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
考研
Prices arc sky-high, with profits to match. But looking further ahead, the industry faces wrenching change, says an expert of en
Prices arc sky-high, with profits to match. But looking further ahead, the industry faces wrenching change, says an expert of en
admin
2011-02-12
128
问题
Prices arc sky-high, with profits to match. But looking further ahead, the industry faces wrenching change, says an expert of energy.
"The time when we could count on cheap oil and even cheaper natural gas is clearly ending." That was the gloomy forecast delivered in February by Dave O’Reilly, the chairman of Chevron Texaco, to hundreds of oilmen gathered for a conference in Houston. The following month, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez gleefully echoed the sentiment: "The world should forget about cheap oil."
The surge in oil prices, from $10 a barrel in 1998 to above $50 in early 2005, has prompted talk of a new era of sustained higher prices. But whenever a "new era" in oil is hailed, scepticism is in order. After all, this is essentially a cyclical business in which prices habitually yo-yo. Even so, an unusually loud chorus is now joining Messrs O’Reilly and Chavez, pointing to intriguing evidence of a new "price floor" of $30 or perhaps even $40. Confusingly, though, there are also signs that high oil prices may be caused by a speculative bubble that could burst quite suddenly. To see which camp is right, two questions need answering: why did the oil price soar? And what could keep it high?
To make matters more complicated, there is in fact no such thing as a single "oil price": rather, there are dozens of varieties of crude trading at different prices. When newspapers write about oil prices, they usually mean one of two reference crudes: Brent from the North Sea, or West Texas Intermediate (WTI). But when ministers from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) discuss prices, they usually refer to a basket of heavier cartel crudes, which trade at a discount to WTI and Brent. All oil prices mentioned in this survey are per barrel of WTI.
The recent volatility in prices is only one of several challenges facing the oil industry. Although at first sight Big Oil seems to be in rude health, posting record profits, this survey will argue that the western oil majors will have their work cut out to cope with the rise of resource nationalism, which threatens to choke off access to new oil reserves. This is essential to replace their existing reserves, which are rapidly declining. They will also have to respond to efforts by governments to deal with oil’s serious environmental and geopolitical side-effects. Together, these challenges could yet wipe out the oil majors.
What is the tone of the passage?
选项
A、Humorous.
B、Indifferent.
C、Serious.
D、Anxious.
答案
C
解析
本题为作者观点题,严肃的。从全文的整个内容看,作者的语气是严肃的,A.Humorous幽默的;B.Indifferent;漠不关心的;D.Anxious忧虑的;都不妥帖,所以正确答案为C。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/hte4777K
0
考研英语二
相关试题推荐
Thesentence"Aftereachrainshower,anotherInternetmillionairesprangup"(Paragraph1)means______.Wecanlearnfromthe
WhichofthefollowingbestdescribestheAmerica’seconomicsituation?Howdoesmonetarypolicyofferhelpforweakeconomica
Inthissection,youareaskedtowriteanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthe
Thelongestbullruninacenturyofart-markethistoryendedonadramaticnotewithasaleof56worksbyDamienHirst,Beauti
A.TheconsequenceoflosingbonesB.AbetterlabthanonearthC.TwodifferentcasesD.Multipleeffectsformwei
Itlookedjustlikeanotheraircraftfromtheoutside.Thepilottoldhisyoungpassengersthatitwasbuiltin1964.Butappear
Nameshavegainedincreasingimportanceinthecompetitiveworldofhighereducation.Ascollegesstriveformarketshare,they
TheUnitedStateshashistoricallyhadhigherratesofmarriagethanthoseofotherindustrializedcountries.Thecurrentannual
Britain’sCabinetOfficereleasedasweepingreportonthecountry’sfoodpolicy,anddeterminedthatBritonsarewastingtoomu
Itlookedjustlikeanotheraircraftfromtheoutside.Thepilottoldhisyoungpassengersthatitwasbuiltin1964.Butappear
随机试题
为了及时治疗急性中毒,下列哪些是中毒诊断的主要依据()
下列哪一个条件最适合于病毒的长期保存
27岁风心病患者,现妊娠8周出现心力衰竭,下列哪项处理原则正确
非手术治疗的肠梗阻可进少量流食的时间是()
甲公司为一家制造企业,适用的增值税税率为17%,商品销售全部符合收入确认条件,销售成本月末一次结转,M产品的单位成本为80元。2016年7月该公司发生下列业务:(1)1日,向乙公司销售M产品8000件,开具的增值税专用发票上注明的价款为80万元,增
在关系数据库系统中,搜索数据时,关系模型通过()实现。
Studyhardandyouwillmakesome(improve)______.
A、Eatexcessively.B、Drinkexcessively.C、Dosomeexercise.D、Beimaginative.CExerciseisoneofthemosteffectivewaystorel
Childrenmodelthemselveslargelyontheirparents.Theydosomainlythroughidentification.Childrenidentify【C1】______parents
Theage-oldriddleofwhymanywomenoutlivemenhasbeensolved.It’stheirpumpingpower,Britishresearchershavefound.
最新回复
(
0
)