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Standard’s grip on what was rapidly becoming a global market triggered a response from European colonial powers, which saw the dangers of becoming reliant on imports from America or Russia.
标准石油公司对这个迅速发展为全球市场的行业的掌控，让欧洲殖民列强们看到了依赖美国或俄罗斯进口石油的危险。
With no less violence or ruthlessness than their American counterparts, they set about exploiting existing and newly acquired colonies to correct the imbalance.
他们的暴力和残忍程度不亚于美洲的殖民列强，他们开始利用现有的和新获得的殖民地来修正这种失衡。
The British turned to the Indian subcontinent and then to Persia, the Dutch to the East Indies.
英国人转为前往印度次大陆殖民，随后又转向波斯，而荷兰人则去往了东印度群岛。
The most intense competition was between Standard, as it sought concessions in the Far East, and the emerging behemoth, Royal Dutch Shell.
在远东寻求特许权的标准石油公司和新兴巨头荷兰皇家壳牌集团之间的竞争最为激烈。
Nowhere was the pursuit of oil bloodier than in Aceh at the northern tip of Sumatra.
在苏门答腊岛北端的亚齐，人们对石油的追求最为血腥。
In 1896 Dutch forces were sent to open up the area for exploitation through “merciless chastisement” of the local population.
1896年，荷兰军队被派往该地区，通过“无情地惩罚”当地居民来开发该地区，进而进行剥削。
Atrocities in Aceh became routine.
从此，暴行在亚齐成了常事。
Over the next 40 years up to 100,000 Acehnese would be slaughtered for the sake of oil.
在之后的40年里，可能有多达10万名亚齐人因石油而遭到屠杀。
Hendrikus Colijn, an officer with a well-earned reputation for brutality, described his approach to his work in a letter home to his wife:
亨德里库斯·科莱恩是一名以残暴著称的军官，他在写给妻子的一封家信中描述了自己对工作的态度：
I saw a woman, with a child about half a year old in her left arm and a long lance in her right hand, charging towards us.
我看见一个女人，她左手抱着一个大约六个月大的孩子，右手拿着一支长矛，向我们冲了过来。
One of our bullets killed both mother and child.
我们的一颗子弹夺去了这对母子的两条性命。
From then on we could grant no more mercy.
从那时起，我们再也不能仁慈了。
I had to gather together 9 women and 3 children, who were begging for mercy, and they were all shot.
我不得不把乞求宽恕的9名妇女和3名儿童聚集在一起，然后将其全部枪杀。
It was unpleasant work, but there was no alternative.
这份工作令人不快，但我别无选择。
These horrors did not harm Colijn’s career.
这些不愉快的经历并没有对科莱恩的职业生涯造成损害。
He became head of Royal Dutch Shell and prime minister of the Netherlands.
他后来成为了荷兰皇家壳牌集团的负责人和荷兰首相。
By the beginning of the 20th century, with both the refinement of the internal-combustion engine and the realisation by the navies of the great powers that their ships could go farther and faster with boilers fuelled by oil rather than coal, reliable access to oil in times of war became a major security concern.
到了20世纪初，随着内燃机的改进，再加上大国海军意识到，用石油而不是煤炭作为锅炉燃料的话，他们的船只可以走得更远、更快，在战争时期获取石油的可靠渠道成为了一个重大安全问题。
Mr Fisher writes especially well about the maniacal drive of Admiral “Jackie” Fisher (no relation) to shift the Royal Navy from coal to oil propulsion with the backing of Winston Churchill, at the time the First Lord of the Admiralty.
海军上将杰基·费舍尔(与基思·费舍尔没有亲戚关系)在时任海军大臣温斯顿·丘吉尔的支持下，将皇家海军的战舰燃料由煤炭改为了石油，费舍尔对杰基·费舍尔这样做时的狂热干劲描写得尤其好。
To ensure that the great Dreadnought battleships could still rule the waves, in 1914 the House of Commons voted overwhelmingly for the “socialist” solution of nationalising the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (which would later become BP).
1914年，为了确保大型无畏战舰仍能驾驭海浪，英国下议院以压倒性多数投票支持“社会主义”解决方案，将英波石油公司(即后来的英国石油公司)国有化。
It was in the nick of time.
当时正是关键时刻。
A few weeks later Archduke Franz Ferdinand was killed in Sarajevo.
几周后，弗朗茨·斐迪南大公在萨拉热窝遇害。
More than a century on, and despite faltering attempts to stall climate change through decarbonisation, the war in Ukraine is a reminder of the world’s continuing dependence on oil.
一个多世纪过去了，尽管通过脱碳来延缓气候变化的努力步履蹒跚，但乌克兰战争提醒人们，世界仍然在依赖石油。
This book has its faults.
这本书有缺点。
At times the narrative is overloaded with detail, and the author seems reluctant to flesh out the many extraordinary (and rapacious) characters who populate the story of oil.
叙述细节有时过多，而且对于石油故事中许多非同寻常(和贪婪)的人物，作者似乎不愿充实他们的形象。
But it is nevertheless a compelling read, crammed with eyewitness accounts, and an immensely valuable guide to a great and terrible industry.
但它仍然是一本引人入胜的读物，书中满是对过往的描述，它也是一本非常有价值的指南，引领我们了解这个伟大而又可怕的行业。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
