2015年经济学人 土耳其采矿进行时 地下墓地

Mining in Turkey

Death underground

The tragedy in Soma will also be felt in politics

TURKEY'S prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, faces public fury after the country's worst-ever industrial accident.

At least 282 miners died after an explosion at the Soma mine in the western province of Manisa on May 13th.

Rescue workers battled to rescue hundreds more feared to be trapped in galleries where fires continued to rage.

More than 350 were saved. Taner Yildiz, the energy minister, declined to say exactly many people were inside the mine when the accident happened.

A stream of dead miners, faces blackened by coal, were pulled out, as crowds of stricken relatives strained to identify loved ones.

“Our hopes are fading,” Mr Yildiz conceded. Most of the dead were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning.

The government announced three days of national mourning.

Mr Erdogan cancelled a trip to Albania to go to Soma, where he pledged a thorough investigation¹,

was booed, and sought refuge in a shop, only to scuffle with furious protesters.

The Soma accident will focus new attention on Turkey's dismal² coal-mining safety record.

Nearly 600 miners have died since 1983, before this week.

“Eighty percent of these could have been avoided if necessary safety measures had been taken,” fumed³ Mahmut Arslan,

chairman of the Hak Is workers' confederation.

“The priority is not safety but profitability.” Turkey's economy is energy-hungry: the bill for energy imports is second to China's.

The labour ministry⁴ gave the Soma mine a clean bill of health in March.

On a visit last year, Mr Yildiz heaped praise on it.

Yet Ozgur Ozel, a deputy from the opposition⁵ Republican People's Party (CHP),

petitioned the parliament in April to launch fresh inspections⁶,

saying he had been inundated⁷ with complaints from his constituents⁸ about safety conditions.

His bid was rejected by Mr Erdogan's Justice and Development (AK) party.

Citing European figures from the mid-19th century, Mr Erdogan insisted such accidents were “natural” and happened “all over the world”.

In so doing he “revealed the truth that we [Turkey] are a century behind the times,” tweeted Sezin Oney, a liberal commentator⁹.

The disaster may yet unleash¹⁰ more mass protests of the kind that rocked Turkey last summer.

These were prompted by government plans to build a shopping mall over Gezi park in Istanbul.

Hundreds of protesters have already clashed with police, calling the Soma accident “murder” and demanding that the government resign.

In the Istanbul metro¹¹ commuters played dead on platform floors in solidarity¹² with the miners.

The trade unions and the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party separately called for a nationwide strike on May 15th.

All this is unwelcome news for Mr Erdogan who, buoyed¹³ by AK's big win in the March 30th local elections,

has set his sights on the Turkish presidency¹⁴ when it comes up for grabs in August.

His critics, now led by Fethullah Gulen, Turkey's most influential¹⁵ Muslim cleric,

who commands an empire of schools and media outlets¹⁶ from self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, will seize on the Soma tragedy.

A campaign centred on corruption¹⁷ claims linking Mr Erdogan and his family to shady property deals and kickbacks¹⁸ from business cronies

is said to have been masterminded by Gulenists in the police and in the judiciary.

Mr Erdogan has launched what he admits is “a witch hunt”, demoting and reshuffling hundreds of Gulenists within the bureaucracy.

In Soma he warned against “extremists seeking to exploit this tragedy.”

Yet even pro-AK commentators¹⁹ have called for the energy and labour ministers to go.

1 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

2 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。

3 fumed   

愤怒( fume的过去式和过去分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟

参考例句：

• He fumed with rage because she did not appear. 因为她没出现，所以他大发雷霆。
• He fumed and fretted and did not know what was the matter. 他烦躁，气恼，不知是怎么回事。

4 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

5 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

6 inspections   

n.检查( inspection的名词复数 )；检验；视察；检阅

参考例句：

• Regular inspections are carried out at the prison. 经常有人来视察这座监狱。
• Government inspections ensure a high degree of uniformity in the standard of service. 政府检查确保了在服务标准方面的高度一致。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 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》

8 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

10 unleash   

vt.发泄，发出；解带子放开

参考例句：

• They hope to create allies to unleash against diseases,pests,and invasive species.他们希望创造出一些新群体来对付疾病、害虫和一些有侵害性的物种。
• Changing water levels now at times unleash a miasma of disease from exposed sewage.如今，大坝不时地改变水位，从暴露的污水释放出了疾病瘴气。

11 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

12 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

13 buoyed   

v.使浮起( buoy的过去式和过去分词 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• Buoyed by their win yesterday the team feel confident of further success. 在昨天胜利的鼓舞下，该队有信心再次获胜。
• His encouragement buoyed her up during that difficult period. 他的鼓励使她在那段困难时期恢复了乐观的情绪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

15 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

16 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

17 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

18 kickbacks   

n.激烈反应( kickback的名词复数 )；佣金，回扣

参考例句：

• Everyone at City Hall is receiving kickbacks. It's the only way to get anything done there. 市政府里的每个人都收回扣，在那里只有送红包，事情才办得成。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• G raft or kickbacks paid to officials or law enforcem ent authorities. 暗中付给官员或执法人员的回扣。 来自互联网

19 commentators   

n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员

参考例句：

• Sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 体育解说员翻来覆去说着同样的词语，真叫人腻烦。
• Television sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 电视体育解说员说来说去就是那么几句话，令人厌烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》