VOA标准英语2010年-Iran Inaugurates New Gas Pipeline to P

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, waves to the media during his departure ceremony as he leaves Tehran's Mehrabad airport, while accompanied by Vice¹-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi (file photo)

Iran inaugurated part of what it said is a new gas pipeline² between its main South Pars³ gas field and neighboring Pakistan.  Tehran said new economic sanctions will not stop the deal with Pakistan.

 

With great fanfare⁴, Iran's top vice president, Mohammad Reza Rahimi, presided over the inauguration⁵ of what the Iranian press is calling the "peace pipeline," from the main South Pars gas field to the Pakistani border.  It could not be independently confirmed how much of the pipeline is actually functioning.

Iran's Press TV indicated that 907 kilometers of the project are complete, at a cost of $7.5 billion.  Iran's Fars news agency said in one report the pipeline had begun exporting gas to Pakistan, while insisting in another report the flood in Pakistan is preventing the process from going ahead.

Iranian TV says the pipeline is tied to a gas contract signed last June with Pakistan and claims Iran also will eventually sell gas to India via the same pipeline.

Iran analyst⁶ Gary Sick, who teaches at Columbia University, notes the United States is hoping to persuade India not to go ahead with any deal.

"[Iran] did in fact have an agreement with Pakistan and potentially with India for that gas pipeline to go all the way across Pakistan and potentially deliver gas to India," said Sick.  "The United States tried to persuade India not to do that, and it is not clear that it will actually happen in the end, partly because of the difficulties between India and Pakistan."

Sick thinks Iran's biggest challenge is to convince its own skeptical⁷ public about its economic prospects⁸.  "I think that it is probably true that probably some section of a gas pipeline has been completed.  That is it.  They are trying to put the best possible face on it, not only to show defiance⁹ in the face of the rest of the world, but to persuade their own people that they are doing a really good job, and that is a tough thing to do, because their own people see what the state of the economy really is."

Iran claims to have the second-largest reserves of natural gas in the world after Russia.  But according to Gary Sick, Iran's neighbor, Qatar, has done a much better job of exploiting its resources.

"If you look at Qatar, which shares a major gas field with Iran, they were off and running very early.  They have a massive gas project that is underway and, in fact they are becoming sort of the leading country in the world, and at the same time Iran has not even started exploiting its gas capabilities¹⁰, mostly because they do not have the investment capital they need to pump into it."

Sick says U.N., U.S. and EU sanctions are definitely an "impediment" to Iran's oil and gas industry, but a more critical issue is Iran's "own economic mismanagement."  He points out that Iran consistently has "scared away foreign investors," in addition to devising what he calls "crackpot economic schemes" that are popular, but do not work.

 

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

3 pars   

n.部，部分；平均( par的名词复数 )；平价；同等；（高尔夫球中的）标准杆数

参考例句：

• In humans, the pars intermedia is a rudimentary region. 人的脑垂体中间部是不发达的。 来自辞典例句
• James Gregory gave in in his "Geometriae Pars Universalis" a method of rectifying curves. James Gregory在他的《几何的通用部分》中给出了计算曲线长度的方法。 来自辞典例句

4 fanfare   

n.喇叭；号角之声；v.热闹地宣布

参考例句：

• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide.这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King.嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。

5 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

6 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

7 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

8 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

9 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。

10 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓