VOA常速英语2007-South Africa Workers Emerge Slowly From Depths o

By Peta Thornycroft
04 October 2007

More than 3,000 gold miners trapped for hours in a South African gold mine, since Wednesday were mostly safe and back above ground by night fall Thursday. Peta Thornycroft has more for VOA News.

The accident happened at Harmony Gold's Elandsrand mine, near Cartetonville, 75 kilometers west of Johannesburg. Harmony officials said the accident was caused when a broken pipe severed¹ power cables to an elevator early on Wednesday.

Some workers have been underground for 36 hours, since starting night shifts on Tuesday evening.

The more than 3,000 miners were being brought out through a small shaft² normally used for mining equipment, and only 75 could be hauled at a time: no more than 300 in an hour. By midday Thursday, nearly 2,000 had been freed from the mine.

Harmony officials said they were not sure why the pipe fell as it was checked for safety on a weekly basis. But, the National Union of Mineworkers said lack of maintenance had caused the pipe to collapse³ and fall down the mine

Harmony Gold's general manager Stan Bierschenk said the men trapped under ground for more than 24 hours had remained calm.

 

There are nearly half a million mine workers in South Africa. According to statistics released last month by the government's Mine Health and Safety Council, last year there were 199 fatal accidents. This is the first accident at the Elandsrand mine.

Most of the men who emerged from the dark underground were dazed when they came into the light at the surface. Some celebrated⁴ by singing as they walked away from the shaft, and others said they had survived by "the grace of God."

Harmony's chairman, Patrice Motsepe said the company would review safety on the mine as a matter of urgency.

1 severed   

v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂

参考例句：

• The doctor said I'd severed a vessel in my leg. 医生说我割断了腿上的一根血管。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We have severed diplomatic relations with that country. 我们与那个国家断绝了外交关系。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 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。

4 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。