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Remember when a barrel of oil cost more than 140?
還記得油價(jià)140多美元一桶的時(shí)候嗎?
That was way back in 2008.
那要回溯到2008年。
Nowadays, cars and trucks have been made to go farther on less fuel.
現(xiàn)如今汽車(chē)和卡車(chē)已經(jīng)可以行駛更遠(yuǎn)路程卻消耗更少燃料。
Alternatives like ethanol have boomed.
而且乙醇等替代能源也已蓬勃發(fā)展。
And fracking has unleashed a flood of oil formerly trapped in shale rock underneath North Dakota, among other places.
液壓破碎法將北達(dá)科他州及其他地區(qū)頁(yè)巖下的石油大量開(kāi)采出來(lái)。
As a result, oil prices have fallen—far.
因此石油價(jià)格已遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)下降。
The price of a barrel of oil has dropped below 60.
每桶油的價(jià)格已跌破60美元。
But what’s good news for drivers is bad news for the global bid to cut climate changing pollution.
雖然司機(jī)們覺(jué)得是個(gè)利好消息，但對(duì)全球致力于減排的目標(biāo)而言卻非常不利。
Burning oil in vehicles is the second largest source of fossil fuel pollution.
車(chē)輛燃油是化石燃料污染的第二大來(lái)源。
It's also bad news for alternatives, like new facilities that turn corn stalks into ethanol.
而對(duì)替代品來(lái)說(shuō)也是壞消息，比如將玉米秸稈轉(zhuǎn)化為乙醇的新設(shè)備。
Hybrids and electric cars are less popular when gas is cheaper.
汽油價(jià)格持續(xù)低迷就會(huì)使得混合動(dòng)力和電動(dòng)汽車(chē)也面臨頹勢(shì)。
In fact, the sport-utility vehicles of yesteryear are staging a comeback.
事實(shí)上去年運(yùn)動(dòng)型越野車(chē)已經(jīng)有回歸勢(shì)頭。
But back on the good news front:
但好消息方面:
a falling price of oil reduces the incentive to do expensive things to get the liquid fossil fuel—like drill in the Arctic or mine Canada's boreal forest for tar sands.
油價(jià)下跌使得人們不會(huì)再以高額代價(jià)開(kāi)采液體燃料，比如北極鉆孔或開(kāi)采加拿大的寒帶森林獲取油砂。
Of course, in the long run oil prices are likely to go back up.
當(dāng)然從長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)角度石油價(jià)格很可能會(huì)回升。
It's just a question of how much environmental damage gets done before that happens.
問(wèn)題是在那之前會(huì)產(chǎn)生多少環(huán)境破壞。
譯文為可可英語(yǔ)翻譯，未經(jīng)授權(quán)請(qǐng)勿轉(zhuǎn)載！
