VOA标准英语2014--航空专家说导弹能显示发射信息

 

Airline Expert: Missile will Show Signature on Debris¹ 航空专家说导弹能显示发射信息

The debris field from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is spread over a 21-kilometer radius² in eastern Ukraine.  It is expected to take investigators⁴ months to sort through the airplane pieces to learn about the missile that brought down the jetliner and who fired it.

Soon, a multi-national force set up by the United Nations will guard the ground where the Malaysian airliner⁵ crashed after being hit by a missile over Ukraine.

The debris field was unsecured for days after the crash.  One investigator³ says he saw local workers cutting away the wreckage⁶ with a chainsaw.  

Experts worry that some pieces have been repositioned or removed, leaving the scene compromised.

Jim Wildey retired⁷ from the National Transportation Safety Board after 37 years.  His job was to determine if explosives caused a plane crash.

His team investigated the deadly crash of TWA Flight 800, which went down shortly after takeoff from New York.  Authorities initially⁸ suspected it was caused by a bomb, but the NTSB ruled that out.

Wildey says missiles will leave a signature burn on the wreckage.

“If a missile explodes nearby, you’d expect a shotgun blast of holes with concurrent⁹ damage associated with over pressure of the missile exploding.  If it’s further away, it might not be so obvious," said Wildey.

Wildey says this investigation¹⁰ is unlike any other because of the circumstances - a passenger plane shot down over a conflict zone in eastern Ukraine.  

Many are asking why some - like Malaysia Airlines - continued flying in the airspace, while others thought it was too dangerous.

Kenneth Quinn is with the Flight Safety Foundation.  He says in the past, governments avoided setting up no-fly zones over civil conflicts.  Local fighters typically did not have access to surface-to-air missiles that could reach cruising altitudes of passenger planes.  U.S. intelligence analysts¹¹ say a Russian SA-11 "Buk" missile downed the Malaysian-bound aircraft.

“This is a new threat, a new kind of capability¹² that heretofore had only been possessed¹³ by some of the large powers - principally Russia and the United States and the Mideastern powers and China. So to have the ethnic¹⁴ strife¹⁵, the civil war and high-range missile anti-aircraft batteries is quite ominous¹⁶ and something we would want to prevent," said Quinn.

As investigators search for clues, airline experts want a global summit to address this new dynamic in local conflicts.

1 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。

2 radius   

n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限

参考例句：

• He has visited every shop within a radius of two miles.周围两英里以内的店铺他都去过。
• We are measuring the radius of the circle.我们正在测量圆的半径。

3 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

4 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》

5 airliner   

n.客机，班机

参考例句：

• The pilot landed the airliner safely.驾驶员使客机安全着陆。
• The passengers were shepherded across the tarmac to the airliner.旅客们被引导走过跑道去上飞机。

6 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。

7 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

8 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

9 concurrent   

adj.同时发生的，一致的

参考例句：

• You can't attend two concurrent events!你不能同时参加两项活动！
• The twins had concurrent birthday. 双胞胎生日在同一天。

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 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

12 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

13 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

14 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

15 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

16 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。