新西兰英语 639 Fire in gold mine

 　　A fire started in the engine of a truck, 100m deep in a gold mine in Waihi at 5am this morning. Twenty-eight men were working in the mine at the time, some of them 300m underground. They immediately went to a safety chamber¹ which is a large metal shed with enough oxygen for 36 hours or more. There are three safety chambers² in this mine, each one big enough for 20 people. They have a phone and radio, water, a toilet as well as books and cards. It took about seven hours to rescue the men from the three safety chambers – eight men in one, five in another and 15 in the third one. They were all well and able to walk to the truck which drove them out of the mine. One man may be suffering from smoke inhalation.

　　There is no danger from an explosion in a gold mine, unlike in a coal mine. The mine had regular safety practices so the men knew what to do. However, it was a worrying time until all the men were rescued.

　　The fire is still burning but will probably die out in a day or two.

　　Waihi is on the Coromandel peninsula, 140km south-east of Auckland. Gold was first discovered in Coromandel in1852.

　　Vocabulary

　　chamber – room

　　inhalation – breathing in smoke

　　fire dies (out) – stops by itself

　　peninsula – land like a finger

　　Grammar

　　?It took about seven hours to rescue …

　　Can you make other sentences using ‘It takes’ or ‘It took’ e.g. It takes two hours to drive to Waihi from Auckland. It takes (me) 20 minutes to walk to school.

　　?a worrying time – people were worried

　　Many adjectives are like this in English e.g. a tiring job, people are tired; an interesting talk, people are interested; surprising/ surprised; amazing / amazed; frightening / frightened

1 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

2 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网