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Oil Price Drop Has Mixed Effects on Texas

Oil rig workers, known as roughnecks, face unemployment as oil prices fall, but the impact is greater in regions like Alaska and North Dakota, where production costs are higher than they are in the Eagle Ford shale area of south-central Texas.

Business has even picked up at Rooster Safety in Pleasanton, Texas, where roughnecks buy gloves, helmets and protective gear.

Store owner James Strange said he'd been getting orders from company purchasing agents who were content with paying more to established suppliers when oil prices were high.

“Now that oil prices are dropping and people want to watch their budgets, they are willing to take an extra 30 minutes to create an account with us so that they can start purchasing and save some money,” he said.

By keeping costs low, some projects in south-central Texas can remain profitable as long as the price of oil stays above $40 a barrel.

Economist Adam Perdue at the University of Houston's Institute for Regional Forecasting, who studies the impact of the slowdown on Texas, said that “exploration and production budgets are being cut anywhere from 10 to 50 percent, with most of them being about 30 percent.”

He said Houston's economy, which experienced 5 percent growth in recent years, would be affected by the lower spending.

“We are predicting there will be 20,000 fewer jobs than there would have been otherwise," Perdue said. "So, we are still predicting growth in the Houston area. It is just going to slow down to a more reasonable rate of just under 2 percent.”

The slowdown will also affect companies that make pipes and fittings for oil exploration and production, as well as trucking companies that supply sand and chemicals for hydraulic fracturing and many other small businesses that serve the energy industry.

But low oil prices are a stimulus to chemical producers that use hydrocarbons to make everything from solvents to fertilizer and plastics. Perdue said new chemical plant construction near Houston would keep many skilled workers employed.

“A lot of these roughnecks that are going to lose their jobs out there in the field are going to be able to come home and get a welding job or a construction job,” he said.

Perdue said oil company analysts see prices rising again in six months or so as the market glut from expanded production decreases.

But, he said, if those assumptions are wrong and oil prices continue to fall, the impact on Houston and Texas in general will be much worse.

詞匯解析

critical

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

adj.批評的；挑剔的；決定性的；危險的

adj.臨界的

參考例句

用作形容詞 (adj.)

It is difficult enough to be critical of our own mistakes.

對我們自己的錯誤采取批評的態(tài)度確實非常困難。

These materials become quite soft and flexible above critical temperature.

這些材料在臨界溫度以上變得十分柔軟和易于彎曲。

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immediate

難度：3星常用詞匯，屬常用6000詞

英漢解釋

adj.直接的；最接近的；立即的；目前的

參考例句

用作形容詞 (adj.)

The evidence has no immediate bearing on the case.

該證據(jù)與本案無直接關系。

Today's immediate problem is one of distribution of both food and income.

目前面臨的緊迫問題是食物分配和收入分配問題。

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impact

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

n.影響；沖擊力；撞擊

vt.擠入；壓緊；撞擊；對 ... 發(fā)生影響

vi.沖擊；撞擊；產(chǎn)生影響

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

But what these people fail to see is that international tourism may bring about a disastrous impact on our environment and local history.

但是這些人忽視了國際旅游可能會給當?shù)丨h(huán)境和歷史造成的災難性的影響。

用作及物動詞 (vt.)

There is a special tool to impact the road when it is under construction so the base is solid.

有種特殊的工具可以在道路修筑過程中將路面壓緊，因此，路基是結(jié)實的。

用作不及物動詞 (vi.)

The company's performance was impacted by the high value of the pound.

公司的業(yè)績受到了英鎊高值的沖擊。

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respond

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

v.回答；響應；反應；反應靈敏；反響

n.[建]壁聯(lián)；[宗]應唱圣歌

參考例句

用作動詞 (v.)

I invited her to dinner but she did not respond.

我請她吃晚飯，但她未作回答。

The professor lectured with a beaming countenance, but the students didn't respond much, only agreeing with what he said.

教授講得眉飛色舞，學生們卻沒有太大的反響，只是隨聲應和。

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hardware

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

n.五金器具；[計] 硬件；武器裝備

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

They carried a vast inventory of hardware.

他們帶著大量的五金器具存貨。

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solar

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

adj.太陽的；太陽能的

參考例句

用作形容詞 (adj.)

The sun is the center of our solar system.

太陽是太陽系的中心

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exposure

難度：3星常用詞匯，屬常用6000詞

英漢解釋

n.暴露；揭露；膠片；曝光時間；(在電視、報紙等媒體上的)亮相；挨凍

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

The girl is very pleased to take exposure on TV singing program.

這個女孩對在電視歌唱節(jié)目上露面非常高興。

He nearly died of exposure on the cold mountain.

他在寒冷的高山上差一點沒有凍死。

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