The resurgence in U.S. energy came from a group of brash wildcatters who discovered techniques to hydraulically fracture -- or frack -- and horizontally drill shale and other rock. Many of these men operated on the fringes of the oil industry, some without college degrees or much background in drilling, geology or engineering.

美国能源行业的复苏要归功于一批自负的投机勘探者，是他们首创了水力压裂以及页岩和其他岩石的横向 探技术。这其中许多人从事的是石油行业的边缘领域，一些人并没有大学学位，也没有什么 探、地质学或工程背景。

In the late 1990s, George Mitchell, the son of a Greek goatherder, ran a midsize Houston-based company with shrinking natural-gas production. His stock price was falling, the industry was on its back, the 79-year-old had been diagnosed with cancer and his wife was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. In almost two decades of trying, his men had not been able to coax enough natural gas from Mitchell Energy's Texas shale fields. But in 1998, one of Mr. Mitchell's engineers finally figured out how to properly fracture shale, stunning colleagues and larger competitors while launching the American energy revolution.

20世纪90年代末，希腊牧羊人的儿子乔治?米切尔(George Mitchell)在休斯敦经营一家名为米切尔能源（Mitchell Energy）的中型公司，当时这家公司面临天然气产量不断减少的局面。公司股价在下跌，整个行业都在走下坡路，79岁的米切尔被诊断出癌症，他的妻子则患有早期阿尔茨海默病(Alzheimer's disease)。经过近20年的尝试，米切尔手下员工仍未能从该公司位于德克萨斯州的页岩田中开采出充足的天然气。但到了1998年，米切尔手下一名工程师最终找到了压裂页岩的适当方法，这件事为美国能源革命拉开了序幕，震惊了同行及更大的竞争对手。

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