托福阅读材料之俄罗斯超大型钻石矿曝光.docxVIP

智课网TOEFL备考资料 托福阅读材料之俄罗斯超大型钻石矿曝光 出国英语考试有哪些 雅思6.5是什么水平 雅思阅读评分标准 托福阅读评分标准 雅思和托福的区别  Russia is about to start tapping into a huge source of diamonds that could supply the world market for the next 3,000 years.  Scientists estimate there are trillions of carats lying beneath a 35million-year-old asteroid crater in Siberia - more than ten times the global stockpile.  The Kremlin has known about the reserves under the 62-mile-wide impact zone since the 1970s.  But it has kept it a secret until now because it was already reaping big profits in what back then was a heavily controlled market.  The official news agency, ITAR-Tass, said the diamonds at the site, known as Popigai Astroblem, are twice as hard as the usual gemstones, making them ideal for industrial and scientific uses.  According to The Christian Science Monitor, the institutes director, Nikolai Pokhilenko, told the agency that the new source would cause a radical shake-up in the precious stones market.  The stones at Popigai are known as impact diamonds which result when an object like a meteor strikes an existing diamond deposit.  They are also unique, which will make them even more sought-after in high-precision scientific and industrial markets.  Diamond production was booming in Russia in 2007 when output reached $1.35billion, 98 per cent of which was exported to Belgium, Israel, South-east Asia and the USA.  But the bottom fell out in 2009 when polished diamond production fell to an unprecedented low of US$350 million during the economic crisis.  With world markets starting to show signs of resilience, this may explain why Russia has chosen now to reveal its hidden treasure.  【新闻快讯】  据英国《每日邮报》9月17日报道，俄罗斯日前公布了一个20世纪70年代发现的钻石矿。该矿位于西伯利亚东部地区的一个直径超过100公里的陨石坑内，储量估计超过万亿克拉，能满足全球宝石市场3000年的需求。  科学家们表示，这个被称为“珀匹盖”(Popigai)的陨石坑的历史超过3500万年，???下面的钻石储存量估计是全球其他地区钻石储量之和的十倍。俄罗斯之前一直隐瞒这个发现，目的是防止钻石价格被压垮而损害自己的钻石业利益。