Uncertainty of War Unsettles Oil Industry

　　【参考译文】战争的不确定性令石油工业动荡不安

　　【注释】unsettle,“使不安宁，使焦急，扰乱”：The sudden changes unsettled her.突然的变化是她心神不定。An unsettling film,令人不安的电影。另外，unsettled的意思是：(1)“未解决的，未定的”：The dispute remained unsettled.争端尚未解决；(2)“variable不稳定的，易变的”unsettled weather,易变的天气。unsettle的近义词有upset, disturb, disquiet, flurry, agitate, bother, discompose, perturb等等。

　　For months, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has scrambled, with little success, to keep a lid on oil prices. With war threatening as the cartel's ministers meet in Vienna this week, prospects for the global economy are so cloudy, analysts say, there is not much left for OPEC to do.

　　【参考译文】数月以来，石油输出国组织拼命抑制油价，尽管收效甚微。战争阴云密布之际，该组织成员国的部长们将于本周在维也纳召开会议。分析家们评论说，由于世界经济前景黯淡，欧佩克不会有太多的作为。

　　【注释】scramble,“争夺，争抢”：They were all scrambling to get the bargains.他们都争先恐后抢购廉价货。此外，还有“攀爬”的意思：The girl scrambled over the wall.那个女孩翻过了墙；“把…搅乱”：Who has scrambled up my sewing things?谁把我的针线活儿弄乱了？“紧急起飞”：The Mountain Rescue Team was alerted at 10.30pm, and a helicopter scrambled immediately.高山救援队在晚上10点30分接到警报，一架直升机立刻起飞(前去营救)。Keep/put a lid on,“阻止，使…停止,取缔”：Would you please put a lid on all that chatter, I'm trying to work.可不可以请你不要讲话了，我在工作。注意，keep/put a/the lid on还有“保守秘密”的意思：She keeps a very tight lid on her private life.她严守自己私生活的私秘;相应地blow/life/take the lid off就是“揭露(丑闻)”：an article that lifts the lid off the professional gambling揭露职业赌博界内幕的文章。另外，在口语中，put the lid on sth还有“成为导致某事发生的最后一件事(常是不好的事)，使…破灭”之意：James' resignation just about puts the lid on the project.詹姆斯的辞去最后导致这个项目流产。

　　The oil producers are not alone in their plight. Around the world, and especially in the United States, the dilemma of planning for the unknowable is upsetting the decisions of consumers, businesses and investors. That is hampering an economy struggling to better last year's meager growth, weighing on stock prices and subduing consumer spending.

　　【参考译文】然而陷入困境的并不只是石油生产国。放眼世界，特别是在美国，消费者、商界以及投资者都面临着为莫测的未来做出艰难的选择。所有这些都在阻碍极力扩大去年微弱增长幅度的美国经济，使股价陷于低迷并抑制消费。

　　【注释】plight,“困境，苦境”：the plight of the homeless无家可归者的苦境。与其意义相近的还有诸如predicament, fix, dilemma, quandary, box等。在plight one’s troth中，用作动词，make a promise to marry sb订婚：Let's all drink to Tess and Jason, who are plighting their troth on Saturday.让我们为苔丝和杰森干杯，他们将于星期六订婚。weigh on,“使烦恼，使担忧，使陷入巨大的困难”：The burden of debt weighs heavily on these developing countries.债务的沉重负担使这些发展中国家陷入巨大困难。还记得我们以前说过的weigh in (提出论据)吗？That rings a bell. OK. subdue,“抑制，降低，使…缓和”：Subdued my excitement about the upcoming holiday.克制我那因即将到来的节日而产生的兴奋。最后看一看它的近义词：overpower, subjugate, vanquish, crush, reduce等。

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