Petrol prices surge to near three-year high

    WELLINGTON, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Fuel prices are at their highest level in nearly three years in New Zealand on Wednesday after the four main oil companies increased their prices by 3 cents.
    Shell, Caltex, BP and Mobil have raised the price of 91 octane, the most commonly used petrol(汽油), to 2.189 NZ dollars (1.6 U.S. dollars) a liter.
    And while oil companies exempted¹ Christchurch from the March 8 price increase, motorists there have not been spared the latest rise. Prices in Christchurch have gone up by 5 cents a liter, putting 91 octane at 2.159 NZ dollars a liter.
    Diesel² prices were also increased on Tuesday, by 8 cents in Christchurch to 1.60 NZ dollars a liter and by 5 cents a liter to 1.70 NZ dollars in the rest of the country.
    The managing director of monitoring company Fueltrack, Chris Kable, said in the short term prices are likely to keep rising, but once uncertainty³ over issues such as Libya are settled, they are likely to fall rapidly.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 exempted   

使免除[豁免]( exempt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His bad eyesight exempted him from military service. 他因视力不好而免服兵役。
• Her illness exempted her from the examination. 她因病而免试。

2 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

3 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。