2006年VOA标准英语-Nigerian Villagers Continue Protest at Oil Faci

By Gilbert da Costa
Abuja
28 October 2006

In Nigeria, hundreds of villagers are occupying four oil pumping stations in the troubled Niger Delta¹. The protesters insist on written commitments by Shell oil company to supply jobs to the local population.  The occupation is compounding the crisis in Nigeria's oil industry.

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		An unidentified Nigerian youth sells black market fuel after angry villagers took over Shell oil platforms

The invasion has reduced Nigeria's daily oil output by more than 100,000 barrels, in addition to 500,000 barrels lost since February, when militants² increased their attacks on oil facilities in the region.
 
The angry villagers say Shell oil company has failed to honor previous agreements, and are demanding written and firm commitments to contracts that would have villagers supply food and speed boats to the oil platforms.
 
Shell owns three of the platforms, while one belongs to Chevron³.
 
The island community of Kula says the oil companies have also failed to employ locals in the oil industry operations, in contravention of a global memorandum⁴ of understanding between the companies and the community.
 
Despite an agreement for the villages to end their occupation, Dan Opusingi, spokesman for the group, says the siege will continue until their demands are met, including suspension of speedboats being supplied by outside contractors⁵.

"We will not open that place, until they give us those contracts, or they hand over those contracts," he said.  "Or in the alternative, they should tell those boats to leave, while they look into this matter. Those outside contractors, they [the company officials] should tell them [outside contractors supplying boats] to take their boats, and go away, while they look into the matter, so that full operation can come up. Those are the two alternatives."

Violence in the delta has been on the rise, and analysts⁶ expect the situation to worsen in the lead-up to general elections next year.
 
Shell officials say some of the facilities on the platforms may have been vandalized by the angry villagers. 
 
Peter Esele, national president of Nigeria's main oil workers' union, Petroleum⁷ and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association, says he expects the siege to be lifted without violence.

"It rarely goes out of hand, where you now have arms and ammunition⁸," he said.  "No, they hardly come with arms and ammunition. What they do is that they come in numbers and close the place. And the first thing in safety is that Shell has to go ahead and evacuate⁹ our members. And then government intervenes, they talk, and then in another one or two weeks, they start seeing if Shell will implement¹⁰ what has been agreed."

Despite being the source of Nigeria's huge oil resources, the inhabitants of the southern oil region remain among the most impoverished¹¹ in the country.
 
Armed militia¹² groups have intensified¹³ attacks on oil facilities and abducted¹⁴ foreign oil workers as hostages, either for ransom¹⁵, or to back demands for more local control of the oil wealth.

1 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

2 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

3 chevron   

n.V形臂章；V形图案

参考例句：

• He wore shoulderstrap rank slides with sergeant's chevrons.他佩戴标示级别的肩章，上面有中士的V形标志。
• The chevron or arrow road sign indicates a sharp bend to the left or right.V形或箭头路标表示有向左或向右的急转弯。

4 memorandum   

n.备忘录，便笺

参考例句：

• The memorandum was dated 23 August,2008.备忘录上注明的日期是2008年8月23日。
• The Secretary notes down the date of the meeting in her memorandum book.秘书把会议日期都写在记事本上。

5 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

7 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

8 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

9 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

10 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

11 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

13 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

15 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。