新西兰英语 539 Pike River Mine Inquiry

 　　The Pike River Mine Commission is still listening to evidence about why 29 men died at the mine last November. Each day, we hear about things that were not right at the mine. There were money problems. The mine was losing money and the men were under pressure to bring out more coal. They were promised a bonus of up to $100,000 if they could increase the amount of coal they mined. Some of the miners covered up the methane¹ gas sensors³ and used explosives in an unsafe manner. The managers would not listen when they were told about safety problems.

　　Nobody told the Board of Directors about the mine being unsafe.

　　The former Chief Executive resigned just seven weeks before the explosion. He moved to Australia and refused to return to give evidence to the Royal Commission. He was the Chief Executive for three years, from the time when the Pike River mine first began. Right from the beginning, there were problems with the mine. The plan was to produce 1 million tonnes of coal a year from 2007 but the first coal was not until early 2010 and that was only 60,000 tonnes. It was always a difficult mine. It had a long tunnel and there were many technical problems.

　　For more about the Pike River Mine, type “coal” in the search box.

　　Vocabulary

　　evidence – people tell what they know

　　under pressure – stress

　　bonus – extra money

　　sensor² – it can tell when there are high methane levels

　　former – the one before, previous

　　resigned – left his job and moved to another job

　　produce coal – remove it from the mine so that it can be sold

　　technical problems e.g. with machines

1 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

2 sensor   

n.传感器，探测设备，感觉器（官）

参考例句：

• The temperature sensor is enclosed in a protective well.温度传感器密封在保护套管中。
• He plugged the sensor into a outlet.他把传感器插进电源插座。

3 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句