新西兰英语 608 Demolition Rubble

 　　Each day, millions of tonnes of rubble¹ go by truck to Bottle Lake Forest in Christchurch. Demolition² companies are working seven days a week to demolish³ buildings in the CBD after the earthquakes caused so much damage. Cranes, bulldozers, excavators, crushers and other machines are everywhere in the red zone of the CBD. And so too is dust.

　　The rubble is often sorted into steel, concrete, brick, glass and as much as possible is recycled. Some clean rubble goes to Lyttelton Port to reclaim⁴ land because the port was badly damaged during the earthquakes.

　　Demolition is a dangerous job and even more dangerous is dealing⁵ with asbestos. Asbestos was used in buildings 30 or 40 years ago but now we know that it can kill people.

　　Last week local Christchurch people living in the north east discovered that the Christchurch City Council wanted to dump 5,000 tonnes of asbestos pipes at Bottle Lake near their houses. Residents were angry so now the Council has changed its mind and the asbestos will go to the usual landfill site in North Canterbury where it will be buried.

　　Vocabulary

　　?demolition (n) demolish (v) pull down buildings

　　?rubble – concrete, bricks etc

　　?CBD – Central Business District

　　?reclaim – put rubble into the sea to make land

　　?landfill site –a huge deep pit where Christchurch rubbish goes. It is then covered with soil.

　　Questions

　　?Why was asbestos popular?

　　?How did it kill people?

1 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。

2 demolition   

n.破坏,毁坏,毁坏之遗迹

参考例句：

• The church has been threatened with demolition for years. 这座教堂多年来一直面临拆毀的威胁。
• The project required the total demolition of the old bridge. 该项目要求将老桥完全拆毁。

3 demolish   

v.拆毁(建筑物等)，推翻(计划、制度等)

参考例句：

• They're going to demolish that old building.他们将拆毁那座旧建筑物。
• He was helping to demolish an underground garage when part of the roof collapsed.他当时正在帮忙拆除一个地下汽车库，屋顶的一部份突然倒塌。

4 reclaim   

v.要求归还，收回；开垦

参考例句：

• I have tried to reclaim my money without success.我没能把钱取回来。
• You must present this ticket when you reclaim your luggage.当你要取回行李时，必须出示这张票子。

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。