英語四六級考試將要在2019年12月進(jìn)行，日常的備考，聽說讀寫都要關(guān)注，其中閱讀理解是考生復(fù)習(xí)的重點(diǎn)和難點(diǎn)，日常備考需要加強(qiáng)英文閱讀練習(xí)，下面是四六級頻道為大家整理的《2019年12月大學(xué)英語六級閱讀晨讀美文：Oil Refining》一文，希望給大家?guī)韼椭?BR>
Oil Refining
An important new industry, oil refining, grew after the Civil War. Crude oil, or petroleum -- a dark, thick ooze from the earth -- had been known for hundreds of years, but little use had ever been made of it. In the 1850's Samuel M. Kier, a manufacturer in western Pennsylvania, began collecting the oil from local seepages and refining it into kerosene. Refining, like smelting, is a process of removing impurities from a raw material. Kerosene was used to light lamps. It was a cheap substitute for whale oil, which was becoming harder to get. Soon there was a large demand for kerosene. People began to search for new supplies of petroleum. The first oil well was drilled by E. L. Drake, a retired railroad conductor. In 1859 he began drilling in Titusville, Pennsylvania. The whole venture seemed so impractical and foolish that onlookers called it "Drake's Folly". But when he had drilled down about 70 feet (21 meters), Drake struck oil. His well began to yield 20 barrels of crude oil a day. News of Drake's success brought oil prospectors to the scene. By the early 1860's these wildcatters were drilling for "black gold" all over western Pennsylvania. The boom rivaled the California gold rush of 1848 in its excitement and Wild West atmosphere. And it brought far more wealth to the prospectors than any gold rush. Crude oil could be refined into many products. For some years kerosene continued to be the principal one. It was sold in grocery stores and door-to-door. In the 1880's refiners learned how to make other petroleum products such as waxes and lubricating oils. Petroleum was not then used to make gasoline or heating oil.