With crude oil selling at $40 a barrel, a gallon of unleaded regular gas now costs an average of $2 in the US [= 4.3 yuan per liter], a third more than it did a year ago.

　　As usual, the going price in most Western European nations is triple the American. Europeans, however, are accustomed to living with high fuel prices and generally have excellent public alternatives to the private auto; Americans, in contrast, have neglected mass transit for decades. Moreover, in the 1990s, an era of low fuel prices, Americans took to gas-guzzling SUVs in a big way. The result: by 2002 the average fuel efficiency of US passenger vehicles had sunk to its lowest level since 1980.

　　Wayne Stayskal's cartoon plays on popular fears of future price rises. The two housebreakers in his cartoon are ready to forego precious stones for precious fuel. This, of course, is a wild exaggeration, but it is true that the outlook is for expensive gas for some time to come①. Two pressures are driving prices upward: increased demand as developing countries like China import more fuel for industrial use and private consumption; and uncertain supply, as the turmoil in Iraq generates fear and instability throughout the oil-rich Middle East. Higher fuel prices are an important component of the inflation now beginning to affect the US economy.

　　Are current US gas prices unprecedentedly high? No. Back in the mid and late 1970s, when the OPEC oil cartel was more effective and the Middle East was an arena of instability, gas prices (in real terms, i.e. adjusted for inflation) rose to considerably higher levels. But that is scant consolation to suburban voters with long daily commutes to work, summer travel plans and big, inefficient cars.(听英文53574,文章注释535741)

　www.ucomics.com




忘掉钻石和银器 不如去偷石油吧
　　最近一段时间，美国人有很多操心事，对于一个汽车国度来说，人们每一次经过加油站时浮上心头的问题就是汽油涨价。

　　随着原油卖到40美元一桶，常规的无铅汽油在美国的价格已是一加仑两美元左右(折合1升4.3元人民币)，比去年上涨了三分之一。

　　和往常一样，多数西欧国家的现行油价还是美国的三倍。但是欧洲人已经习惯了高油价，而且大多有公共交通系统来代替开私家车；相比之下，美国人在过去几十年中忽视了公共交通建设。此外，在上个世纪九十年代，那是个低油价的时代，美国人非常喜欢耗油量很大的多用途运载车(SUVs)。其结果呢，到了2002年，美国汽车的平均燃料利用率降到了自1980年以来的最低点。

　　斯泰斯卡尔的漫画基于对未来汽油涨价的普遍担忧，画中的两个窃贼正准备放弃珍贵的钻石而改偷珍贵的汽油。当然，这是极大的夸张，但是高油价要持续很长时间的前景则是真实的。来自两方面的压力驱动着油价上升：发展中国家如中国进口越来越多的石油用于工业发展和个人消费，从而增加了对石油的需求；再者，供应市场不稳定，如伊拉克的混乱带来了整个中东产油区的恐慌与动荡。油价上升是如今开始影响美国经济的物价上涨的重要部分。

　　美国目前的汽油价格是有史以来最高的吗？不是。退回到上个世纪70年代中期和晚期，那时欧佩克石油输出组织起着更重要的作用，而中东地区又是一个不稳定的竞技场，汽油价格(按实际比价，也就是把物价上涨的比例考虑进去)涨到了比现在高得多的地步，但这不足以安慰每天开很长的路上下班、有着夏季旅行计划、开体型大耗油高汽车的郊区中产阶级选民。

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