长难句解析
①【解析】"It"是形式主语，真正的主语是"to"后面的句子，"while"引导时间状语从句。
【译文】他的通常做法是对来采矿的人"下注"，说得更明确一点就是泰勃供给这些人食品、用品等物品，作为回报，当他们采到矿后就会分给他一部分股份。
全文翻译
Leadville的繁盛时期，有诸多有趣的人物，其中就有H.A.W.Tabor 和他的第二任妻子Elizabeth McCourt ，他们被称为"Baby Doe"。他们的发家史迅速变成古西部的传奇。贺瑞斯、安斯汀、华纳、陶伯原是佛蒙特州的一个老师。1855年，他带着第一任妻子和两个孩子，乘着载有全部家当的马车来到了堪萨斯州的一个农场。也许是他不喜欢务农，也可能是他被科罗拉多州的金矿传奇所吸引，总之，几年之后，他从西部搬到了科罗拉多州的一个被称为加利福尼亚谷的小矿聚集地。之后他成为这个州的州长，便将这里重命名为Leadville。他预言大量的铅矿在这里将被发现。
结果，这里出现的不是铅矿，而是银矿，这些银矿成为Leadville的好运和财富。陶伯本身对矿厂了解很少，于是他开了一个综合经营店，销售从靴子到盐，面粉以及香烟等各式各样的东西给那些需要援助的采矿者，换句话来说，他提供食品和其他供应，一旦有人发现矿厂，作为回报，他也能从中获益。他做了很多年，但是他支助的人都没有发现任何有价值的东西。
1878年的一天，两个矿工来寻求“下注”。但陶伯已经打算放弃了，因为他在此方面花了太多钱却一无所获。他们坚持自己的要求，陶伯忙得没空和他们争吵，所以他说：“好吧，再多一次也无所谓了。”说完他就做生意去了。两个矿工得到了17美金的供给，作为回报，他们将会给予陶伯他们淘金所得的三分之一利润。他们选择了一块荒山挖矿。9天之后，他们挖到了一座很富足的银矿。陶伯买下了两个矿工的股份，独自拥有了整座银矿，这就是后来著名的匹兹堡矿。陶伯以17美金的投资获得了1300000美金的回报。
后来，陶伯在城外的荒山上用$117 000买下了一个举世无双的矿。这个矿甚至比匹兹堡矿更为惊人，它曾为陶伯创下每天$35 000的银产出。Leadville慢慢发展起来了，陶伯成为它的第一个市长，后来又成为这个州的副州长。
3
Is there enough oil beneath the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (保护区) (ANWR) to help secure America’s energy future ? President Bush certainly thinks so. He has argued that tapping ANWR’s oil would help ease California’s electricity crisis and provide a major boost to the country’s energy independence. But no one knows for sure how much crude oil lies buried beneath the frozen earth with the last government survey, conducted in 1998, projecting output anywhere from 3 billion to 16 billion barrels.
The oil industry goes with the high end of the range, which could equal as much as 10% of U.S. consumption for as long as six years. By pumping more than 1 million barrels a day from the reserve for the next two three decades, lobbyists claim, the nation could cut back on imports equivalent to all shipments to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia. Sounds good. An oil boom would also mean a multibillion-dollar windfall(意外之财)in tax revenues, royalties(开采权使用费)and leasing fees for Alaska and the Federal Government. Best of all, advocates of drilling say , damage to the environment would be insignificant . “We’ve never had a document case of oil rig chasing deer out onto the pack ice.” says Alaska State Representative Scott Ogan .
Not so far, say environmentalists. Sticking to the low end of government estimates, the National Resources Defense Council says there may be no more than 3.2 billion barrels of economically recoverable oil in the coastal plain of ANWR, a drop in the bucket that would do virtually nothing to ease America’s energy problems. And consumers would wait up to a decade to gain any benefits, because drilling could begin only after much bargaining over leases, environmental permits and regulatory review. As for ANWR’s impact on the California power crisis, environmentalists point out that oil is responsible for only 1% of the Golden State’s electricity output – and just 3% of the nation’s.
1. What does President Bush think of tapping oil in ANWR?
A) It will exhaust the nation’s oil reserves.
B) It will help secure the future of ANWR.
C) It will help reduce the nation’s oil imports
D) It will increase America’s energy consumption
2. We learn from the second paragraph that the American oil industry _______
A) believes that drilling for oil in ANWR will produce high yields
B) tends to exaggerate America’s reliance on foreign oil
C) shows little interest in tapping oil in ANWR
D) expects to stop oil imports from Saudi Arabia
3. Those against oil drilling in ANWR argue that _________
A) it can cause serious damage to the environment
B) it can do little to solve U.S. energy problems
C) it will drain the oil reserves in the Alaskan region
D) it will not have much commercial value
4. What do the environmentalists mean by saying “Not so fast” (Line 1, Para .3)?
A) Oil exploitation takes a long time
B) The oil drilling should be delayed
C) Don’t be too optimistic
D) Don’t expect fast returns
5. It can be learned from the passage that oil exploitation beneath ANWR’s frozen earth ______.
A) remains a controversial issue
B) is expected to get under way soon
C) involves a lot of technological problems
D) will enable the U.S. to be oil independent
这是一篇报道性的文章。文中就美国阿拉斯加州北极地区国家野生动植物保护区(ANWR)地下资源是否开发，以保证美国未来能源的需要，列出了正反两方面的意见。布什总统主张开放这一地区的地下资源，是有业内也积极响应;但环保主义者却提出反对意见，认为此举杯水车薪(a drop in the bucket),无济于事。