新西兰英语 216 Tongan ship disaster

　　A Royal Commission of Inquiry¹ in Tonga is trying to find out why the ship, the Princess Ashika sank on August 5th this year. 74 people died; 54 were rescued.
The commission, which is like a court with a judge, started in October. The commission sat for 18 days in October and November. Now there is a break until December 7th.
The commission heard that the ship was in a very bad condition. It had holes in the side, it was rusty³ and parts of it had new paint to cover the rust². The Tongan Shipping⁴ Corporation, which is owned by the Tongan government, bought the ship from Fiji in July. The CEO of the company, John Jonesse, is a New Zealand businessman. He has now lost his job with the shipping company because he did not check to see if the ship was safe. The Head of the Tongan Marine⁵ Authority gave the ship a temporary licence, not a full licence, because he knew it was unsafe. The captain also knew it was unsafe but he said he needed a job.
On the night of August 5th, the captain had been asleep. The chief mate woke him five minutes before the ship sank. He called for passengers to put on life jackets but they didn’t know where the life jackets were kept. Nobody had given the passengers any safety information.
The ship sank very quickly. Only two bodies were found. The other 72 went down with the ship.

1 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。

2 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

3 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

4 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

5 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。