新奇事件簿 无人机扰乱英国机场

A drone shut down England's second largest airport for 30 hours earlier this week. Police are hunting for the people who operated the drone. The police believe these people are "eco-warriors". These are activists¹ who take part in protests or take action to raise awareness² of environmental problems. The drone prevented flights from leaving the UK's Gatwick Airport on Wednesday and Thursday. The airport was forced to close its runway. Over 120,000 travellers have been affected³. Many of them were trying to fly home for Christmas. Instead, they had to sleep on the airport floor or try to find flights from other airports. Some passengers spent nine hours sitting on a plane near the boarding gate.

本周早些时候，一架无人机导致英国第二大机场关闭30小时。警察正在搜寻这架无人机操作者。警察认为这些人是“生态斗士”。这是些参与抗议活动或是为了提高环保问题意识而采取行动的活跃分子。周三和周四，无人机妨碍了英国盖特威克机场的飞机起飞。飞机场被迫关闭其跑道。超过12万乘客受到影响。其中很多都是要飞回家过圣诞节的人。而现在他们不得不睡在机场大厅里或是去其他机场找航班。一些乘客在登机口旁边的一架飞机里呆了九个小时。

The British government is now talking about the actions it can take if other people use drones to cause chaos⁴. They are worried people could use drones to attack airports, nuclear power stations and other important buildings. Police said they were in "a game of cat and mouse" with the drone. They said: "Each time we believe we got close to the operator, the drone disappears; when we look to reopen the airfield⁵, the drone reappears again." This happened many times. Hundreds of police officers and the British Army helped to find the drone's operator, but couldn't. The police are worried a drone could cause a plane to crash. The operator of the drone could face up to five years in jail.

英国政府现在正在讨论采取行动以防其他人利用无人机制造混乱。他们担心人们会利用无人机袭击机场、原子能发电站和其他重要建筑。警察表示他们是在和无人机玩“猫捉老鼠的游戏”。他们称：”每次我们觉得快要接近操作者的时候，无人机就消失了；当我们想要重开机场的时候，无人机又出现了。”这发生过很多次了。数百名警官和英国军队帮助寻找无人机操作者，但一无所获。警察们担心无人机会导致飞机坠机。无人机的操作者可能面临高达五年的刑期。

1 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 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。

5 airfield   

n.飞机场

参考例句：

• The foreign guests were motored from the airfield to the hotel.用车把外宾从机场送到旅馆。
• The airfield was seized by enemy troops.机场被敌军占领。