美国有线新闻 CNN 意大利地震遇难人数升至281人 救援响应迅速

 

First story today takes us to the Southern European nation of Italy. A powerful earthquake struck there last week, its epicenter in the central part of the country. It killed at least 281 people, most of them in a historic city named Amatrice. Many people are still missing. More than 2,000 are huddling¹ in camps because entire villages in the area were flattened².

Along with volcanic³ eruptions⁴ and avalanches⁵, deadly earthquakes are relatively⁶ common in Italy. In addition to the toll⁷ they take on human life, they destroyed heritage as well. The historic buildings that attract tourists are particularly vulnerable in large part because of their age and antique construction.

In his prayers on Sunday, Pope Francis said that the quick way in which authorities, volunteers and civil staff were responding shows how important working together is in overcoming these events.

Fred Pleitgen is there with the firsthand look at how and why the Italians' response is so fast.

SUBTITLE⁸: Italian response to natural disasters.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The catastrophic earthquake in Central Italy had a devastating⁹ effect on many of the towns here in this region, and it's really the thing that makes these towns so beautiful that caused this earthquake to have an even worse impact. These towns are ancient. Many of the buildings are more than a thousand years old. They were built before there were even bricks.

They're made of stone and they're made of mud. And when the earthquake hit and it was a magnitude 6.2, these buildings just fell together and crumbled¹⁰.

The response of this disaster was very quick. The Italians very quickly mobilized over a thousand agencies to get over here as fast as possible, including the military, very fire department, the police, the civil protection force and, of course, local authorities as well. They moved in very fast. They moved in heavy equipment very fast and they moved in important assets like for instance sniffer dogs that are key in the first couple of hours to try and to find people who may have survived the initial shocks of these earthquake.

The Italians have the very mountainous countries. There's a lot of hills. There's a lot of big mountain ranges. And so, the rescue crews here have a lot of experience in getting up into remote areas like this one. They know how to build bridges. They know for instance how to maneuver¹¹ very difficult terrain¹².

The rescue response is probably very different than it would be in the United States. In the U.S., in the initial stages, you would have state authorities, you would have the local police, you have the local fire departments. It would take much longer for the federal authorities, for instance, with the National Guard to move in.

Here, that response is a lot quicker because Italy, of course, is a much smaller country, but also, their disaster plans fall from mobilizing the army for instance much quicker.

1 huddling   

n. 杂乱一团, 混乱, 拥挤 v. 推挤, 乱堆, 草率了事

参考例句：

• Twenty or thirty monkeys are huddling along the thick branch. 三十只猴子挤在粗大的树枝上。
• The defenders are huddling down for cover. 捍卫者为了掩护缩成一团。

2 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

3 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

4 eruptions   

n.喷发，爆发( eruption的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year. 今年火山爆发了好几次。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Over 200 people have been killed by volcanic eruptions. 火山喷发已导致200多人丧生。 来自辞典例句

5 avalanches   

n.雪崩( avalanche的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The greatest dangers of pyroclastic avalanches are probably heat and suffocation. 火成碎屑崩落的最大危害可能是炽热和窒息作用。 来自辞典例句
• Avalanches poured down on the tracks and rails were spread. 雪崩压满了轨道，铁轨被弄得四分五裂。 来自辞典例句

6 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

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 subtitle   

n.副题（书本中的），说明对白的字幕

参考例句：

• His new book has a subtitle.他的新书有一个副标题。
• Ah!I don't know why they don't subtitle these movies.唉！我不知道这些电影为什么不打字幕。

9 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

10 crumbled   

（把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏

参考例句：

• He crumbled the bread in his fingers. 他用手指把面包捻碎。
• Our hopes crumbled when the business went bankrupt. 商行破产了，我们的希望也破灭了。

11 maneuver   

n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略

参考例句：

• All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
• I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。

12 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。