possible, however, without sacrifice. We will pay more dearly ,if we procrastinate. Failure to develop an energy policy means we can look forward to a lifetime of enriching the obscene sheiks, of wasting treasure and blood to defend the Middle East while impoverishing ordinary Americans and hobbling our economy.
那我們應該怎樣做?我們必須營造一個環(huán)境，確保吸引大量的資金以提高每一種能源的生產，如石油，天然氣，核能，氫，煤和可再生的能源。汽車生產業(yè)已經向我們展示了他們如何提高燃料效率，而我們要必須及時地對汽車，輕卡，越野車，制定一個新的這樣的標準。任何進步都必須付出代價，如果我們在耽擱的話，就要付出更大的代價。如果能源政策失敗就意味著我們一輩子要富足那個猥瑣的酋長，一輩子要浪費錢財和鮮血去保衛(wèi)中東，而同時我們國民貧窮，經濟不前
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