首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Last week oil prices finally stopped rising. They now hover around $43 a barrel, a 20-year high. The average American family w
Last week oil prices finally stopped rising. They now hover around $43 a barrel, a 20-year high. The average American family w
admin
2021-10-13
105
问题
Last week oil prices finally stopped rising. They now hover around $43 a barrel, a 20-year high. The average American family will spend about $2,700 on gasoline this year (driving 22,000 miles). That’s twice as much as it spent on gas two years ago. These prices are having a predictable consequence. The consumer price index has risen by 4.9 percent to date, versus 1.9 percent last year. And last week President Bush’s economic adviser, Gregory Mankiw, acknowledged that a $10 rise in the price of oil probably translates into a half-percentage-point drag on economic growth. For countries like Japan, China and India, the effect is even greater. How did this happen? And can Washington—or anybody—do much about it?
The answer that flashed on our television screens is instability in the Middle East. Pipeline explosions in Iraq, tensions with Iran and terror attacks in Saudi Arabia all contribute to what analysts call the "security premium" on the price of oil. But that premium might be exaggerated. Oil prices are rising for broader, structural reasons. The world may have to get used to expensive oil.
The largest ingredient in current oil prices has been a massive increase in demand. This year’s growth is double what it has been for the past six years (on average). That’s because the United States is in recovery, Japan’s economy is finally back and Asia—particularly China and India—is growing fast. In fact, this year is likely to have the strongest global growth on record in three decades—unless oil prices choke it off.
While demand is up, supply can’t rise much. For a variety of reasons, almost no oil-producing country has "surplus capacity"—the ability to put substantially more oil into tile market. Oil companies have been slow to increase investments in production, and these expenditures take a few years to bear fruit. "Right now oil markets are tighter than they were on the eve of the 1973 oil shocks. And they will stay tight for the next two years. That makes the geopolitics of oil crucial," says Daniel Yergin, the chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates.
If there is trouble anywhere, it will probably cause an oil shock. And think of the possibilities—instability in Venezuela, Nigeria, Indonesia, Libya, Saudi Arabia or, of course, Iraq. Last year the markets could absorb the loss of Iraqi oil (during the war). This year they can’t. Iraq has to stay online. And all these other countries have to stay stable.
There is only one country with significant surplus capacity—Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has increased its production repeatedly over the past two years, or else prices would be higher still than they are. And the Saudis are making investments that will increase their surplus capacity by the end of the year. In a tight oil market, Saudi Arabia is the pivotal player.
Consider the irony. One of the Bush administrations (privately stated) reasons for going to war in Iraq was to reduce our dependence on Saudi Arabia’s oil power. It was a reasonable idea. But having botched the occupation, with Iraqi oil more insecure now than before the war, America is today more dependent on Saudi Arabia than ever before. Fortunately the Saudi regime has proved a responsible and reliable player, in this realm. "The Saudis are the central bankers of the world of oil. And they take that role seriously," says Yergin.
What to do about this new reality? George Bush proposes to increase U. S. production in Alaska. John Kerry calls for increased conservation. Bush is correct to argue that some increase in American production is important. In 1973, the United States imported one third of its oil from abroad. Today it imports two thirds. And exploration does not have to be ecologically devastating. Even if the major oilfields that are assumed to exist there were discovered in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, only a few thousand acres of the 19 million-acre refuge would be affected.
But the more lasting solution to America’s oil problem has to come from energy efficiency. American demand is the gorilla fueling high oil prices—more than instability or the rise of China or anything else. Between 1990 and 2000, the global trade in oil increased by 9.5 billion barrels. Half of that was accounted for the rise in U. S. imports.
America is consuming more because it is growing more—but also because over the past two decades, it has become much less efficient in its use of gasoline, the only major industrial country to slide backward. The reason is simple: three letters—SUV. In 1990 sport utility vehicles made up 5 percent of America’s cars. Today they make up 55 percent. They violate all energy-efficiency standards because of an absurd loophole in the law that allows them to be classified as trucks.
Bashing the Saudis is easy these days. Controlling our own wastefulness is more difficult. But making no mistake as to which one will make a difference.
The following might be the solutions to America’s oil problem except________.
选项
A、to criticize the Saudis for raising oil prices.
B、to increase conservation.
C、to increase energy efficiency.
D、to increase US production in Alaska.
答案
A
解析
本题考查对文章最后四段的理解。选项B、C和D都被提及,但作者认为A并不能解决美国的石油问题,故为正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/8vIK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
A、Driverslosetheircoolandchangelanescarelessly.B、Driverslocktheirvehicleandrefusetoleavethehighways.C、Drivers
StudyActivitiesinUniversityInordertohelpcollegeanduniversitystudentsintheprocessoflearning,fourkeystudyac
StudyActivitiesinUniversityInordertohelpcollegeanduniversitystudentsintheprocessoflearning,fourkeystudyac
ThingstobeTaughtinEverySchoolI.Introduction:Importanceofstudents’abilitytodealwiththerealworld.A.Speaker’so
PASSAGETHREEWhydoesTNTprovideemergencyhelpandknowledgetransfer?
A、Mr.Simpson’sspeeding.B、Thetwopedestriansatthejunction.C、Theotherdriver’sdrunkdriving.D、Mr.Simpson’sdrunkdrivi
NoEnglishmanbelievesinworkingfrombooklearning.Hesuspectseverythingnew,anddislikesit,unlesshecanbecompelledb
NoEnglishmanbelievesinworkingfrombooklearning.Hesuspectseverythingnew,anddislikesit,unlesshecanbecompelledb
NoEnglishmanbelievesinworkingfrombooklearning.Hesuspectseverythingnew,anddislikesit,unlesshecanbecompelledb
NoEnglishmanbelievesinworkingfrombooklearning.Hesuspectseverythingnew,anddislikesit,unlesshecanbecompelledb
随机试题
下列哪些肾脏疾病可发生肾小球毛细血管基底膜呈双轨状
心电图示PR间期固定,且大于0.21秒,无QRS波群脱落,最可能的诊断是
依据纽曼模式,第三级预防保健护理的重点是()。
6岁小儿,胸骨左缘第2肋间有2~3级收缩期杂音,肺动脉瓣区第2心音亢进,固定分裂,心电图示电轴右偏及不完全性右束支传导阻滞。心脏杂音产生的机制是
一患者能被叫醒,醒后能简单回答问题及勉强配合检查,停止刺激又入睡。此种意识障碍程度属于
患者男性,52岁。农民,既往体健,3个月前开始咳嗽,咯少量白色泡沫痰,偶有痰中带血,近2周来咳嗽剧烈,伴有气促声嘶。查体:消瘦,左上肺呼吸音减低,心(-),血沉60mm/小时,痰找结核菌3次(-),癌细胞1次(-)。最可能诊断
下列为护士对执业药师的用药咨询是()。
下列心理学派与其代表人物,正确匹配的是
HehasneverbeentoParis,________?
Therestood,facingtheopenwindow,acomfortable,roomyarmchair.Intothisshesank,presseddownbyaphysicalexhaustionth
最新回复
(
0
)