2018军队职称英语综合类阅读精选：Oil

 　　Oil 油

　　1. The existence of oil wells has been known for a long time. Some of the Indians of North America used to collect and sell the oil from the wells of Pennsylvania. No one,however,seems to have realized the importance of this oil until it was found that paraffin-oil could be made from it; this led to the development of the wells and to the making of enormous profits. When the internal combustion engine was invented,oil became of worldwide importance.

　　1、油井的存在由来已久。北美的一些印第安人过去常常去宾夕法尼亚的油井采集油来出售。一直以来，没有人认识到这种油的重要性，后来人们发现它可提炼出煤油来，情况才为之一变。自此油井遂蓬勃发展，巨额利润也由此产生。当内燃机发明后，石油更具有世界性重要意义。

　　2. What was the origin of the oil which now drives our motor-cars and aircraft? Scientists are confident about the formation of coal,but they do not seem so sure when asked about oil. They think that the oil under the surface of the earth originated in the distant past,and was formed from living things in the sea. Countless billions of minute sea creatures and plants lived and sank to the sea bed. They were covered with huge deposits of mud; and by processes of chemistry,pressure and temperature were changed through long ages into what we know as oil. For there creatures to become oil,it was necessary that they should be imprisoned between layers of rock for an enormous length of time. The statement that oil originated in the sea is confirmed by a glance at a map showing the chief oilfield of the world; very few of them are far distant from the oceans of today. In some places gas and oil come up to the surface of the sea from its bed. The rocks in which oil is found are of marine origin too. They are sedimentary rocks,rocks which were laid down by the action of water on the bed of the ocean. Almost always the remains of shells,and other proofs of sea life,are found close to the oil. A very common sedimentary rock is called shale,which is a soft rock and was obviously formed by being deposited on the sea bed. And where there is shale there is likely to be oil.

　　2、现在驱动汽车和飞机的油的起源是什么?科学家对煤的形成一清二楚，然而论及石油时，它们就不那么有把握了。他们认为，处于地表下的油起源于远古，并是由海洋生物形成的。数亿的微小海洋动物和植物繁衍生殖并沉到海底。它们被厚厚的泥沙沉积物所覆盖，并由于化学变化、压力和温度的作用过程，在漫长的时间中变成了我们所知道的石油。这些生物要变成石油，必须被密封在岩石之中很长时间。如果瞧一瞧标明世界主要油田的地图，石油起源于海洋之说便可以得到证实，极少有油田是远离今天的海洋的。在某些地方，天然气和石油从海底冒出海面。含油的岩石与海洋也有渊源关系。它们是水成岩，是由海水作用沉至海底的。在有石油地方的附近几乎总是有贝壳遗骸和其他海洋生物的证据。一种十分常见的水成岩叫油页岩，他是一种很软的岩石，很明显是因为被压积在海底而后形成的。而哪儿有油页岩，哪儿就可能有石油。

　　3. Geologists,scientists who study rocks,indicate the likely places to the oil drillers. In some cases oil comes out of the ground without any drilling at all and has been used for hundreds of years. In the island of Trinidad the oil is in the form of asphalt,a substance used for making roads. Sir Walter Raleigh visited the famous pitch lake of Trinidad in 1595; it is said to contain nine thousand million tons of asphalt. There are probably huge quantities of crude oil beneath the surface.

　　3、研究岩石的科学家即地质学家给石油钻井工指明可能产生油处。有些地方，根本无需挖掘，油自动冒出地面，并已这样使用了几百年。在特立尼达岛，石油以沥青-即用作铺路的物质-形式存在。在沃尔特·罗利爵士在1595年访问过特立尼达的著名沥青湖，据说该湖的沥青容量有90亿吨。在其地表下可能有大量原油。