最新四级晨读主题美文100篇 74（在线收听）

解读石油价格(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！在过去的六个月，政客们对石油价格骤升20%束手无策真是可悲。每星期，当司机加油时,总感觉被宰了。AAA估计平均有两部车的家庭一年要消耗1200多加仑汽油，也就是说，每加仑汽油升价50美分就使这个家庭在交税以后，还要多付600美元，这使得中下收入的家庭更加拮据。

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.

在中国，司机都认为这次石油价格骤升不会是短期的。对于亚洲，谁曾想得到印度和中国会成为这么大的消耗国。中国需求去年增长33%，今年还要再增加20%，使得消耗量每天超过600万桶。中国对汽车的需求很快就要激增，当私人汽车增加到2800万时，汽油的消耗也要从十年前的10%增加到这个年代底的估计的40%。在中国和印度能买得起汽车的人以每年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.

那么供应呢?尽管专家在50年前就提出警告,但没人注意.那时,美国是世界最大的石油出产国,出油量比苏联多一半,是一些中东国家有二倍.但事实证明,预言家是正确的.美国在1970年顶端时,每天出产大约1000万桶,而现在至少下降了30%.至于OPEC国家,我们对于他的能源潜力知之甚少。他们的大多数石油来自老的油井，集中在“金三角”地带，在新的油田发现之前，这状况还要持续很多年。沙特阿拉伯半岛能否在现在的每天800万桶水平上提高到2020年的2000万桶还是个问题。同时，政治上的骚乱困扰像委内瑞拉、尼日利亚这样的生产国。

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。

所以能源危机正在迫近，经济战略中心的Matthew Simmons说这个危机是全球性的，因为每年3万亿的能源行业支撑着社会的各个方面。

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.

那我们应该怎样做?我们必须营造一个环境，确保吸引大量的资金以提高每一种能源的生产，如石油，天然气，核能，氢，煤和可再生的能源。汽车生产业已经向我们展示了他们如何提高燃料效率，而我们要必须及时地对汽车，轻卡，越野车，制定一个新的这样的标准。任何进步都必须付出代价，如果我们在耽搁的话，就要付出更大的代价。如果能源政策失败就意味着我们一辈子要富足那个猥琐的酋长，一辈子要浪费钱财和鲜血去保卫中东，而同时我们国民贫穷，经济不前