(单词翻译:单击)
Passage Two
短文2
At the beginning of the twentieth century, on the Gulf coast in the US state of Texas, there was a hill where gas leakage was so noticeable that schoolboys would sometimes set the hill on fire.
20世纪初，在美国德克萨斯州的墨西哥湾沿岸，有一座小山，那里的天然气泄漏非常明显，以至于学生们有时会点燃这座山。
Patio Higgins, a disreputable local businessman, became convinced that there was oil below the gassy hill.
帕基·希金斯是一个声名狼藉的当地商人，他开始相信在充满天然气的山底下有石油。
Oil wells weren't drilled back then.
那时还不钻油井。
They were essentially dug.
他们本来是挖井的。
The sand under the hill defeated several attempts by Higgins’ workers to make a proper hole.
希金斯的工人们几次尝试，想挖个合适的洞，但山下的沙子挡住了他们。
Higgins had forecast oil at 1000 feet, a totally made-up figure.
希金斯预测石油在1000英尺深的地方，这完全是一个随便想出来的数字。
Higgins subsequently hired a mining engineer, captain Anthony Lucas.
希金斯随后雇了一名采矿工程师——船长安东尼·卢卡斯
After encountering several setbacks, captain Lucas decided to use a drill, and his innovations created the modern oil drilling industry.
在经历了几次挫折后，卢卡斯船长决定使用钻机，他的创新方法创造了现代石油钻探行业。
In January 1901, at 1020 feet, almost precisely the depth predicted by Higgins Wild Gas,
1901年1月，在1020英尺的地方，几乎和希金斯天然气公司预测的一样深，
the well roared and suddenly ejected mud and six tons of drilling pipe out of the ground, terrifying those present.
油井咆哮着，突然从地下喷出泥浆和六吨重的钻杆，吓坏了在场的人。
For the next nine days until the well was capped, the well poured out more oil than all the wells in America combined.
在接下来的9天里，直到油井被封堵为止，该井的出油量超过了美国所有油井的总和。
In those days, Texas was almost entirely rural, with no large cities and practically no industry.
那个时候，德州几乎完全是农村，没有大城市，也几乎没有工业。
Cotton and beef were the foundation of the economy.
棉花和牛肉是经济的基础。
Higgins’ well changed that.
希金斯改变了这一点。
The boom made some prospectors millionaires, but the sudden surplus of petroleum was not entirely a blessing for Taxas.
经济繁荣使一些采矿者成为了百万富翁，但是石油的突然过剩对德州来说并不完全是好事。
In the 1930s, prices crashed to the point that in some parts of the country, oil was cheaper than water.
20世纪30年代，油价暴跌到在美国某些地区，石油比水还便宜的地步。
That would become a familiar pattern of the boom or bust Texas economy.
这将成为德州经济繁荣或萧条的常见模式。
Q12: What did Texas businessmen Patio Higgins believe?
问题12：得克萨斯州的商人帕基·希金斯相信什么？
Q13: What prevented Higgins’ workers from digging a proper hole to get the oil?
问题13：是什么阻止希金斯的工人挖一个合适的洞来获取石油?
Q14: What does the passage say about Captain Lucas' drilling method?
问题14：关于卢卡斯船长的钻井方法，这篇文章说了什么?
Q15: What do we learn about Texas's oil industry boom?
问题15：关于德克萨斯州的石油工业繁荣，我们了解到了什么?
