当代文明社会对石油的依赖比对其它任何一种商品的依赖性都要大。似乎几乎没有什么事情离得开石油。早在十九世纪，当电力尚未充分发展前，石油被提炼成煤油，用来照明。随着内燃机的出现，石油又成为陆运、海运和空运的燃料。现在，它又用于航天火箭。它是世界上主要的润滑剂。在工业上，石油又是热量和动力的主要提供者。
Our civilization depends on oil more than any other single commodity. There seems to be
almost nothing that it cannot do. In the nineteenth century it was used as kerosene （煤油）to provide light before the development of electricity. With the arrival of the internal-- combustion engine（内燃机） it became the fuel for land, sea. and air transport; now it is being used in space rockets. It is the world’s principal lubricant（润滑剂）, and in industry it is the main provider of heat and power.
然而，燃烧石油却是一种绝对的浪费; 作为化工原料，石油会更加物有所值。现已有的各种各样的产品，譬如塑料、洗涤剂、尼龙、涤纶以及其它合成纤维都是以石油为基本成分制造出来的，甚至连化肥和除草剂也出自石油。或许在未来一些年，科学家如能成功地把实验室的实验转化成完整的生产线时，石油还将成为制造蛋白质的主要来源。
Yet to burn oil is incredibly wasteful, it could be even more useful as a chemical raw material. Already it is the basis from which such diverse products as plastics, detergents, and nylon(尼龙),terylene（涤纶）, and other synthetic fibres are made. Even fertilizers（肥料） and weed-killers（除草剂） are derived from it; and perhaps within a few years, once scientists have succeeded in transforming laboratory experiments into full-scale production lines, it will become a major source of protein(蛋白).
一个国家被完全切断石油来源的话将无法生存。如1939年到1945年期间，德国和日本的经济上的主要软肋就是石油缺乏，其成为他们一意孤行，扩大地区冲突的动因之一；而这最终也成了导致他们战败的一个关键性的因素。
A country which is entirely cut off from oil cannot survive. Between 1939 and 1945 one of the main weaknesses of the German and Japanese economies was their lack of oil. This played an important part in their decisions to extend the area of conflict， and in the end was a crucial factor contributing to their defeat.
自从二战以来，石油已经成为国际贸易中最重要的商品。也许是命运造化，大油田大多位于中东、北非、拉美及其它地区，而这些地区与主要石油消耗地区又相隔千万里，于是需要庞大的船队把石油运往欧洲、北美、日本及其它工业化国家。现在石油贸易占世界海洋贸易的一半以上。海上航行的油轮比其它任何一种船只都多。
Since the war, oil has become the most important commodity in international commerce. By an accident of fate most of the large fields are situated in the Middle East, North Africa, Latin America, and other places thousands of miles away from the main areas of consumption. Enormous fleets are needed to transport it to Europe,North America, Japan, and the other industrialized countries, and oil now accounts for more than half the world's sea-borne trade There are more tankers (油轮)in service than any other sort of ship.
总的来说，那些产油地区几乎没有其它任何自然资源。通常，那些地区不是沙漠，就是山脉，或是丛林。假如没有石油，那里的人民只会贫穷落后。然而事实上，那些产油国家现在每年获取大量的财政收入。而且，他们仅需切断他们的石油出口，即可对那些比他们强大得多的国家的繁荣构成巨大威胁。当然，这是一把双刃剑。但这确实使产油国政府在国际事务中比其他那些类似的多国联合组织更具影响力。
In general, the producing areas have virtually no other natural resources. They are usually either deserts, mountains. or jungles, and without oil their people would be poor and backward. As it is. the countries concerned now receive vast annual revenues（国家收入). Moreover, in order to threat the prosperity of countries far more powerful than themselves, they need simply to cut off the exports of oil. This is, of course, a double edged sword; nevertheless, it gives their govenmen are influence in intenational affairs than any comparable group of nations.
