新西兰英语 529 Drowning numbers increasing

 　　A two-year-old toddler drowned in a river in Gisborne yesterday. He is the 13th pre-schooler to drown this year. A number of fishermen drowned at the end of October. Some were fishing from boats or diving for fish while three men were net fishing from the beach. In total, 102 people have drowned so far this year compared to 72 at this time last year.

　　There was a happy ending for two fishermen in Northland. Their boat capsized when one of the men caught a fish and stood up to pull it into the boat. They spent seven hours in the sea, clinging¹ to a chilly² bin³, until a customs patrol⁴ boat found them. They had life jackets in their boat but were not wearing them.

　　Water Safety New Zealand list four things to making boating safe: wearing life jackets, checking the weather, having at least two kinds of communication and having a reliable skipper. People can attend a course to learn to be a skipper.

　　Because New Zealand is an island country where most people live close to the sea, water sports are very important for us. Every child must learn to swim. About 1500 schools have a swimming pool but many of these are too small for older children. Also, many schools have closed their pools because of health requirements. It is expensive to maintain⁵ a clean pool. It is cheaper for a school to take children to a local public pool for swimming lessons for two weeks a year but this is not enough.

　　Only 20% of 10 year olds can swim 200m. 30% of 12 year olds cannot even swim 25m.

　　Vocabulary

　　drown – die in the water

　　toddler – small child who can walk

　　pre-schooler – a child under the age of five

　　capsized – turned over in the water

　　clinging – holding tightly⁶

　　chilly bin – an ice box made of polystyrene – used for keeping food cold

　　customs patrol boats check boats coming into New Zealand waters

　　reliable – someone you can trust who knows what to do

　　skipper – captain, boss

　　health requirements – rules about testing the water to make sure it is clean

　　maintain – keep

　　Grammar

　　Note: it is expensive to maintain…; it is cheaper …to take. This is a useful structure with adjectives⁷ that express a quality e.g. difficult, hard, easy, simple, wonderful, exciting. Make your own sentences using this structure.

　　Questions

　　Do you think it is important to be able to swim?

　　What kinds of communication should a skipper have in a boat?

1 clinging   

adj.执着的；有黏性的；紧靠着的；紧贴着的v.附着于( cling的现在分词 )；抓紧或抱住；坚持；依恋，依附于

参考例句：

• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者
• I was very frightened and clinging on like mad. 我很害怕，拼命地向上爬。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 chilly   

adj.凉快的，寒冷的

参考例句：

• I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
• I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后，寒气逼人。

3 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

4 patrol   

v.巡逻，巡查；n.巡逻，巡查，巡逻队

参考例句：

• They attacked two soldiers on patrol.他们袭击了两名正在巡逻的士兵。
• Policemen patrol the streets.警察在街上巡逻。

5 maintain   

vt.支撑；赡养，抚养；维持，保有

参考例句：

• He has to maintain a large family on a small salary.他不得不依靠很少的工资养活一家人。
• We must do our best to maintain sales at their usual rate.我们要尽力使销售额保持在平日的水平上。

6 tightly   

adv.紧紧地，坚固地，牢固地

参考例句：

• My child holds onto my hand tightly while we cross the street.横穿马路时，孩子紧拉着我的手不放。
• The crowd pressed together so tightly that we could hardly breathe.人群挤在一起，我们几乎喘不过气来。

7 adjectives   

n.形容词( adjective的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We can form nouns from adjectives. 我们可以用形容词来构成名词。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Attributive adjectives precede the noun. 定语形容词位于名词前。 来自《简明英汉词典》