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Vienna－In spite of Iraq’s decision to stop oil deliveries, the 11- nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries（OPEC）will not increase production to make up the shortfall, ministers decided Tuesday in Vienna.

The 11 oil ministers decided to meet again on July 3 to discuss the effects of the Iraq temporary stop. The organization’s president, Charkid Kheria of Algeria, said after the meeting that stocks were high and prices were stable, so quota increases were not necessary.

The E.U. Commission has expressed concern about Iraq’s output stop. A speaker said OPEC had to take all possible measures to keep or lower the oil price.

Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali Al-Nuaimi had earlier said there would not be any shortfall of oil in the market. The organization had already taken steps to fill the gap, he said. OPEC Secretary General Ali Rodriguez added that the period of Iraq’s output stop was not known, so other exporters were not going to lift quotas yet. If the market was destabilized (使……动摇), a suitable response could be made.

Iraq on Monday stopped shipments of crude oil to protest against the U.N. Security Council’s decision to extend the oil-for-food programme by only a month, instead of the normal six-month renewal. Just before the Vienna meeting, oil prices had gone up, with a barrel of OPEC crude oil selling for 27.05 dollars, up from 26.81 dollars last Friday. North sea oil was at 29.26 dollars Monday evening.

OPEC wants the oil price to stay within a margin of 22 to 28 dollars and achieved that with cuts in January and March that reduced 2.5 million barrels per day off quotas(配额).

17. Iraq made the decision to stop oil deliveries because ___________.

A. oil price is too low in international market.

B. The U.N. Secretary Council has decided to shorten the time of extension of the oil-for-food programme

C. Many oil wells were destroyed during the war in the late 1980s

D. It couldn’t get enough money to develop its economy

18. The attitude the E.U. Commission took towards Iraq’s output stop is ________.

A. active B. concerned C. cold D. surprised

19. The 11 oil ministers decided to meet on July 3 so that _________.

A. they can persuade Iraq to continue oil production

B. they can have a talk with the U.N. Security Council

C. they can have a discussion about the effects of Iraq’s temporary output stop

D. they can make up their minds to increase oil production

20. The main idea of the passage is ________.

A. the oil prices in the world were stable though Iraq has stopped oil deliveries

B. OPEC has controlled the oil price to stay within a margin of 22 to 28 dollars

C. OPEC will not increase oil production to make up the shortfall that caused by Iraq

D. Oil is connected with people’s daily life

答案与解析：

这是一篇新闻报道，文章看似难，但设题并不难做，对于这样的题型，我们可以先看题，再采取查读的方式做题，然后再返回读文章印证答案。

17. B. 由文章后数第二段第一句可知。

18. B. 由文章第三段可知。

19. C. 文章第二段第一句说明。

20. C. 文章开头就点明了OPEC对伊拉克暂停供油的态度，下文又进行了分述。