Still, the striking fact that some unlucky people had to pay to get rid of crude oil in the world’s most liquid market raised fears that there was more trouble to come. The underlying problem with the oil market，however，is inelasticity—that is, in the short term, supply doesn’t fall much and demand doesn’t rise much in response to a price decline. On the supply side, it’s expensive to close down an oil well, and producers are reluctant to curtail production and surrender market share to rivals.

思考题：

It can be learned from the text that ___.

A.consumers usually can get paid if they use oil

B.crude oil is a commodity facing liquidity crisis

C.crude oil market is regarded as fairly inflexible

D.oil wells have been closed down despite the cost

词汇突破：

Still 然而

striking fact 令人惊讶的事实

most liquid market 流动性最 好的市场

underlying problem 根本的，潜在的问题

inelasticity 没有弹性

a price decline 价格下跌

curtail 减少

surrender 让出

market share 市场份额

rivals 对手

句子解析：

句：

Still, the striking fact that some unlucky people had to pay to get rid of crude oil in the world’s most liquid market(同位语从句)raised fears that there was more trouble to come.(同位语从句)

参考译文：然而，一些不幸的人必须花钱才能在全球流动性最 大的市场上处理掉原油，这一惊人事实让人们担心，更多的麻烦还在后头。

第二句：

The underlying problem with the oil market ，however ， is inelasticity—that is,(也就是说，这是一个固定搭配，表示解释) in the short term,(状语) supply doesn’t fall much and demand doesn’t rise much in response to a price decline.(状语)(翻译的时候，先翻译状语)

参考译文：但是，石油市场的根本的问题是缺乏弹性，即在短期内，油价下跌不会带来大幅的供应下行和需求上升。

第三句：

On the supply side, it’s expensive to close down an oil well, and producers are reluctant to curtail production and surrender market share to rivals.

参考译文：在供应侧，关停油井的成本很高，生产商也不愿减产，将市场份额拱手让给竞争对手。

思考题解析：

A. consumers usually can get paid if they use oil

(使用石油的消费者通常可以得到报酬)

没有提及， A不对!

A选项错误。

B. crude oil is a commodity facing liquidity crisis

(原油是一种面临流动性危机的商品)

第二句说了问题是：缺乏弹性而不是流动性危机。

而且第二句是关键啊!这种题干没有明确指向的题目，

我肯定要找转折后啊!

B选项错误。

C. crude oil market is regarded as fairly inflexible

(原油市场被认为相当缺乏弹性)

对应的就是第二句中的：inelasticity

我加上了fairly是为了配合其他三个选项的长度。

不会因为加了这样一个词就认为这是错了的!

C选项正确。

D. oil wells have been closed down despite the cost

(不管价格油井已被关闭)

没有提到

D选项错误。

文章来源背景和来源：

Oil’s Epic Plunge

石油的史诗级暴跌

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-20/the-oil-price-crash-in-one-word-inelasticity

背景：4月20日，美国原油期货崩盘，有史以来次跌至负值，被众财经媒体称为“疯狂的”“史诗级“暴跌。普利策奖得主丹尼尔·耶金评论道，“五月美国原油期货合约发出的不是呜咽，而是一声刺破天际的哀嚎。”Covid-19的全球大流行迅速扼杀了对原油的消费需求。虽然油价下降，但特殊的情况下，消费者都不能或不会因此而更频繁地驾车出行或乘坐航班。在供给端，例来缺乏弹性的原油市场一方面储油空间告罄，另一方面生产企业也不能敏捷地收紧产能。因为对于油企来说，关闭油井的成本极高，一旦停产可能意味着永远出局。而汽油是一种处理成本很高的产品，其运输和储存都需要专门的人力和设备，并不能像牛奶一样，直接倒到河里。但贴钱让用户使用产品这件事并非，有时电网会付钱让用户用电，原因很简单，给用户的那点钱比起关停电厂再启动的代价要轻得多。