新西兰英语 332 After the earthquake

　　After Saturday’s earthquake in the Christchurch area, the main focus was at first on the central city area. There has been a huge amount of damage to older buildings. Many of these were beautiful 100-year old buildings which made the central city attractive. All this area is closed at the moment because of the danger from falling bricks¹ and stone but we have seen pictures on TV of buildings with the front wall missing² or big holes in the roof. Machines are busy demolishing³ buildings which have been badly damaged.
No buses operated today and workplaces in the central city were closed. This will mean a loss of business and a financial cost to owners. The central city is home to many international students studying at language schools.
Schools and pre-schools are also closed until Wednesday to give time to check they are safe and have power, water and sewerage. Some schools may be closed for longer than that because some areas still do not have these services. Both the University of Canterbury and Lincoln University are closed at least until next week. Outside, there are cracks in some buildings and inside, books, papers and equipment were thrown around and broken water pipes flooded some areas. For some graduate students there will be heartache as their experiments are ruined.
We now know that about 100,000 houses are damaged, some of them very badly. In areas near rivers or the sea, where houses have been built on sandy soil, water pushed up through the sand, bringing mud and sand with it. The clean up is hard work for home owners. Some roads developed large cracks; some dropped a metre, some rose a metre. Houses developed cracks. Many houses will have to be demolished⁴.
However, one positive thing is good relationships with neighbours. On Saturday morning, people checked that neighbours were OK. With fine weather Saturday and today, people have been outside helping⁵ each other clean up. Others have volunteered time to help those who have moved out of their homes. There have been many stories of people helping others.
To see photos and a video of Christchurch after the earthquake go to The Press website.
Questions
1. Geological⁶ scientists are saying that this earthquake was not the big one. We are overdue⁷ for a big earthquake somewhere in New Zealand. Should we be worried?
2. Will Christchurch find it difficult to attract international students in the future?

1 bricks   

n.砖( brick的名词复数 )；砖块；积木；可靠的朋友

参考例句：

• He compounded water, sand and soil and formed bricks. 他用水拌和沙和泥土做成砖块。
• The United Auto Workers hit the bricks against General Motors. 联合汽车工人工会举行罢工，反对通用汽车公司。

2 missing   

adj.遗失的，缺少的，失踪的

参考例句：

• Check the tools and see if anything is missing.检点一下工具，看有无丢失。
• All the others are here;he's the only one missing.别人都来了，就短他一个。

3 demolishing   

v.摧毁( demolish的现在分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings. 这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。 来自《用法词典》
• Conventional demolishing work would have caused considerable interruptions in traffic. 如果采用一般的拆除方法就要引起交通的严重中断。 来自辞典例句

4 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 geological   

adj.地质（学）的

参考例句：

• aeons of geological history 数以亿万年计的地质史
• The workers skirted the edge of the cliff on a geological survey. 工人们沿着崖壁作了一次地质勘察。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。