2006年VOA标准英语-Iraq's Oil Production Down; Oil Minister Q

By Ben Gilbert
Baghdad
03 January 2006

Iraq's oil production has dropped sharply because of insurgent¹ attacks and bad weather, raising the prospect² of energy shortages. Meanwhile, the country's oil minister confirmed Monday he has resigned his post after a disagreement with the government over sharp price hikes in petroleum³ products.

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Iraqis queue at a gas station in al-Sadr city, Baghdad, Iraq, Monday Jan. 2, 2006  
  

Across Baghdad Monday, gas lines snaked from gas stations to main roads, to side streets and down alleys⁴. Long lines of cars snarled⁵ traffic and raised a sense of crisis.

Mohammed Jaffer joined the line at three in the afternoon and said he is expecting a wait of between three and seven hours. "This is not normal. The normal is when electricity is available so this cue it will be very short," he said. "There is no electricity so people are coming to collect petrol for their generators⁶. "

Mr. Jaffer says he has to shut his store early and come to the gasoline station at least three times a week now, because the supply of electricity is so bad. A fuel shortage caused by a security threat at Iraq's largest refinery⁷ in Baiji caused the electrical generation in Baghdad to fall from six hours per day to one hour over the weekend.

Last week, insurgents⁸ in the area around the Baiji plant had threatened to kill tanker⁹ truck drivers and gasoline suppliers. The Iraqi army has now been dispatched to protect the supply routes, and the plant reopened two days ago, an oil ministry¹⁰ spokesman said.

The insurgents may have been looking to further inflame¹¹ Iraqi's anger at the government over fuel increases that sent prices skyrocketing just after the country's December 15 elections.

Oil Minister Bahr al-Aloum quit over those price hikes, because they made gasoline too expensive for poor Iraqi families. He said the government originally planned to double or triple the prices, but the International Monetary¹² Fund pushed for a five-fold increase as part of its debt forgiveness plan.

"We have to make a balance between IMF requirement as well as situation of Iraqi people, especially poor people…their economic lives and their political lives," he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi will serve as acting¹³ oil minister for at least 30 days. The former minister said Saturday Iraq had fallen short of its goal for oil production for the year. The country had aimed to produce an average of 2.5 million barrels per day by the end of 2005. But sabotage¹⁴ and bad weather caused production levels to fall below the pre-war level of 1.6 million barrels over the past two months.

1 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

2 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

3 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

4 alleys   

胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径

参考例句：

• I followed him through a maze of narrow alleys. 我紧随他穿过一条条迂迴曲折的窄巷。
• The children lead me through the maze of alleys to the edge of the city. 孩子们领我穿过迷宫一般的街巷，来到城边。

5 snarled   

v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说

参考例句：

• The dog snarled at us. 狗朝我们低声吼叫。
• As I advanced towards the dog, It'snarled and struck at me. 我朝那条狗走去时，它狂吠着向我扑来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 refinery   

n.精炼厂，提炼厂

参考例句：

• They built a sugar refinery.他们建起了一座榨糖厂。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

8 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

9 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

10 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

11 inflame   

v.使燃烧；使极度激动；使发炎

参考例句：

• Our lack of response seemed to inflame the colonel.由于我们没有反应,好象惹恼了那个上校。
• Chemical agents manufactured by our immune system inflame our cells and tissues,causing our nose to run and our throat to swell.我们的免疫系统产生的化学物质导致我们的细胞和组织发炎，导致我们流鼻水和我们的喉咙膨胀。

12 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

13 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

14 sabotage   

n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏

参考例句：

• They tried to sabotage my birthday party.他们企图破坏我的生日晚会。
• The fire at the factory was caused by sabotage.那家工厂的火灾是有人蓄意破坏引起的。