加州樂誌 CALI NAVI

看了這則新聞後，在美國地區的各位朋友請記得，5月15日那天請不要去加油站，藉此達成對石油公司恣意調漲油價的訴求。雖然說效果不見得有用，影響力更是沒想像中明顯，但是人們還是有發聲的權利，所以請奔相走告親朋好友，5月15日請忍耐點別去加油！！若全美真的貫徹作法，以用車人口比例計算，石油商大概會少賺150億美金。


個人翻譯，有誤請見諒：
With gas prices continuing to climb, some more than $3.15 a gallon in Southeast Topeka, Americans are trying to take prices into their own hands. A gas boycott is scheduled for next Tuesday and it's been getting a lot of buzz.
油價持續攀升，部分地區油價達每加侖3.15（南加破了3.5），美國人民打算接管民意代表職責，以自己之力對石油公司表達抗議。一場抵制加油的活動，於下週二全美各地展開，有些看熱鬧的人正等著觀察，看是否真能讓石油公司低頭。

Gas boycotts seem to come around every year and this year is no different. Popular networking sites and emails are going around the country telling everyone not to buy gas on Tuesday.
汽油抵制的活動幾乎每年都在醞釀，今年也比照以往，一些受歡迎的網站和親友間的電子郵件成為傳媒，互相告知今年活動在下週二也就是5月15日展開。

"A friend told me about it. He said don't buy gas on May 15th," says Tim Buckland, Topeka.一名受訪的民眾說：「朋友告訴我，他5月15日那天不會去加油。」

Many feeling the pain at the pump say why not give it a go to see if prices fall.許多飽受油價高昇所苦的人，也希望藉此活動來嘗試，看是否有機會影響油價。

"If the pipeline gets full what will they do with the gas? Maybe the only solution is to lower prices. In reality, it may have a good basis to it," says Rich Blubauda, McPherson.
一位民眾說：「如果第二天加油站的油箱還滿的，妳該怎麼做？也許唯一方法是降價促銷了。」不過，專家持反對看法，認為這不足以讓石油商回心轉意。

But gas experts say fuel boycotts always end in failure.

"They're all 100 percent useless. We all go through a gas out usually for six out of every seven days, so it has no impact on prices at all and no impact on the oil industry at all," says Dr. Chris Kuehl, Armada Corporate Intelligence Managing Director.
一位專業人士說，這是百分之百沒效的，因為一般加油站的油約花六至七天來消耗，所以對石油業來說，根本不會影響價錢。

He says the reason for the recent jump in gas prices is because in the last 11 days, 14 oil refineries have shut down for brief maintenance.他進一步分析，之所以最近油價狂飆，是因為有14家煉油商因進行維修工程，導致供油短缺。

"There was a fine on BP, British Petrolium, earlier this year over an incident that happened years ago at a refinery in Texas, because of that all other refineries became more careful on maintenance issues and some of them have shut down to do maintenance that they might not have shut down to do a year ago," says Kuehl.

專家說，有鑑於今年初發生在德州的煉油場事件，使得多間煉油商未雨綢繆，更小心的維修保養設施，他們甚至因此關閉煉油作業，去年他們就不曾如此，但今年不一樣了！

He says the only way to affect prices will be to get rid of gas guzzling cars and find ways to drive less. Even doing this will take awhile before prices are affected.
他說，唯一方法去影響油價，是減少對汽油的依賴，並且減少駕駛機會。儘管大家都這麼做的話，也要好一陣子才會影響油價。

Gas price experts predict prices in the Midwest will fluctuate this summer, getting as low as $2.70 to as high as $3.40 a gallon.

美國中西部今年夏天汽油還會有場波動價錢可能介於2.7（加州已經很久沒有這價錢）到3.4美元每加侖。