万花筒 2010-02-26&02-27 美国海洋馆驯兽师遭虎鲸袭

A witness to Wednesday's killer¹ whale attack at the SeaWorld amusement park in Florida remembers seeing the orca with trainer Dawn Brancheau's body in its mouth.

 

"When he raced around in the tank and came back. He bobbed up in the air, you know, bobbed up, came down with a person in his mouth, was shaking her violently. A shoe flew off, and sirens² immediately started going off, people were running everywhere."

 

40-year-old Brancheau, a trainer with 16 years experience at SeaWorld, was dead when rescue workers arrived. Named Tillikum, the killer whale has been blamed for drowning a trainer in Canada in 1991, and at SeaWorld in 1999, authorities³ found a naked⁴ man's body across its back, and said he'd likely drowned after suffering hypothermia. SeaWorld trainers were not allowed in the water with Tillikum because of his violent past.

 

We treated Tillikum differently based on the incidents, his previous ones, as well as his size, being 1,200 pounds. We had a very specific training process we had around him, we are very careful around him, we had a limited amount of experienced⁵ trainers that worked him, so to the best of our ability, we tried to provide an environment where we worked with them safely, we never got in the water with him like we did with our other killer whales.

 

A statement from Brancheau's family was read aloud by SeaWorld Orlando's President Dan Brown.

 

"You have all heard what an amazing trainer Dawn Brancheau was and it is true. She was the best. It came naturally to her. Being a trainer was a lifelong dream that she achieved. She loved her job, she loved her animals."

 

The family asked the public and the media to respect their privacy⁶ as they cope⁷ with Dawn's death.

 

Katharine Jackson, Reuters.

 

1 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

2 sirens   

n.汽笛( siren的名词复数 )；妖冶而危险的女人；危险的诱惑；塞壬（古希腊传说中半人半鸟的女海妖，惯以美妙的歌声引诱水手，使他们的船只或触礁或驶入危险水域）

参考例句：

• police cars with lights flashing and sirens blaring 警灯闪烁、警笛刺耳的警车
• In big cities you always hear sirens all the time. 在大城市里，你总能听到警笛声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 authorities   

n.当局，权力，权威；权威( authority的名词复数 )；权力；学术权威；[复数]当权者

参考例句：

• They interceded with the authorities on behalf of the detainees. 他们为被拘留者向当局求情。
• At his instigation we conceal the fact from the authorities. 我们受他的怂恿向当局隐瞒了事实。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 naked   

adj.裸露的；赤裸裸的，无遮蔽的

参考例句：

• To the east of our school,there's a naked hillside.我们学校东边有片光秃秃的山坡。
• The children stripped off their clothes and swam naked in the river.孩子们脱得光溜溜的在河里游泳。

5 experienced   

adj.有经验的；经验丰富的，熟练的

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• Perhaps you and I had better change over;you are more experienced.也许我们的工作还是对换一下好，你比我更有经验。

6 privacy   

n.私人权利，个人自由，隐私权

参考例句：

• In such matters,privacy is impossible.在这类事情中，保密是不可能的。
• She wept in the privacy of her own room.她在自己房内暗暗落泪。

7 cope   

v.(with)竞争，对抗；对付，妥善处理

参考例句：

• He had a lot of work,but he was able to cope.他的活虽多，但还能应付得来。
• They have to cope with a mountain of problems.他们得应付成堆的问题。