残骸可能来自于马航失踪航班

Wreckage¹ Could Be From Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 残骸可能来自于马航失踪航班

Investigators² are trying to find out whether a piece of airplane debris³ found in the Indian Ocean is part of flight MH370. That is the name of the Malaysia Airlines jet that mysteriously disappeared nearly 16 months ago.

The piece is about two meters long. It appears to be a part on the wing known as a flaperon. Workers discovered the piece Wednesday on the French island of Reunion. The island is over 3,500 kilometers from where the Boeing 777 last had communications with air traffic controllers.

French aviation officials are examining the piece of wreckage. But they say it is too early to know whether the fragment belongs to the missing jet. If it does, the discovery could represent an important step toward solving one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history.

Workers cleaning a beach on Reunion Island made the discovery earlier this week. They gave photographs of the debris to French aviation expert Xavier Tytelman. He tells VOA he is believes the piece belongs to a Boeing 777.

"We only found one match: it was with the flaperon of the Boeing 777," Tytleman told VOA. "It was not only the shape that matched, but also the holes for the connections in it."

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss has been leading the search for the missing airplane off Australia’s southwest coast. He called the discovery of the airplane debris, a potential breakthrough.

"It won't be all that helpful in pinpointing⁴ precisely⁵ where the aircraft might be located," he said. "But if this wreckage is linked to MH370, it'll certainly confirm that the aircraft has gone into the water in the Indian Ocean."

Erik van Sebille is an oceanographer at Imperial College London. He says it is possible that wreckage from MH370 made its way to Reunion from waters where officials believe the plane went down.  

Mr. Van Sebille studies how debris travels across the ocean. He says that investigators may be able to use ocean currents and wind measurements to find out where the crash took place.

"It's not an easy task to do because over 17 months, the ocean is so chaotic⁶ and there is so much turbulence⁷, if you start somewhere and you backtrack where the plane might have hit the water, you end up with an area that is probably a few hundred miles in diameter."

Such projections⁸, however, would take a lot of time.

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Truss said Thursday that officials still believe the plane is somewhere within the current search area. He said the discovery of the debris is not likely to lead to any change in the search operation for now.

The Malaysia Airlines flight was carrying 239 people when it left from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014, on its way to Beijing. It disappeared from radar⁹ less than two hours later, somewhere over the South China Sea.

Malaysian officials have said they believe someone with knowledge of aircraft turned off the plane's tracking devices and diverted the plane. However, an investigation¹⁰ has discovered few clues.

I’m Mario Ritter.

Words in This Story

debris – n. parts left after something has been destroyed

fragment – n. a part of something that has been broken

chaotic – adj. a state of disorder¹¹

turbulence – n. strong movements of wind or air

potential – n. the possibility that something will happen or develop

tracking – adj. related to following or watching the movement of something

diverted – adj. sent in another direction than first planned

1 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

2 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

4 pinpointing   

准确地找出或描述( pinpoint的现在分词 )； 为…准确定位

参考例句：

• The difficulty of pinpointing primitive and derived characters remains. 要正确地指出原始性状和次生性状仍然感到困难。
• Pinpointing the true source of power in Japan is a notoriously slippery task. 要准确指出日本真正的权力来源，是一项非常困难的任务。

5 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

6 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

7 turbulence   

n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流

参考例句：

• The turbulence caused the plane to turn over.空气的激流导致飞机翻转。
• The world advances amidst turbulence.世界在动荡中前进。

8 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

9 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

10 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

11 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。