陳蕙雅思教材 - 雅思閱讀精選 (Oil Refining)

Oil Refining

An important newindustry, oil refining, grew after the Civil War. Crude

oil, or petroleum -- adark, thick ooze      from the earth --had been known

for hundreds of years,but little use had ever been made of it. In the

1850's           Samuel M. Kier, a manufacturer inwestern Pennsylvania, began

collecting the oil from localseepages and refining        it intokerosene.

Refining, like smelting,is a process of removing impurities from a raw

material.

Kerosene  was used  to  light lamps.  It  was a  cheap  substitute for  

whale  oil, which  was becoming harder to get.Soon      there was a large

demand for kerosene.People began to search for new supplies of petroleum.

The first oil well wasdrilled by E. L. Drake, a retired railroad

conductor. In 1859 hebegan drilling in   Titusville,Pennsylvania. The whole

venture seemed soimpractical and foolish that onlookers called it "Drake's

Folly". Butwhen  he had drilled down about 70 feet (21 meters), Drake

struck oil. His wellbegan to yield 20      barrels of crudeoil a day.

News of Drake's successbrought oil prospectors to the scene. By the early

1860's these wildcatterswere drilling      for "blackgold" all over western

Pennsylvania. The boomrivaled the California  gold rush  of 1848 in its        

excitement and Wild Westatmosphere.  And  it brought far more wealth to

the prospectors than anygold rush.

Crude oil could berefined into many products. For some years kerosene

continued to be theprincipal one. It was sold in grocerystores and

door-to-door. In the1880's refiners learned how to make other petroleum

products such          as waxes and lubricating oils.Petroleum was not then used to

make gasoline or heatingoil.

煉油

一種重要的新興工業--煉油業在國內戰爭後成長起來。 未加工的石油，或原油--一種深 色的地下的稠漿--數百年來一直為大眾所知，但是人們卻很少使用過它。

在十九世紀五十 年代，薩繆爾·M·科爾，賓西法尼亞西部的一位製造商，開始從當地的溢出物中收集石油

並將它煉成煤油。與冶煉礦石一樣，石油提煉是一個從未加工的原料中除去雜質的過程。煤 油被用來點燈。

它是鯨油的一種便宜的替代品，而鯨油正變得越來越難以獲得。 不久就產 生了對煤油的大量需求。  人們開始尋找新的石油供應。  第一口油井為

E·L·瑞克，一個 退休的火車檢票員所鑽得。 1859  年他開始在賓西法尼亞的泰特斯維爾鑽井。  整個的這項

冒險事業看起來是如此不現實和愚蠢以致旁觀者稱之為"鴨子的蠢行"。  (譯者注：Drake'sFolly, drake

在這裡意含雙關，即指瑞克的名字，又指該詞的本義即鴨子。  )但當瑞克往下鑽 至 70 英尺(21 米)的時候，他發現了石油。  他的油井從此每天生產

20 桶原油。  瑞克成功的 消息將石油勘探者們吸引到現場。 截止到 19 世紀 60 年代早期，這些冒險者為尋找"黑色的

金子"鑽探遍了整個賓西法尼亞西部。  這項繁榮的事業在刺激性和粗獷的西部氣氛上可與

1848 年的加州淘金熱相媲美，而且它為勘探者帶來了遠超過淘金潮的財富。  原油能被提煉 成許多產品。 多年以來煤油一直是主要的一種產品。

它在雜貨店中出售由人挨戶推銷。  19 世紀八十九十年代煉油者們懂得了生產其它石油產品，如蠟和潤滑油。  那時石油還沒有被

用來製造汽油或採暖裝置用油。