Thousands Mourn Victims of Russian Hockey Plane Crash

 　　An estimated 100,000 people gathered Saturday in Russia's western city of Yaroslavl to honor the victims of a plane crash that devastated¹ a local ice hockey team.

　　Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin joined the mourners for a ceremony at a hockey arena² in Yaroslavl.  They laid flowers near coffins³ containing the remains⁴ of players and staff from Russia's Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team.

　　Wednesday's accident took the lives of 43 of the 45 people on board the plane.  Most of those killed were members of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, many of them international hockey stars.  Coaches and club officials also perished.

　　The two survivors⁵, player Alexander Galimov and crew member Alexander Sizov, are hospitalized in critical condition.

　　Russian aviation experts are investigating the crash.  They say the plane's engines were operating until the moment of the crash, and that the stabilizer and flaps were in their proper positions.

　　The Yak-42 passenger jet crashed following takeoff from Yaroslavl, about 240 kilometers northeast of Moscow.  The hockey team was headed to Minsk, Belarus for its opening game of the season.

　　Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered a thorough probe into the cause of the crash, which is the latest in a series of fatal plane disasters in the country.

　　Last month, 11 people died when an Antonov-12 cargo⁶ plane crashed in Russia's far northeastern region of Siberia.  In June, a Soviet-built Tupolev passenger plane crashed in northwest Russia, killing⁷ 45 people.?

1 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

2 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

3 coffins   

n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物

参考例句：

• The shop was close and hot, and the atmosphere seemed tainted with the smell of coffins. 店堂里相当闷热，空气仿佛被棺木的味儿污染了。 来自辞典例句
• Donate some coffins to the temple, equal to the number of deaths. 到寺庙里，捐赠棺材盒给这些死者吧。 来自电影对白

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 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

6 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

7 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。