2006年VOA标准英语-Oil Prices Jump Oil Following Nigerian Reb

By George Dwyer
Washington, DC
22 February 2006
 
watch Nigerian Oil report 

Militants² in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger River Delta³ claim to have struck again. Only days after kidnapping a group of foreign oil workers, it now appears they have sabotaged⁴ a key production facility, reducing oil exports from Nigeria, and making oil traders nervous.

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Nigerian oil platform attacked by rebels   
  

The most recent violence has caused oil production in Nigeria, one of the worlds top-10 oil producing nations, to drop by 20 percent.  Oil installations belonging to Royal Dutch Shell have been attacked by a militant¹ group. As a result, global prices have risen by about a dollar and a half per barrel. Nigeria supplies 2.8 percent of the world's oil.

The attack comes just days after nine oil workers employed by a U.S.-based oil services firm were taken hostage by militants claiming to belong to the same group, called M-E-N-D.

The Niger River Delta has been wracked with violent ethnic⁵ clashes in recent years, with armed groups seeking a greater share of the region's oil and demanding reparations from overseas oil companies for environmental pollution. Continued conflict in the region would likely lead to even higher world oil prices.

1 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

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 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。

4 sabotaged   

阴谋破坏（某事物）( sabotage的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The main pipeline supplying water was sabotaged by rebels. 供水主管道被叛乱分子蓄意破坏了。
• They had no competition because competitors found their trucks burned and sabotaged. 他们之所以没有竞争对象，那是因为竞争对象老是发现自己的卡车遭火烧或被破坏。 来自教父部分

5 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。