cap

据报道，美国夏威夷州从本周三开始对汽油批发价格采取限制措施，它也成为美国第一个对油价进行限制的州。外电报道如下： In an effort to gain some control over what motorists pay at the pump, Hawaii on Wednesday became the first state in the U.S. to set caps on the wholesale price of gasoline. The 2004 law authorizing the caps was intended to force Hawaii's two refiners, Chevron Corp. and Tesoro Corp., to set their wholesale prices closer to mainland rates. Proponents of the law said the refiners were taking advantage of the small, isolated market to charge exorbitant prices. 此处的Cap可不是"帽子"的意思，而是put a limit on (the amount of money that can be charged or spent in connection with a particular activity) 表示"限制"。如：We're trying to cap costs by keeping salary increases low.（我们通过保持工资的低增长来限制成本。）再如：Central government has imposed a cap (= limit) on local tax increases.（中央政府对地方税收实行限制。） （中国日报网站编）