In recent months, crude oil prices have experienced their sharpest drop since the 2008 financial crisis, and now stand at around $80 a barrel.
近几个月，原油价格经历了2008年金融危机以来最深的跌幅，现在保持在每桶80美元左右。
Alongside one of the main highways leading into the U.S. capital, a European tourist is filling up his rental car at a gas station.
Fluctuating prices
Felix Braz believes that lower gasoline prices will be shortlived.
不过，即便价格回落，这位欧洲游客菲力克斯·布拉兹仍然认为好景不长。
"Of course, it will go back up because the needs all over the world are growing," he said. "And the reserves they are not growing and it's not very difficult to understand that one day or another we'll get short of gasoline."
他说：“当然，价格还会回升，因为全世界的需求在增加，而石油蕴藏量并没有增加。不难想象，总有一天汽油会短缺。”
Braz is from Luxembourg, where the price is almost double that in the United States because of fuel taxes.
布拉兹是卢森堡人，那里的油价因为燃油税的关系几乎是美国的两倍。
Another customer at the gas station is Jordanian-born Ahmed Al Hellu. He thinks gas in America is already too expensive.
然而艾哈迈得·赫鲁认为美国的油价早就太高了。
"The other day I was talking to a friend in Qatar and he said the gallon is 75 cents, comparing to what we have here -- $3.99, almost $4.00 a gallon that's a difference you know. That's a pain in the pocket," he said.
他说：“前两天我和一个卡塔尔的朋友聊天，他说在卡塔尔汽油一加仑75美分，相比我们这里每加仑3.99美元，几乎是4美元，差距太大了。这可真要命。”
Al Hellu runs an import business and says cheaper fuel would provide a much-needed break for him.
赫鲁经营一家进口公司，油价便宜可以让他松口气。
"Not only me. It will have a big impact on the whole country, because when the prices come down you have people transporting goods or things for their stores, the prices will come down, the wholesale will come down, the hotels, everything will come down, because everything is linked together," Hellu explained.
“不光是我，整个国家都会受到很大影响，因为价格下来的话，店主的运费下降，东西也会便宜。批发价下来，不管是酒店还是其他所有东西，都会降价，因为这些都是互相联系的。”
Since April, the price of a barrel of crude has dropped around $30. Economists say the price drop is linked to fears that a slower economy will lower demand for fuel.
4月份以来，每桶原油的价格下降了大约30美元。经济学家说，跌价是由于市场担心经济放缓将导致燃料需求减少。
Paul Isbell, an energy and climate expert at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, blames uncertainty in Washington and the recent downgrading of the U.S. credit rating.
保罗·伊斯贝尔是华盛顿智囊机构“美洲对话”的能源和气候专家。他把油价下跌归咎于华盛顿的经济决策恍惚不定以及美国信用评级被下调。
"The main cause of this is the sudden kind of sense of incredulity at what's been happening in the United States," he notes.
他说：“主要原因是美国正在发生的状况使人们突然感到不能再相信美国了。”
But that's only the latest factor that has caused extreme price volatility, he says. In 2008, the price plummetted during the global financial crisis after peaking at nearly $150 a barrel. The tsunami in Japan and uprisings in the Middle East also have affected the oil price.
不过，他指出，这仅仅是导致油价剧烈起伏的最新因素。早在2008年，油价在攀升到每桶接近150美元之后出现金融危机期间的暴跌。
Isbell says price shocks hurt the poor the most and argues that European-style gasoline taxes can function as a tool that cushions the shocks while slowing climate change. He says governments can raise or lower the tax to compensate for price fluctuations.
伊斯贝尔说，价格震荡对穷人伤害最大。他认为，欧洲模式的汽油税能够起到缓解价格震荡的作用，同时对延缓气候变化也有作用。
"We have to stop thinking: High oil prices - bad; low oil prices - good," he said.
他说：“我们应该停止这样的思维，那就是油价高了不好；油价低了才好。”
He says oil prices that are too low can have the effect of a tax break for consumers, but leave them vulnerable to a price shock down the road.
他还说，油价太低虽然可以让消费者感到负担减轻了，但是却也让他们更容易受到价格震荡的冲击。 |