考研英语备考范文篇.docVIP

（一）Oil Refining 　　An important new industry, oil refining, grew after the Civil War. Crude oil, or petroleum -- a dark, thick ooze from the earth -- had been known for hundreds of years, but little use had ever been made of it. In the 1850s Samuel M. Kier, a manufacturer in western Pennsylvania, began collecting the oil from local seepages and refining it into kerosene. 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 was drilled by E. L. Drake, a retired railroad conductor. In 1859 he began drilling in Titusville, Pennsylvania. The whole venture seemed so impractical and foolish that onlookers called it Drakes Folly. But when he had drilled down about 70 feet (21 meters), Drake struck oil. His well began to yield 20 barrels of crude oil a day. 　　News of Drakes success brought oil prospectors to the scene. By the early 1860s these wildcatters were drilling for black gold all over western Pennsylvania. The boom rivaled the California gold rush of 1848 in its excitement and Wild West atmosphere. And it brought far more wealth to the prospectors than any gold rush.Crude oil could be refined into many products. For some years kerosene continued to be the principal one. It was sold in grocery stores and door-to-door. In the 1880s refiners learned how to make other petroleum products such as waxes and lubricating oils. Petroleum was not then used to make gasoline or heating oil. 　　全文翻译：炼油?　　一种重要的新兴工业--炼油业在国内战争后成长起来。 未加工的石油，或原油--一种深 色的地下的稠浆--数百年来一直为大众所知，但是人们却很少使用过它。 在十九世纪五十 年代，萨缪尔·M·科尔，宾西法尼亚西部的一位制造商，开始从当地的溢出物中收集石油 并将它炼成煤油。与冶炼矿石一样，石油提炼是一个从未加工的原料中除去杂质的过程。煤 油被用来点灯。 　　它是鲸油的一种便宜的替代品，而鲸油正变得越来越难以获得。 不久就产 生了对煤油的大量需求。 人们开始寻找新的石油供应。 第一口油井为 E·L·瑞克，一个 退休的火车检票员所钻得。 1859 年他开始在宾西法尼亚的泰特斯维尔钻井。 整个的这项冒险事业看起来是如此不现实和愚蠢以致旁观者称之为鸭