VOA标准英语2009年-Power Failure Brings Sydney to a Halt

A widespread power blackout brought chaos¹ to the heart of Australia's biggest city, Sydney. Thousands of homes have been left without electricity and there has been mayhem for commuters when the power failure forced the closure of major tunnels.

The power failure struck Australia's biggest city during the evening rush hour. For tens of thousands of commuters and shoppers, the journey home proved to be long and frustrating² as traffic lights were blacked out, causing massive congestion³.

A spokesman for power company, Energy Australia, said the blackout was caused by an unspecified problem with high-voltage cables that service two major substations in the central business district.

The Sydney Harbor tunnel was closed along with other major routes out of the city and hundreds of office buildings were left in darkness.

Fire fighters say they were inundated⁴ with calls about automatic fire alarms and dozens of people trapped in elevators had to be rescued.
　
The Sydney Opera House with the lights on (top) before 'Earth Hour' takes place and then during the hour (bottom) in Sydney, Australia, 28 Mar⁵ 2009

New South Wales Fire Department Superintendent⁶ Craig Brierley says it has been a hectic⁷ time.

"It has been a bit chaotic⁸ for a lot of the emergency services. I know the fire brigade had, at one stage, over 40 incidents happening at the one time," said Brierley. "We received numerous triple zero [emergency] calls when the power went out. A lot of our calls were to automatic fire alarms, which is buildings-installed fire protection, but probably the major things that we went to were lift rescues."

In the city center and some surrounding suburbs about 70,000 homes and businesses lost power. After more than 2.5 hours, power slowly started returning to many areas.

The outage forced the cancellation⁹ of Monday's performances at Sydney's iconic Opera House.

The blackout comes two days after Sydney deliberately¹⁰ turned off its lights for Earth Hour 2009, a global campaign by environmental groups that urges people to turn their lights off for 60 minutes to highlight the issue of climate change.

1 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。

2 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 congestion   

n.阻塞，消化不良

参考例句：

• The congestion in the city gets even worse during the summer.夏天城市交通阻塞尤为严重。
• Parking near the school causes severe traffic congestion.在学校附近泊车会引起严重的交通堵塞。

4 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 mar   

vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟

参考例句：

• It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴。
• Such a marriage might mar your career.这样的婚姻说不定会毁了你的一生。

6 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

7 hectic   

adj.肺病的；消耗热的；发热的；闹哄哄的

参考例句：

• I spent a very hectic Sunday.我度过了一个忙乱的星期天。
• The two days we spent there were enjoyable but hectic.我们在那里度过的两天愉快但闹哄哄的。

8 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

9 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

10 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。