3.forecourt n. a courtyard in front of a building 〈美〉(籃球)前(場)球；前院
4.exploration business 勘探業務
5.refining operations 煉油業，原油加工業
6.fare n. a transportation charge, as for a bus 費用 a passenger transported for a fee 旅 客food and drink； diet 食物；食物和飲料；夥食
vi. to get along： to travel； go 遭遇，進展，進步，經營，過活
7.ongoing adj. currently taking place 進行中的現在正在發生的
8.volatile adj. tending to vary often or widely, as in price 可變的，易波動的，不 穩定的，易於經常或大幅度變化的，如價格
Step One Listen to the news and decide whether they are true or false.
1.It&aposs been a harvest year for Royal Dutch Shell because of the war in Iraq.
2.Shell&aposs profits were up 84 percent on last year.
3.Roughly 70 percent of Shell&aposs profits come from its exporting business.
4.Last month the world&aposs largest oil company, Exxon-Mobil also announced record profits of over ￡ 12 billion.
5.Oil companies claim their margins on the forecourt are wafer thin and that the bulk of their profits are made elsewhere.
Step Two Complete the following blanks with the exact words from the news.
1. It&aposs been a ____ year for Royal Dutch Shell. Its latest results show earnings up a massive____ hitting a record____.
2.The company has ____ from a better ____ environment across many of its operations.
3.BP is expected to continue the trend. But for the thousands of people who joined fuel____across the UK, Europe and North America last year, these figures will fuel their____ that consumers are being____.
4.Motorists, farmers and ____ facing higher heating ____ took to the streets as soaring oil prices ____on the cost of petrol and ____fuel.
5.While the companies expect oil prices to be ____ this year, last month&aposs five percent____ in oil production by OPEC has sent prices back ____ the $ 30 a barrel mark.
Notes：
1.Exxon-Mobil： 埃索一美孚石油公司埃克森美孚石油公司是一家世界上著名的跨國公 司。公司成立於1863年，是世界最大、曆史最悠久的工業企業之一，在全球的經營 活動中，使用埃克森和埃索這兩個名稱。埃克森公司總部設在得克薩斯州達拉斯市 附近的愛文市，雇員人數約為106000人，埃克森的年均總收入為1372億美元，淨利 潤85億美元，居世界各公司之首，並在30個國家進行勘探和生產，原油和天然氣年 產量超過1.28億噸，在75個國家裏，每年銷售超過2.65億噸的石油產品。克森化 工是世界上第三大石油化工公司，在100多個國家裏，每年銷售超過1700萬噸的石 油化工產品。業務範圍包括各類優質石油及化工產品的製造和銷售，遍及全球100 多個國家及地區，早在1894年，美孚品牌已進入中國市場，曆經滄海桑田，今天的埃 克森美孚，已經在中國大地上生根發芽，遍地開花，取得了驕人的成就。
2.wafer： 薄酥餅，華夫餅幹，也譯威化餅，是一種較薄的餅幹。這裏用它說明利潤的微 薄及利潤率之低。
News Item 7 Argentine Economy Faces Uncertain Future
Tom Gibb, BBC News Buenos Aires
Vocabulary：
1.nail-biting adj. causing excitement and anxiety ； full of suspense 令人激動和焦慮不安的，束手無策的
2.Buenos Aires 布宜諾斯艾利斯
3.fad n. a fashion that is taken up with great enthusiasm for a brief period of time； a craze 流 行一時的風氣
4.singularly adv. extraordinarily, abnormally 不常見地，異乎尋常地
adv. particularly 異常，格外
5.tied one to one to the dollar 即把自己國家或地區的貨幣與某一種外幣的彙率固定在某 一比率上的聯係彙率。
6.peso n. (pi. pesos) a small coin on which the money systems of many Spanish American countries are based 比索(許多說西班牙語的拉丁美洲國家的貨幣單位）
7.afloat adj. & adv. 飄浮的，在海上的，傳播的；不沉下去，（經濟上）不困難
8.exorbitant adj. ( of costs, amounts, demands, etc. ) much greater than is reasonable, usual, or expected (花費、金額、要求等）太多的，極其過分的；過高的
Step One Try to answer the following questions in your own words as clearly as possible.
1.What is the country&aposs Economy Minister, Domingo Cavallo, going to do on Friday?
2.What makes Argentina stand on the brink of bankruptcy?
3.What will the private pension funds get in return?
4.How much money will be forced to transfer into the state bank by the government?
5.What is the condition on which the IMF has repeatedly bailed Argentina out over the last year?
6.What does IMF officials reportedly want Argentina to do?
7.What is the latest game to hit the streets of Buenos Aires called?
Step Two Complete the following blanks with the exact words of the news.
1.Welcome back to World Business Report, I&aposm Jamie Robertson. There&aposs more nail-biting ____ going on for Argentina.
2.The government is also battling a ____ which has been going on for 43 months.____ fearing for the economy and their jobs, ____ of Buenos Aires are still snapping up the latest fad. Tom Gibb&aposs got this report.
3.The latest game to hit the streets of Buenos Aires ____ players to pit their wits____ the International Monetary Fund, ____ of which Argentina&aposs present government____to have singularly failed.
4.Most companies heavily in ____ have gone bust. ____ has been rising steadily. Argentines, on average, earn____less than when the recession started.
Notes ：
1. International Monetary Fund： 國際貨幣基金組織，簡稱IMF。它是根據1944年7月在
美國新罕布什爾州布雷頓森林召開聯合國和聯盟國家的國際貨幣金融會議上通過的 《國際貨幣基金協定》而建立起來的。於1945年12月27日正式成立，1947年3月1 日開始辦理業務。同年11月15日成為聯合國的一個專門機構，但在經營上有其獨立 性。至今，IMF已有182個成員。基金組織設5個地區部門（非洲、亞洲、歐洲、中 東、西半球）和12個職能部門（行政管理、中央銀行業務、彙兌和貿易關係、對外關 係、財政事務、國際貨幣基金學院、法律事務、研究、秘書、司庫、統計、語言服務局）。其宗旨是作為一個常設機構在國際金融問題上進行協商與協作，促進國際貨幣 合作；促進國際貿易的擴大和平衡發展；促進和保持成員國的就業，生產資源的發展 和實際收入的高水平；促進國際彙兌的穩定，在成員國之間保持有秩序的彙價安排， 防止競爭性的貨幣貶值；協助成員國在經常項目交易中建立多邊支付協定，使其糾正 國際收支的失調，而不采取危害本國或國際繁榮的措施，縮短成員國國際收支不平衡 的時間，減輕不平衡的程度。IMF主要業務活動有：向成員提供貨款，在貨幣問題上 促進國際合作，研究國際貨幣製度改革的有關問題，研究擴大基金組織的作用，提供 技術援助和加強同其他國際機構的聯係。
2.Exorbitant interest rates and the risk of devaluation mean taking a loan at the moment would be suicide.
譯文：在利率過高和貨幣存在貶值可能的情況下，去貨款就與自殺無異了。
3.But throughout the recession, sales in the shops have been falling, and tax revenues with them.
譯文：在整個經濟危機期間，阿根廷的商店銷售額下降，政府的稅收也隨之下降。 revenue 指收入，國家的收入，稅收等。