新西兰英语 569 Why the CTV building collapsed

 　　The Royal Commission on the Canterbury Earthquakes has been trying to find out why some buildings collapsed² on February 22nd 2011. Their report last week was about the CTV building, which killed 115 people when it collapsed and fire broke out.

　　After the earthquake the Building and Housing department, a government department, tested samples of the concrete and steel from the CTV building. They also built a model of the building. They said the design was part of the problem but the materials were also not strong enough. The concrete columns did not bend – instead they broke. The support walls twisted. Another problem was the extreme horizontal shaking. In fact, the maximum acceleration³ of the February 22nd earthquake was similar to the maximum acceleration of the March 2011 earthquake in Fukushima, Japan. The Canterbury earthquake measured 6.3 on the Richter scale but it was shallow and centred near the CTV building. On the other hand, the Fukushima earthquake, which measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, was centred out at sea.

　　The CTV building was built in 1986 and building standards have changed since then. However, the report said that the building did not meet the 1986 standards. Other buildings of that age did not collapse¹.

　　The company which designed the building does not agree with the report.

　　Grammar

　　?centre – usually a noun – is used here as a verb – passive voice e.g. it was centred.

　　?similar to (not similar as or similar with)

　　Vocabulary

　　?collapse – fall down

　　?fire broke out – this is an idiom meaning fire started

　　?sample – small piece

　　?column – tall, cylinder⁴ shape, made of stone or concrete

　　?extreme – not moderate

　　?acceleration – rate of change of speed

　　?shallow – not deep

　　?building standards – quality of the building design and materials

　　?meet standards – pass standards

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 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。

3 acceleration   

n.加速，加速度

参考例句：

• All spacemen must be able to bear acceleration.所有太空人都应能承受加速度。
• He has also called for an acceleration of political reforms.他同时呼吁加快政治改革的步伐。

4 cylinder   

n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸

参考例句：

• What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少？
• The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。