新西兰英语 512 More oil in the sea

 　　The ship Rena which hit a reef¹ near Tauranga is now leaking much more oil. Listen to October 9th 2011 to hear background to this.

　　The sea has been rough today with waves as high as five metres. The ship is now lying at an eighteen degree angle². Early this morning it was only a five degree angle. The crew and workers were taken off the ship because it was not safe for them to stay on it.

　　Now more oil has leaked into the sea, perhaps about 300 tonnes and has reached the beaches along the coast. Some seabirds have died.

　　Another problem is that some of the containers on the ship carry dangerous chemicals which could explode if they get wet.

　　The Minister for the Environment said that this is New Zealand’s worst environmental disaster at sea. It could take weeks or even months to clean up the oil.

　　However, nothing can be done until the weather improves.

　　Grammar

　　Note the present perfect tense for an action that started in the past and is still continuing -e.g. the sea has been rough; oil has leaked; has reached; have died.

　　Note passive³ for an action done by someone else, we don’t know who – e.g. crew and workers have been taken off

　　Pronunciation: An eighteen degree angle (It is too hard to say “a eighteen”. The “n” sound helps between two vowels).

1 reef   

n.礁，礁石，暗礁

参考例句：

• The ship and its crew were lost on the reef.那条船及船员都触礁遇难了。
• The ship was wrecked on a coral reef.这条船在珊瑚暗礁上撞毁了。

2 angle   

n.角，角度，立场，观点

参考例句：

• The high jumper took off at a bad angle.跳高运动员的起跳角度不好。
• The old house leans to the right at a dangerous angle.那所老宅向右斜得很危险。

3 passive   

adj.被动的；消极的

参考例句：

• He has a passive expression on his face.他脸上有一种漠然的表情。
• It lands the manager in a passive position.它使经理处于被动地位。