新西兰英语 95 Guilty plea from Outdoor Education Centre

　　On April 15th 2008, New Zealand experienced a terrible tragedy: 6 teenagers and a teacher died while on an outdoor education activity in the centre of the North Island. (See April 17th 2008 on this website.) They were canyoning in the Mangatepopo Gorge¹ near Turangi when a sudden flash flood swept them away down the river. The guide did her best to save the students but only 4 survived.
The Department of Labour charged the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits² Centre with not providing safety and care. Today in court, the Centre pleaded⁴ guilty to two charges of not providing safety and care. The chairman and the CEO of the Centre spoke⁵ to the media and it was plain to see they were both very upset about the tragedy. This guilty plea³ means that there will be no court case. The chairman said that a full court case would probably not happen for two years and would cost a great deal of money. The school, the parents and the Outdoor Pursuits Centre have suffered a lot of grief⁶ already. A court case in two years time would be hard on everyone concerned. This plea also means that a Coroner’s Court can be held, to find out exactly what caused the deaths.
The Centre will be sentenced by the court later in the year. They will probably have to pay a huge fine. The Centre is still operating. They have now registered to receive weather warnings by email so that in future they will know immediately when bad weather is expected.
The Outdoor Pursuits Centre will give full details of what went wrong that day, when they are sentenced.

1 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。

2 pursuits   

n.追赶( pursuit的名词复数 )；工作；消遣；嗜好

参考例句：

• Games like chess are rather intellectual pursuits. 棋类比赛是相当费脑力的娱乐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He has been engaged in literary pursuits. 他从事了文学生涯。 来自《用法词典》

3 plea   

n.恳求，申诉，请愿，抗辩，借口

参考例句：

• The naughty boy left the classroom on the plea of a headache.那淘气的男孩借口头疼，离开了教室。
• In making that plea he will breathe in vain.他做那种恳求是白费口舌的。

4 pleaded   

恳求，请求( plead的过去式和过去分词 )； 提出…为借口[理由]； （向法庭）陈述案情； （在法庭）申辩，认罪，辩护

参考例句：

• She pleaded with him not to go. 她恳求他不要离开。
• She wept and pleaded until he agreed to do as she wished. 她哭着恳求他，一直到他答应按她的愿望去做。

5 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。

6 grief   

n.悲伤，悲痛，悲伤的事，悲痛的缘由

参考例句：

• Don't allow yourself to sink into grief,it can do no good.不要使自己陷入悲哀之中，这样一点好处也没有。
• After her mother died,she abandoned herself to grief.母亲死后，她沉浸于悲痛之中。