万花筒 2008-05-19&-05-20 聚焦汶川大地震

This is what's left after a magnitude 7. 9 earthquake rumbles¹ through a city of more than 20, 000. When the side of the mountain came crashing down, a tidal wave of earth swept everything before it. The pile of wreckage² is massive. Survivors³ make the slow and dangerous climb to the top. Once there, they call out the names of the missing, hoping they'll answer back, but rarely do. This young man's mother has died, she was buried alive when the buildings collapsed⁴. One of the highest peaks in the city of Beichuan is the top of all this dirt, concrete and steel.

 

"This pile of rubble⁵ is probably about five stories tall, it's even higher over there just beyond the destroyed cell phone tower. And just over here is another building which appears to have completely toppled over at right angles."

 

Cars and trucks were picked up and dumped on top. On the other side of this mountain city, giant boulders⁶ came crashing down, smashing buildings from their foundations, flattening⁷ cars and people. How close must this person have come to almost making it out alive, killed in the doorway⁸ of an apartment building.

 

Jofen Yin and her brother are looking for her husband.

"This is his photo", she says. Along with a few personal possessions, that's all they find.

There are still survivors, but rescue crews are facing fatigue⁹, and the body bags are being left on the sidewalk, more than a hundred in this street alone.

 

The longer this rescue operation continues, the less likely the chances of anyone being found alive. In fact here in Beichuan city, there is so much damage, so much destruction that it's unlikely that all the bodies will ever be found, turning this valley into a mass grave.

 

The Chinese government must soon decide what to do with cities like Beichuan and more importantly for now, what to do with millions of people who are now homeless.

 

John Vause, CNN, Beichuan, China.

 

1 rumbles   

隆隆声，辘辘声( rumble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• If I hear any rumbles I'll let you know. 我要是听到什么风声就告诉你。
• Three blocks away train rumbles by. 三个街区以外，火车隆隆驶过。

2 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

3 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

4 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

5 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

6 boulders   

n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾

参考例句：

• Seals basked on boulders in a flat calm. 海面风平浪静，海豹在巨石上晒太阳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The river takes a headlong plunge into a maelstrom of rocks and boulders. 河水急流而下，入一个漂砾的漩涡中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 flattening   

n. 修平 动词flatten的现在分词

参考例句：

• Flattening of the right atrial border is also seen in constrictive pericarditis. 右心房缘变平亦见于缩窄性心包炎。
• He busied his fingers with flattening the leaves of the book. 他手指忙着抚平书页。

8 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

9 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。