新西兰英语 21 Mangatepopo River Accident – 7 Die

　　The death of 6 teenagers and a teacher on Tuesday afternoon while they were on a school camp came as a terrible shock to all New Zealanders. They were coming down a steep river gorge¹ or canyon² on the Mangatepopo River in the centre of the North Island. The canyon usually has some water in it but suddenly there was a huge flood of water and the 12 people in the canyon were swept into the water, over a 6 metre waterfall and were smashed against rocks. The instructor³ and 4 teenagers survived. One survivor⁴ told how he was thrown against rocks and his helmet broke in half. He managed to hold on to something and climb up the steep bank. He was taken to hospital but allowed to leave the next day.
All the teenagers were students at the Elim Christian⁶ College in Auckland, all aged⁵ 15 or 16. They had been staying at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre in the Tongariro National Park. The school principal said that the school had used this centre for the past 10 years to provide an outdoor experience for their senior students. Teachers and students at the school loved going on this school camp.
The MetService said that they forecast a heavy-rain warning but the Outdoor Pursuits Centre said that they did not receive this information. The police will carry out an inquiry⁷ to see what went wrong. The Minister of Education, Chris Carter, says that guidelines for school camps will be checked to see if there need to be any changes.
Many schools offer outdoor experiences for their students. Students learn kayaking, *abseiling, rock climbing, caving, rafting and boating. Usually school camps, like this one, are run by experienced instructors⁸. This is not the first death of a student on a school camp but it is very unusual for anything to go wrong. It will be very sad if students are not given the chance to experience these activities in the future.
*abseiling is climbing down a cliff on a rope

1 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。

2 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

3 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

4 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

5 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

6 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

7 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

8 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。