One Week After Disaster Japan Ponders Future

    It's been a week since a massive（巨大的） earthquake and tsunami¹（海啸） devastated² a large part of eastern Japan killing³ at least 6,548 people. While much of the attention remains⁴ focused on the crippled Fukushima number one nuclear plant, Japan's government has also begun looking at what comes next.
    At 2:46 p.m. March 18, the disaster-hit north of Japan paused. Survivors⁵ bowed their heads and rescue work stopped for just one minute.
    Japan marked the one-week anniversary of the combined earthquake and tsunami disaster with a grim statistic⁶: the death toll⁷ passed that of 1995's earthquake in Kobe and it's likely to keep rising with more than 9,000 unaccounted for.
    The disaster displaced some 380,000 people, who are currently living in over 2,000 shelters.
    Friday Yoshihiro Murai, the governor（主管人员） of hard-hit Miyagi prefecture, suggested they might move to other parts of Japan.
    Murai says there are 220,000 people homeless in his prefecture, and the local government will not be able to provide temporary housing for them any time soon. He says he will ask survivors to consider moving so they can enjoy better living conditions.
    Aid continues to roll into the area, but damage to infrastructure⁸ is making distribution difficult. Life remains tough for the displaced, with complaints about shortages of food, water and gasoline.
    But, day by day, more roads are being reopened allowing trucks of relief goods to reach most victims. However, some communities remain cut off.
    ReassuranceOn Friday evening, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan spoke⁹ of the hardships in an address to the nation.
    Kan said he understands people in shelters are cold and don't have enough food, but the government is doing all it can. He said he hopes to return a sense of security to them soon.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

2 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

6 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

7 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

8 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。