VOA标准英语2008年-23 Miners in Ukraine Rescued, Others Remain Tra

By Stefan Bos
Budapest
09 June 2008

Rescue workers in Ukraine have pulled 23 coal miners from a one-thousand meter deep shaft¹. At least 13 others remain trapped in the mine, which was the scene of a powerful explosion on Sunday. As Stefan Bos reports from Budapest, at least one mine worker was killed in the blast.

Rescue workers are trying to save workers still trapped at Ukraine's Karl Marx coal mine in Yenakiyevo, northeast of the regional capital Donetsk.

The remaining miners have been trapped since early Sunday about one-thousand-meters underground, after what is believed to have been a methane-gas explosion rocked the state-run mine during repair work.
　

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Ukrainian miners of Karl Marx mine in small city of Yenakiyevo, Koval Ivan (L) and Vitenko Nikolay, embrace one another after they were rescued , 09 Jun 2008

Several workers have been brought out alive.

Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov says rescue workers remain hopeful to find more survivors². The miners brought out today were found after rescue workers heard voices coming from the damaged shaft.

Russia Today television talked to distraught family members anxiously awaiting news of rescue efforts.

"I am waiting for my son. I have waited for so many hours. I have no more strength to wait," said one woman. "They keep telling us to wait one more hour. One more hour. How many more hours can we wait. Nobody does anything and my son is waiting there somewhere below. And maybe he is dead."

A miner also expressed his frustration³ about working conditions at the mine, where operations had been suspended so workers could improve safety standards.

"I feel no one needs me," said one miner. "Just like nobody needs the people who died here."

Eleven miners were killed in a mine explosion in the same area two weeks ago. Three blasts at the Zasyadko mine in Donetsk late last year killed 106 men in two weeks.

More than 4,800 mine workers have died since the collapse of the Soviet⁵ Union, making Ukraine's mine industry one of the most dangerous in the world.

The government has begun closing mines amid mounting concerns about the number of fatalities⁶.

1 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。

2 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

3 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

4 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。

5 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

6 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》