美国有线新闻 CNN 美国油价首次跌入负值 买油倒贴钱

And today's edition of CNN 10 starts with a report about oil, aka "black gold", "Texas tea", at least that's what it's been called in the past. Currently demand for it and the price of it has fallen to the basement. Lower oil prices can translate to lower gasoline prices and those are being seen around the United States and beyond. But crude oil is known as the mother of all commodities because it's used in so many other products, from plastic, to petroleum¹, to paint and it's necessary for the machines that help make those products.

今天的CNN10分钟新闻从石油开始，石油又名“黑金”、“得州茶”，至少人们过去是这样称呼石油的。目前对石油的需求以及石油价格都跌到了谷底。石油价格下降可能致汽油价格下跌，这正是目前美国各地和其他地方的情况。但原油被称为所有商品之母，这是因为原油被用于许多其他产品中，从塑料到石油，再到油漆，原油是帮助制造这些产品的机器所必需的。

Rising crude oil prices mean that global demand is increasing and that can indicate the global economy is growing. But the price of oil which is sold by the barrel has fallen dramatically because of the coronavirus pandemic. And it made headlines in history this week because at one point, U.S. stock market oil prices were negative. On Monday afternoon, oil was at minus $37.63 per barrel. What this meant is that there was so much supply in the oil market that the world was running out of places to store it and oil producers were essentially² paying people to take their oil barrels. It's the first time that's happened since oil futures³ started trading in the U.S. stock market in 1983.

原油价格上涨意味着全球需求增加，这可能表明全球经济正在增长。但由于冠状病毒疫情，单桶石油价格大幅下跌。本周，油价历史性地登上了新闻头条，这是因为美国股市油价一度为负。周一下午，油价为每桶负37.63美元。这意味着石油市场上供应过多，世界上几乎没有地方可以储存这些石油，石油生产商实际上是在出钱让人们买走石油。这是自1983年石油期货开始在美国股市交易以来，首次出现这种情况。

Crude prices did turn positive again yesterday though they were still incredibly low. No one knows how long they'll stay so low. And that's a concern especially for American oil companies because they can't make money. Industry analysts⁴ say several hundred oil companies will file for bankruptcy⁵ by the end of next year if prices don't climb back up. Countries outside the U.S. that export huge amounts of crude oil have agreed to reduce their production of it to try to stabilize⁶ prices but that won't happen until next month.

昨天，原油价格确实再次出现正增长，尽管油价仍处于极低水平。没有人知道这种极低的价格水平会持续多长时间。这令美国石油公司尤为担心，因为他们无法赚钱。行业分析人士认为，如果油价不回升，那到明年年底将有数百家石油公司申请破产。美国以外出口大量原油的国家同意减少原油产量，以试图稳定油价，但这要到下个月才能实现。

1 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。

2 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

3 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

4 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

5 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

6 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。