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
61
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.
What can be inferred from the passage?
选项
A、The oil price will fall when peace is restored in the Middle East.
B、The oil price is unlikely to fall down.
C、Increased production in Alaska will help the oil price down.
D、The oil price would not rise if America did not go to war in Iraq.
答案
B
解析
作者认为造成油价上涨的主要原因不是中东地区的不安定局势,而是需求量的增加,尤其是法律将SUV划为卡车。法律是不能轻易被改变的,由此判断,今后的石油价格不太可能降下来。故选项B为正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/AvIK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
CulturalDifferencesbetweenEastandWestI.FactorsleadingtotheculturaldifferencesA.Differentculture【T1】______【T1】_
CulturalDifferencesbetweenEastandWestI.FactorsleadingtotheculturaldifferencesA.Differentculture【T1】______【T1】_
CharacteristicsqfAmericanCultureI.PunctualityA.Goingtothetheater:be【T1】______twentyminutesprior【T1】______B.
ThingstobeTaughtinEverySchoolI.Introduction:Importanceofstudents’abilitytodealwiththerealworld.A.Speaker’so
NoEnglishmanbelievesinworkingfrombooklearning.Hesuspectseverythingnew,anddislikesit,unlesshecanbecompelledb
"Second-generationrich",orfuerdai,hasbecomeanewdubforthegenerationofpeoplewhoinheritedfamilywealthinoneway
(1)Iwastakenbyafriendoneafternoontoatheatre.Whenthecurtainwasraised,thestagewasperfectlyemptysavefortall
(1)Iwastakenbyafriendoneafternoontoatheatre.Whenthecurtainwasraised,thestagewasperfectlyemptysavefortall
A、Becauseitwillreducethechanceofgettingajob.B、Becauseitisfulloffraud.C、Becauseitwillbecomethegraduates’onl
A、Anexperiencedteacher.B、Afriendofthetargetlanguage.C、Aregularlearningprogram.D、Aninborntalentoflanguage.C对话中,
随机试题
科西嘉岛野生欧洲盘羊是8000年前这个岛上的驯养羊逃到野外后的直系后代。因而它们为考古学家提供了在人为选择培育产生现代驯养羊之前早期驯养羊的模样的图画。上述论证做了以下哪项假设?
我国一切立法的依据是()
心源性休克发生的始动环节是()。
下列各项关于上地使用权会计处理的表述中,止确的有()。
我国古代纪年方式有干支纪年,还有帝号纪年和年号纪年。()
两束单色光a和b沿如图12所示方向射向等腰三棱镜的同一点O,已知a光在底边界面处发生全反射,两束光沿相同方向射出,则()。
Joyinlivingcomesfromhavingfineemotions,trustingthem,givingthemthe【E1】f______ofabirdintheopen.Joyinlivingcan
2012年,某市参加生育保险人数达51.52万人,占应参保人数的比重由上年的85.4%上升到90.9%。该市参加基本养老保险人数69.80万人,比上年增长9.6%,其中女性30.59万人,比上年增长7.5%,占到参加基本养老保险总人数的44.1%;参加基本
A、76B、96C、121D、125D把九宫格里的数字按顺序排列出来,得到数列1、2、3、6、11、20、37、68、(?),是一个三项和数列,20+37+68=(125)。
甲使用暴力劫取国有档案,人民法院根据我国《刑法》第329条“抢夺、窃取国家所有的档案的,处……”的规定,判决甲犯抢夺国有档案罪。本案中,法院的解释属于()(2013年非法学基础课单选第1题)
最新回复
(
0
)