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原文閱讀：中國超越美國成為全球最大石油凈進口國

China has overtaken the US as the world’s largest net importer of oil, in a generational shift that will shake up the geopolitics of natural resources.

US net oil imports dropped to 5.98m barrels a day in December, the lowest since February 1992, according to provisional figures from the US Energy Information Administration. In the same month, China’s net oil imports surged to 6.12m b/d, according to Chinese customs.

The US has been the world’s largest net importer of oil since the mid-1970s, shaping Washington’s foreign policy towards energy-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Venezuela.

As China overtakes the US as the world’s leading net oil importer, Beijing is likely to face pressure to take a larger role in patrolling the world’s key shipping lanes. China has already taken a more assertive foreign oil policy in countries such as Sudan, Angola and Iraq, where state-owned Chinese companies have invested billions of dollars.

“The US is taking strides towards energy independence,” said Eric G Lee, a commodities analyst at Citigroup who first reported the shift.

Although December figures are often volatile due to end-of-the-year tax reasons, analysts and traders say the shift will continue, affecting global oil trade routers and the geopolitics of energy. The figures include crude and refined petroleum products such as diesel and kerosene.

This year the US Navy will reduce the number of aircraft carriers it operates in the the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Gulf to international oil markets.

US domestic oil production is booming on the back of the shale revolution, reducing the need for crude oil imports. In addition, US super-majors and refiners such as ExxonMobil and Phillips 66 are exporting record quantities of oil products to meet soaring demand for gasoline, diesel and kerosene in Latin America and Africa, lowering the country’s net oil imports.

US oil production surged last year by more than 800,000 b/d. The rise in domestic production has allowed the country to lessen its dependence on the Opec oil cartel. But the reduction has been uneven, with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Middle East countries suffering relatively little from reduced US demand compared to African producers such as Angola and Nigeria.

The shift between China and the US comes as the International Energy Agency, the western countries’ oil watchdog, forecast that emerging countries would for the first time consume more oil than industrialized nations . The Paris-based IEA forecast that non-OECD countries will consume 44.9m b/d next quarter, compared with 44.7m b/d for the OECD nations.

The US remains the world’s largest net oil importer on an annual basis, but the margin over China has narrowed significantly over the last five years. The country’s net foreign purchases of crude and refined products dropped to a 20-year low of 7.14m b/d in 2012, while Chinese net oil imports averaged 5.72m b/d.

學(xué)習(xí)指南：

1.Word of the day

watchdog：a person or group of persons that acts as a protector or guardian against inefficiency, illegal practices, etc 監(jiān)管者
ex: Germany's domestic competition watchdog is also looking at the deal.
例句：德國國內(nèi)的競爭監(jiān)管機構(gòu)也在關(guān)注這項交易。

小編注：watchdog是個很形象的單詞，即使不知道中文解釋，也能猜個八九不離十。watchdog，顧名思義是“看門狗”，引申為監(jiān)管者、監(jiān)管機構(gòu)。這個單詞還可以用作動詞，比如How can we watchdog our investments?

2.Phrase of the day

shake up： to subject to a drastic rearrangement or reorganization 轉(zhuǎn)變、改變
ex: That will shake up economic policy in the US, Europe and elsewhere.
例句：這將促使美國、歐洲及其它地區(qū)的經(jīng)濟政策發(fā)生大的轉(zhuǎn)變。

小編注：這里想要強調(diào)的是shake up這個詞組的翻譯非常多樣，既可以直接用其動詞形式來翻譯，比如原文中的“ in a generational shift that will shake up the geopolitics of natural resources”就可以譯作“這一劃時代的變化，將改寫自然資源的地緣政治”；也可以用其名詞形式來翻譯，比如例句中的“促使......的轉(zhuǎn)變”。

3.Sentence of the day

In the same month, China’s net oil imports surged to 6.12m b/d, according to Chinese customs.
中國海關(guān)數(shù)據(jù)顯示，中國同期石油凈進口量猛增至每日612萬桶。

小編注：這句話中surge表示猛漲、飆升，類似的表示“增長”的單詞除了大家熟悉的increase以外，還有rise, soar, upsurge, skyrocket, ascend, escalate, elevate, take off等，大家在寫作中可以注意替換使用，使用詞更多變。
ex: Inflation remains tame, so interest rates are unlikely to surge.
例句：通貨膨脹率依然較低，因此利率不太可能激增。

4.Cultural point of the day

The US has been the world’s largest net importer of oil since the mid-1970s, shaping Washington’s foreign policy towards energy-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Venezuela.
自20世紀70年代中期以來，美國一直是全球最大的石油凈進口國，這一點影響著美國對沙特阿拉伯和伊拉克等產(chǎn)油國的外交政策。

小編注：1973年中東戰(zhàn)爭，導(dǎo)致石油價格大幅上升，這對于需要進口大量石油的美國來說，其對中東地區(qū)的外交政策就影響著石油的進出口問題，相關(guān)的背景知識還包括“石油美元”、“歐佩克”等，有興趣的同學(xué)可以自行學(xué)習(xí)。

5.Translation of the day ?

US domestic oil production is booming on the back of the shale revolution, reducing the need for crude oil imports.
在頁巖革命的推動下，美國國內(nèi)石油產(chǎn)量大幅增長，降低了原油進口的需要。

小編注：這句話乍看之下，booming和reducing是并列關(guān)系，表示頁巖氣（什么是頁巖氣>>）產(chǎn)量的增加和石油進口的下降。其實，reducing所引導(dǎo)的從句在這里是因果關(guān)系，表示結(jié)果，即由于頁巖氣產(chǎn)量的增加，所以導(dǎo)致了石油進口的下降。

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