澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-12-28

 (Good morning!) Authorities are warning there's worse to come in Queensland's worst floods in half a century. Towns, west and north of Brisbane, have been cut off by floodwaters. Some residents have left their homes; many more are getting ready to do the same. Chinchilla, Dalby, and Warwick in the south, and Theodore and Rockhampton in central Queensland are at greatest risk. 

 

Police have arrested three teenagers who tried to ride the floodwaters on inflatable mattresses¹ in Queensland. The teens attempted to ride the current 30 kilometres downstream to Southbank in Brisbane's CBD. Police and Emergency Services found them floating on the swollen² Bremer River, 15 kilometres from where they started.

 

Across the border, floods in northeastern New South Wales are expected to ease later today. About 100 people in Kyogle have fled the rising Richmond River. There's (have口误) also been evacuations in Eugowra. Emergency workers are also keeping an eye on villages like Urbenvile and Bonalbo which will be cut off for days. 

 

Wild weather is causing chaos³ on America's east coast. Blizzards⁴ have closed airports and severely⁵ disrupted road and rail travel. A state of emergency is being declared in six states. 

 

And two children have been injured in an overnight shooting in Sydney's southwest. Police say a man knocked on the door of the Greenacre home about 10:30 before firing several shots inside. An 11-year-old girl was struck in the thigh⁶, and a 16-year-old boy was hit in the foot.

1 mattresses   

褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
• The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。

2 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

3 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

4 blizzards   

暴风雪( blizzard的名词复数 )； 暴风雪似的一阵，大量（或大批）

参考例句：

• Even in the summertime we might be struck by blizzards. 甚至在夏天，我们也可能受到暴风雪的袭击。
• Blizzards battered Britain for the third day. 大风雪袭击英国已进入第三天。

5 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

6 thigh   

n.大腿；股骨

参考例句：

• He is suffering from a strained thigh muscle.他的大腿肌肉拉伤了，疼得很。
• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。