新西兰英语 505 Gas pipe break

 　　A break in the Maui gas pipe in the upper North Island has caused very expensive problems. 5000 businesses and other buildings use this gas. They include hospitals, steel factories, universities, swimming pools, restaurants, hotels and milk factories. Middlemore hospital in South Auckland¹ has no heat or laundry². Luckily, the weather is not too cold. Patients were told to bring their own towels. One Auckland hotel is using barbecues to cook meals for their guests. Maybe they will have cold showers.

　　Most of the milk factories are closed and farmers have had to throw out their milk. 30m litres³ of milk were not collected and farmers spread it on the paddocks like fertiliser instead. The milk company, Fonterra, says it is losing $20m a day because the factories are closed and they cannot process milk. This is the busy spring season when cows produce a lot of milk.

　　The gas company, Vector, said it is very difficult to repair this break in the gas pipe. They have to work carefully to make sure there is no explosion⁴. They expect it will take at least two days to repair. In the meantime⁵, some gas is getting through and Fonterra may be able to open some factories tomorrow.

　　The gas comes from the Maui gas field in Taranaki in the west of the North Island and is carried north and east to the upper North Island. The break is in Taranaki, north of New Plymouth. The CEO of Vector thinks the cause of the break is ground movement.

　　Vocabulary

　　laundry – place where sheets and towels are washed

　　patients – sick people in hospital

　　fertiliser – plant food

　　process milk – make milk powder, butter and cheese

　　explosion – like a bomb

　　Questions

　　What causes ground movement?

　　Who should pay if businesses have to close because they have no gas?

1 Auckland   

n.奥克兰(新西兰港市)

参考例句：

• Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand.奥克兰是新西兰最大的城市。
• Return to auckland by bus in afternoon.下午乘车返回奥克兰。

2 laundry   

n.洗衣店，洗衣房；已洗好的衣物，待洗衣物

参考例句：

• Please send clothes to the laundry.请把这些衣物送往洗衣店。
• There's a lot of laundry in the basket.筐子里有许多要洗的衣物。

3 litres   

n.升( litre的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 3 litres of water 3升水
• The barrel would hold 100 litres. 这桶能装一百升。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 explosion   

n.爆发，发出，爆炸

参考例句：

• The police arrived right at the moment of the explosion.警察就在爆炸的那个时候赶到了。
• The shock of the explosion was felt far away.爆炸引起的震动很远都可感觉到。

5 meantime   

n.其时，其间；adv.同时，当时

参考例句：

• I continued working,meantime,he went out shopping.我继续工作，这期间他出去买东西。
• In the meantime we pressed on with the airlift.与此同时，我们加紧进行空运。