高中英语 voa常速听力2012年09月合辑文本oil-giants-eye-arctic-reserves素材.docVIP

VOA常速英语听力2012年09月合辑（文本）：Oil-Giants-Eye-Arctic-Reserves LONDON — As oil giant Shell calls a temporary halt to its exploration activities in the Arctic because of concerns over safety, lawmakers in Britain are urging international governments to seek a moratorium on offshore drilling in the region. Environmentalists say an oil spill could cause catastrophic, irreversible damage. But with global energy demands set to rise, some say it抯 time to look at such 憉nconventional resources.? Last winter in the Arctic, the Russian tanker 慠enda?carved its way to the remote Alaskan port of Nome. Not long ago this voyage - made in December and January - would have been impossible. The warming climate means thinner ice. More and more vessels arrae plying these routes year-round. Many of them are involved in the search for oil and gas. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates there are 26 billion barrels of recoverable oil beneath the United States Arctic waters alone. Oil giants, including state-owned Russian firm Rosneft and Royal Dutch Shell, have already spent billions of dollars prospecting for hydrocarbons. But Glada Lahn from the policy institute Chatham House, says climate change can create problems as well as opportunities. 揥ith the warming temperatures in the Arctic, the frequency of ice breaking off, that speeds up and so you perhaps have more icebergs in the way of operations, said Lahn. The other problem is increasing severity of storms and as the ice retreats from the coastlines, there抯 more chance of larger waves leading to coastal erosion and damage to infrastructure.? Corporate video animations posted on the Internet by Shell illustrate the company抯 drilling activities in the Arctic. Shell has abandoned its Arctic exploration until after the coming winter, citing the failure of a key piece of safety equipment. According to analyst Glada Lahn, safety will be the key to any successful oil exploration in the Arctic. 揑t抯 been more difficult in the U.S. and Canada. The