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四级词汇练习：Is there enough oil
Is there enough oil beneath the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to help secure America’s energy future ? President Bush certainly thinks so. He has argued that tapping ANWR’s oil would help ease California’s electricity crisis and provide a major boost to the country’s energy independence. But no one knows for sure how much crude oil lies buried beneath the frozen earth. With the last government survey, conducted in 1998, projecting output anywhere from 3 billion to 16 billion barrels.
The oil industry goes with the high end of the range, which could equal as much as 10% of U.S. consumption for as long as six years. By pumping more than 1 million barrels a day from the reserve for the next two three decades, lobbyists claim, the nation could cut back on imports equivalent to all shipments to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia. Sounds good. An oil boom would also mean a multibillion?dollar windfall in tax revenues, royalties and leasing fees for Alaska and the Federal Government. Best of all, advocates of drilling say, damage to the environment would be insignificant. “We’ve never had a document case of oil rig chasing deer out onto the pack ice.” says Alaska State Representative Scott Ogan.
Not so far, say environmentalists. Sticking to the low end of government estimates, the National Resources Defense Council says there may be no more than 3.2 billion barrels of economically recoverable oil in the coastal plain of ANWR, a drop in the bucket that would do virtually nothing to ease America’s energy problems.
在北极国家野生动物保护区(ANWR)的土地下是否有足够的石油来确保美国未来的能源安全？布什总统认为肯定有。他声称北极国家野生动物保护区(ANWR)的石油将有助于缓解加州的电力危机并能减少美国对国外石油的依赖。但几乎没人知道在这块冰封的土地下究竟有多少原油。据1998年政府所做的 最新查勘，那里有30亿到160亿桶原油储量。
石油业也随声附和政府报告的乐观看法，他们认为这些石油可以供给美国六年中所需石油总量的10%。游说者们宣称，如果每天在保护区内开采一百万桶原油，美国就可减少从沙特阿拉伯进口同样数量的石油。听起来还不错吧！石油业的突然繁荣意味着数十亿美元税收和开采费用，同时阿拉斯加和联邦政府也可得到数额庞大的租金。钻井取油的倡议者认为，钻探并不会给当地生态环境造成严重的影响。来自阿拉斯加州的众议员斯科特·奥冈就说：“我们从未听说输油管能将驯鹿逐出其栖息地。”
环保主义者却认为，事实并非如此。他们对政府的评估报告持不同意见。国家能源安全委员会认为，在国家野生动物保护区(ANWR)海岸边的平原上最多只有32亿桶经济上可开发的原油。这根本无法缓解美国所面临的能源问题。 And consumers would wait up to a decade to gain any benefits, because drilling could begin only after much bargaining over leases, environmental permits and regulatory review. As for ANWR’s impact on the California power crisis, environmentalists point out that oil is responsible for only 1% of the Golden State’s electricity output — and just 3% of the nation’s.【2005年6月】
而且，消费者要等上十年才能用上产自那里的石油。因为，须得经过多轮有关租金的讨价还价及环境勘测和法定审查后才能钻井取油。针对北极国家野生动物保护区(ANWR)的石油能否缓解加州的能源危机这一说法，环保主义者指出，北极国家野生动物保护区(ANWR)的石油仅能为加利福尼亚州供应其所需电力的1%；就对全美国而言，这一数字也仅为3%。
1. What does President Bush think of tapping oil in ANWR ?
A)It will exhaust the nation’s oil reserves.
B)It will help secure the future of ANWR.
C)It will help reduce the nation’s oil imports.
D)It will increase America’s energy consumption.
2. We learn from the second paragraph that the American oil industry.
A)believes that drilling for oil in ANWR will produce high yields
B)tends to exaggerate America’s reliance on foreign oil
C)shows little interest in tapping oil in ANWR
D)expects to stop oil imports from Saudi Arabia
3. Those against oil drilling in ANWR argue that.
A)it can cause serious damage to the environment
B)it can do little to solve U.S. energy problems
C)it will drain the oil reserves in the Alaskan region
D)it will not have much commercial value
4. What do the environmentalists mean by saying “Not so fast” (Line 1, Para.3)?
A)Oil exploitation takes a long time.
B)The oil drilling should be delayed.
C)Don’t be too optimistic.
D)Don’t expect fast returns.
5. It can be learned from the passage that oil exploitation beneath ANWR’s frozen earth.
A)remains a controversial issue
B)is expected to get under way soon
C)involves a lot of technological problems
D)will enable the U.S. to be oil independent
n. 避难(处), 庇护(所)
v. 庇护，避
