新西兰英语 416 Memorial Service

　　Today, a memorial service was held for students and teachers from an English Language school who died following the earthquake on Feb 22nd. Their school was on the fifth floor of the CTV building which collapsed¹, killing² 71 students and 9 teachers. 27 were young students from Japan, 22 from China, 12 from the Philippines, 6 from Thailand and 4 from other countries. Another 40 students survived.
More than 700 people attended the service. They included the mayor of Christchurch, some MPs, many emergency people who had helped to find survivors³, family members and friends of those who had died. There were speeches, music and prayers. Students lit candles on the stage for those who had died and everyone was invited to place a New Zealand fern on the floor beside the candles. It was a very sad occasion.
After the earthquake, the Minister of Education met and talked with the families of those students who died. The New Zealand government paid the expenses for two family members of each person missing to come to New Zealand. The families know that New Zealand is doing all that it can do to help during this terrible time. They are grateful for this.
Meanwhile the Prime Minister yesterday said there will be an Inquiry⁴ into why that building and the PG building collapsed. It is important to learn what went wrong so that buildings can be improved in the future.
Questions
How does a service like this help families and friends of those who died?

1 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

2 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。

3 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

4 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。