VOA慢速英语2010年-IN THE NEWS - For 33 Rescued Miners in

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

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Rescue workers at the San Jose gold and copper¹ mine in northern Chile had reason to sing this week. A small hole drilled into the earth became a passage to freedom for thirty-three trapped miners. They spent sixty-nine days underground. "Never have people been trapped for so long so deeply," says a doctor at NASA, the American space agency, which helped in the rescue.

But medical officials in Chile say most of the rescued miners were in good enough health to leave the hospital Friday. Three were released Thursday night.

For much of Thursday, the miners -- thirty-two Chileans and one Bolivian -- relaxed with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera. The miners still wore dark sunglasses to protect their eyes.

A partial mine collapse² on August fifth trapped them more than half a kilometer underground. They had to stretch a two-day food supply. For two weeks no one knew if they were alive or dead.

Later, they received supplies and a video link lowered through drill holes. That link was how Ariel Ticona watched his wife give birth to their daughter.

Luis Urzua, the last miner to be taken out of the San Jose mine near Copiapo, in a photo released by the Chilean government

The miners have apparently³ agreed to share the money they earn from selling their story.

They have already received gifts of money and travel offers. Edison Pena has been invited to the New York City Marathon and to Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee. Mr. Pena described how he ran in the mine tunnels to ease the stress. And he led the miners in singing Elvis songs.

The first miner rescued on Wednesday was Florencio Avalos. The second was Mario Sepulveda, who talked about how the experience tested his faith.

Mario Sepulveda was the second miner rescued

MARIO SEPULVEDA (TRANSLATED): "I was with God and I was with the devil, they fought me, but God won. He took me by my best hand, the hand of God."

The last miner up was Luis Urzua. He was the shift leader when his crew became trapped.

Rescuers used a metal cage to pull the miners to safety in less than twenty-four hours -- faster than expected. The rescue capsule was a half-meter wide and known as the Phoenix⁴.

The Phoenix is an imaginary bird from ancient stories. It bursts into flames but is continually reborn and rises from the ashes.

Chile's Navy built the capsule with advice from mining experts and NASA engineers. It worked like an elevator, traveling up and down on a cable through a shaft⁵ drilled six hundred twenty-two meters into the rocks.

Chile's President Sebastian Pinera, far right, watches a rescue worker enter the Phoenix capsule to begin the rescue of the 33 trapped miners

Workers used a cutting bit made by a small American company, Center Rock. The bit was on a drilling rig made by Schramm, also based in Pennsylvania.

Millions of people around the world watched the rescue. President Obama said he watched the first miner being freed.

More than one thousand journalists traveled to the mine in the Atacama Desert to report on the rescue. They joined family members of the miners and rescue crews housed in an area of tents known as Camp Hope.

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"Very happy," says this man. "Very happy that the boys are coming out. That it ends already, that their suffering and our suffering ends."

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Mario Ritter.
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Includes reporting by Laurel Bowman, Elizabeth Lee and Brian Wagner
 

1 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

4 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

5 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。