This is the Amazon Rain forest where the waters flow toward the greatest river on earth and not far below this scene, there is an enormous wealth of oil.
Beginning in the 1960's, Texaco came to northeastern Ecuador to tap into one of the largest oil reserves in the Americas.

Texaco was a partner with Ecuador's national oil company, Petroecuador. And over 23 years, Texaco pumped out one and a half billion barrels of oil. Hundreds of wells were drilled. And at each well site, pits were dug to hold toxic oil waste that comes up during drilling.

Generally two or three pits were carved out near the well site. Trouble is, when Texaco finished its drilling, the waste pits were abandoned by the hundreds and for decades.

He says the pollution leaked into his water well.

"It's a disgrace. They treated Ecuador like a trash heap."

Doug Beltman worked for the EPA on Superfund sites in the U.S.

He's now the scientific expert for the people suing Chevron.

"Are you saying that Texaco never could have gotten away with this in the United States?" Pelley asked.

"Oh, absolutely not," Beltman replied. "It wouldn't have happened in the United States. And if it had happened, they wouldn't have gotten away with leaving it here for 30 years."

In Texas, for example, pits like this are supposed to be temporary, isolated from fresh water, and soon after emptied and backfilled. But in Ecuador this pit has been there for 25 years and we found it's actually designed to overflow into streams.

"They put these pipes in the side. So that as it rains, it fills up with water, contaminated water, it just dumps out into the jungle," Beltman explained.

"Well, it rains here in the rainforest all the time, so there's water pouring out of it now. And if you smell the water, you can clearly smell the oil pollution in it. Runs right down the ravine, where you are, and right down into the stream, not 50 yards down that way," Pelley observed.

When we stirred the bottom, oil floated to the top.

Texaco left Ecuador in 1992 and today, Texaco's owner, Chevron says the pollution is now the responsibility of Petroecuador, Texaco's former partner. That dispute is the heart of the lawsuit.
[Nextpage重點(diǎn)詞匯]
Wealth: 豐富,大量[(+of)]
The dictionary gives us a wealth of phrases and sentences to illustrate meaning.
這本詞典給了我們許多說明詞義的短語和句子。

Tap into:利用，開發(fā)，發(fā)掘(已有的資源)

Come up: 發(fā)生；出現(xiàn)：
I shall write to you if anything comes up.
如果發(fā)生了什么事情我將寫信告訴你。

Carve
及物動詞 vt.
1. 刻,雕刻
The statue was carved out of marble.
那雕像是用大理石雕刻的。
2. 切開;切(肉菜)[O1]
He carved me a piece of meat.
他切了一塊肉給我。
3. 開創(chuàng)(事業(yè)等);開拓[(+out)]
They carved out an orchard where there was wild grass.
他們在曾是野草叢生的地方開辟了果園。

不及物動詞 vi.
1. 做雕刻工作
2. 切開肉

Leak
及物動詞 vt.
1. 使?jié)B漏
The car is leaking oil.
這汽車在漏油。
2. 泄漏(秘密等)[(+out/to)]
He denied that he had leaked the news to the press.
他否認(rèn)曾將這則消息泄漏給新聞界。

不及物動詞 vi.
1. 漏,滲[(+out)]
The faucet is leaking.
水龍頭在漏水。
2. (消息等)泄漏出去[(+out)]
Your secret appears to have leaked out.
看來你的秘密已經(jīng)泄漏出去了。

Get away with sth: 僥幸逃脫
Do you think you can get away with it?
你認(rèn)為你能逃避責(zé)罰嗎?
How did she get away with cheating?
她是怎么作弊成功的?