damnation英语阅读新视野第10课

2021年1月20日发(作者：teacher是什么意思)


Oil Spills
漏

油

Before You Read
阅前思考

Answer the following questions.


1. Which oil companies are famous in your country?


2. Have there been any large oil spills reported in the news recently? If yes, where?


3. How do you think most oil spills are caused?
Target Vocabulary
目标词汇

Match each word with the best meaning.


1.







affect
a. necessary; required


2.







disaster
b. lasting for a long time (opposite: short-term)


3.







essential
c. something very bad that happens, usually causing a lot of damage



4.







float
d. not deep


5.







harm
e. to cause or allow liquid to fall from a container


6.







leak
f. (for a liquid or gas) escape through a hole or crack in a container


7.







long-term
g. cause an effect


8.







occur
h. rest or move at the top of, and supported by, liquid or air


9.







shallow
i. happen

10.







spill
j. damage
Reading Passage
阅读文章





Oil is essential for modern life-apart from its use in transportation, it is also used in making
fertilizers,
plastics,
and
many
other
products.
About 64 percent of the world
’
s oil is located in the
Middle East, but the heaviest consumers of oil are
Europe,
America,
and
Japan.
The
problem
lies
in
getting the oil from the countries that produce it to
the countries that consume it. This is mainly done
using
oil
tankers.
There
are
roughly
4,
000
oil
tankers in use today, and every day more than 100
million
tons
of
oil
is
shipped.
Usually
this
oil
is
shipped
safely
and
with
not
problems,
but
occasionally there is a disaster.




Every
year
millions
of
tons
of
oil
are
spilled
into
the
ocean.
Although
this
is
only
a
small
percentage of the total amount shipped around the world each year, this spilled oil can have terrible
effects
on
ocean
life,
including
the
coastlines
where
the
oil
washes
up
onto
shore.
Some
of
the
largest spills in history have been caused by oil tankers running into each other or by an oil tanker
running aground in shallow water. After these spills, officials try to discover who or what was at
fault to help prevent similar accidents in the future.




One of the worst oil spills in history occurred along the Alaskan coastline in 1989, when the
Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground off the coast of Alaska, spilling 42 million liters of oil. Although it
wasn
’
t the largest oil spill of all time, the area. In this spill, the tanker
’
s captain, who was tired from
overwork and drinking alcohol, had gone to take rest. He gave control of the ship to another sailor,
who
was
unfamiliar
with
the
route
the
ship
was
taking.
The
ship
ran
onto
Bligh
Reef,
a
natural
underwater rock wall near the Alaskan coast. Damaged by the reef, the ship leaked oil out into the
ocean. More than 1, 600 kilometers of coastline were affected by the oil spill. Some scientists who
studied nature in the area estimate that 580, 000 birds and 5, 5000 otters died as a result of the oil
from the spill covering their skin. Smaller shellfish and other sea creatures living on the whales, and
other animals.




The most oil ever spilled was actually released on purpose as part of the Iraqi war plan during
the Gulf War in
1991.
Almost
a million
tons
of oil were released into
the Persian Gulf. This oil
covered 1, 500 square kilometers of water in the Persian Gulf, and also damaged 650 kilometers of

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