On April 24th , another natural disaster - the oil spill(泄露)in the Gulf of Mexico , happened .
Millions of dollars have been used to help stop the spill and to clean up the animals , beaches , and
land spoiled by the oil . Unfortunately , when many of these chemicals are used , more damage is
caused to the environment , especially to lives in the sea .
     But governments seem to accept the risk of transporting millions of tons of oil by ship every day
so that we can fill up our cars and drive around and cause even more environmental damage .
 Interestingly , the biggest companies in the world produce cars , and the next biggest supply the
gasoline to make them run .
     Of all of today's environmental disasters , an oil spill may actually be one of the least serious .
Although oil is poisonous , it is a natural material . In the end , it breaks down naturally . In 1967
the tanker Torrey Canyon sank off the Scilly Isles near the coast of England and spilled 120,000
tones of oil into the ocean . If you go there today , you will find it hard to see any sign that it ever
happened .
     However , we should be thinking more about reducing our dependency on oil . Governments
should be encouraging research into new technologies , such as cars run by solar power, electricity ,
hydrogen , and so on . Much of this research , in the past , was stopped by the oil , gas , and coal .
If the world's millions of cars were 10% more efficient(高效的), we would need many fewer tankers
crossing the oceans each year . If this happened , the risks of oil spills would be reduced , and the air
we breathe would be cleaner and fresher , too .