ECONOMICS REPORT - Petroleum: A Short History of Black Gold
Thu, 22 Nov，2007
This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
经济报道――石油：黑金简史
2007年11月22日，星期四。
这是VOA特别英语的经济报道。
With oil around one hundred dollars a barrel, this may be a good time for a short history of petroleum.
Petroleum has been important since ancient times. The Greek historian Herodotus told of its use in the form of pitch for building and road making in the ancient city of Babylon in present-day Iraq.
目前石油价格在每桶100美元左右，这是回顾石油简短历史的好时机。
石油自古代起就一直非常重要。希腊历史学家希罗多德描述了石油以沥青方式在现伊拉克巴比伦古城用于建筑及修路的情形。
In Latin, the name means "rock oil." Petroleum is a fossil fuel. The liquid comes from the remains of plants and animals that died millions of years ago. These remains were buried deep below levels of rock over time and under great pressure.
This geological process created complex molecules of hydrogen and carbon. Oil can also contain other elements. Crude oil, or unprocessed petroleum, is called sour when it contains a lot of sulfur, an impurity. Sour crude requires more refining than sweet crude, which is low in sulfur and, as a result, often more valuable.
在位丁语中，石油即“岩油”。石油是化石燃料，来自于数百万年前死亡动植物的化石。这些化石长期深埋于岩石层中，并承受着高压。
这一地质过程形成了复杂的碳氢（原子组成的）分子。石油也含有其它元素。当原油，即未经加工的石油，含有大量杂质硫时，称为高硫石油。高硫石油比无硫石油需要更多的精炼，因为无硫石油含低硫，通常更具价值。
The modern history of oil started in the middle of the eighteen hundreds. At that time, a method was found to make kerosene fuel from petroleum. This kind of fuel became popular for heating and lighting.
Edwin Drake drilled the first oil well in the United States in eighteen fifty-nine near Titusville, Pennsylvania.
石油的现代史发源于18世纪的中叶。那时，发明了一种从石油中制备煤油燃料的方法，煤油在当时的取暖与照明非常流行。
埃德温.德雷克在1859年、在美国宾夕法尼亚州Titusville市附近打了第一个油井。
In the early eighteen sixties, John D. Rockefeller entered the oil business. Rockefeller and his partners understood the power of controlling all levels of production. By eighteen seventy, Rockefeller and his partners formed the Standard Oil Company.
Standard Oil and other companies that it owned performed every level of production -- from drilling to refining to transporting and selling. But in its efforts to grow, Standard Oil was strongly criticized for crushing smaller competitors.
在18世纪60年代初，约翰D. 洛克菲勒进入石油业。洛克菲勒和他的合伙人明白控制（石油）生产各个领域（/层面）的重要性。到1870年代，洛克菲勒和他的合伙人组建了标准石油公司。
标准石油公司及其控制的其它公司从事于生产的各个领域：从钻井到煤油、到运输与销售。但在其努力成长过程中，标准石油公司被强烈指责为压榨弱小的竞争对手。
Finally, in nineteen eleven, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil was misusing its powerful market position. The ruling divided Standard Oil into thirty-four independent companies.
Today, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Chevron are some of the companies whose roots go back to the breakup of Standard Oil. They are among the largest publicly traded companies in the world.
最后，在1911年，美国高等法院裁定，标准石油公司滥用了其强大的市场地位。该裁决将标准石油公司拆分为34家独立的公司。
当今的埃克森美孚、康菲石油公司以及雪佛龙公司是其中的一些公司，它们可追溯到标准石油公司的拆分，它们是世界上最大的一些上市公司。
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. Our history of petroleum continues next week. That includes a look at the history of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, better known as OPEC. Transcripts and MP3 archives of our reports at www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.
这是由Mario Ritter编写的、VOA特别英语的经济报道。石油的历史，我们下周连载，包括石油出口国家组织（简称为OPEC）的一览。报告的文稿及MP3文档，请参见www.unsv.com。我是Steve Ember。