VOA标准英语2013--Syrian Rebels Eye EU Oil Trade

 

Syrian Rebels Eye EU Oil Trade

In his backyard north of the city of Idlib, Ahmed Abu Taleb and his friend use handpumps to transfer a barrel of crude oil into a tank.

A fire burns in a pit dug below the tank. Then drip by drip, through a simple system of pipes, the distilled¹ products - fuel oil and diesel² - empty into lined trenches³ nearby.

Few of the workers are trained. No one wears protective gear, and the fires burn next to tanks full of fuel. Abu Taleb said the risks are worth it. In 24 hours, he extracts nine barrels of fuel.

Taleb said he gets the crude oil from the freed areas, or from oil wells freed by the Free Syrian Army. He says it's used to provide gasoline to areas that need it. The makeshift gas stations, he said, provide a lifeline for local residents who struggle to heat their homes.

As the Syrian civil war has intensified⁴, U.S. data indicates that oil production in the country more than halved⁵ between 2011 and 2012. That’s mainly due to EU sanctions, said David Butter of London-based policy institute Chatham House.

“The sanctions actually did stop production because foreign operators pulled out. Also the Syrian government didn’t really have anywhere to put the oil, it had limited capacity to put the oil through their refineries⁶," Butter explained. "And limited storage capacity when their export options were cut off.”

In recent days, EU ministers lifted the embargo⁷ on oil coming from areas of Syria held by the opposition⁸.

The EU’s foreign policy chief is Catherine Ashton. “Three types of transactions will now be possible: imports of oil and petroleum⁹ products, exports of key equipment and technology for the oil and gas industry and investments in the Syrian oil industry,” she said.

But David Butter of Chatham House says it will be a long time before the EU starts buying oil from the opposition. “Most of the oil is under the control of various other groups. Most notorious of course is Jabhat al-Nusra which has an al-Qaida connection, and many other groups. So there’s no sense that they are centrally controlled by an opposition body with which companies in the EU could actually do business with,” he added.

Syria has denounced the EU’s decision. Before the uprising, the IMF estimates oil exports accounted for a quarter of government revenue.

Abeed Mayaleh, governor of Syria's Central Bank, said he does not understand how the European Union can give what he calls armed terrorist groups the right to export oil to Europe. This is money laundering¹⁰, he said. This is stolen money and these are stolen goods.

As Syria's economy continues to suffer, primitive¹¹ refineries are springing up in backyards across the country: a dangerous business but a way to survive amid the conflict.

1 distilled   

adj.由蒸馏得来的v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )；从…提取精华

参考例句：

• The televised interview was distilled from 16 hours of film. 那次电视采访是从16个小时的影片中选出的精华。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Gasoline is distilled from crude oil. 汽油是从原油中提炼出来的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 trenches   

深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕

参考例句：

• life in the trenches 第一次世界大战期间的战壕生活
• The troops stormed the enemy's trenches and fanned out across the fields. 部队猛攻敌人的战壕，并在田野上呈扇形散开。

4 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》

5 halved   

v.把…分成两半( halve的过去式和过去分词 )；把…减半；对分；平摊

参考例句：

• The shares have halved in value . 股价已经跌了一半。
• Overall operating profits halved to $24 million. 总的营业利润减少了一半，降至2，400 万元。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 refineries   

精炼厂( refinery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
• Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。

7 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。

8 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

9 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。

10 laundering   

n.洗涤（衣等），洗烫（衣等）；洗（钱）v.洗（衣服等），洗烫（衣服等）( launder的现在分词 )；洗（黑钱）（把非法收入改头换面，变为貌似合法的收入）

参考例句：

• Separate the white clothes from the dark clothes before laundering. 洗衣前应当把浅色衣服和深色衣服分开。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was charged with laundering money. 他被指控洗钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。