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(单词翻译)
By Paul Sisco
Washington, DC
20 September 2006
watch Deepwater Oil
Super computers, mathematical formulas, and advances in imaging all played a part in a much-publicized recent oil discovery beneath the Gulf1 of Mexico.
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Consider the idea of drilling a pipeline2 straight down Mount Everest -- 8,850 meters, give or take a few. That is just about how deep geologists3 went from an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year to find oil. The equipment used set records for pressure, depth, and for duration in deep water.
Roger Anderson |
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Down they went, through more that 2,100 meters of water, continuing six kilometers more through a thick layer of hardened salt, to an ancient rock layer geologists know as the lower tertiary trend.
Advances in seismic4 imaging, platform stabilization5 and the use of supercomputers made it possible. Computers calculate size and location of probable oil deposits and help guide exploratory pipelines6 to it. It is still risky7 business, says Anderson.
"It is an interesting random8 poker9 game and somebody has to take a chance in order for the industry as a whole to move forward."
Americans use about seven-and-a-half billion barrels of oil a year. Industry analysts10 estimate the newly discovered field could hold between three and 15 billion barrels of oil and natural gas. And there are plans for other deep well explorations in the area. There has been no announcement so far about how the oil and gas will be brought to shore; only that it will be difficult, costly11, and take years.
1 gulf | |
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂 | |
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2 pipeline | |
n.管道,管线 | |
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3 geologists | |
地质学家,地质学者( geologist的名词复数 ) | |
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4 seismic | |
a.地震的,地震强度的 | |
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5 Stabilization | |
稳定化 | |
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6 pipelines | |
管道( pipeline的名词复数 ); 输油管道; 在考虑(或规划、准备) 中; 在酿中 | |
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7 risky | |
adj.有风险的,冒险的 | |
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8 random | |
adj.随机的;任意的;n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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9 poker | |
n.扑克;vt.烙制 | |
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10 analysts | |
分析家,化验员( analyst的名词复数 ) | |
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11 costly | |
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的 | |
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