CNN 2010-04-09

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Hi, I'm Carl Azuz. You're tuned¹ in to CNN Student News. Afghanistan, Iraq, D.C.: lot of ground to cover today. We start things off in West Virginia.

First Up: Coal Mine Disaster

AZUZ: Officials there are trying to figure out what caused the worst U.S. mining disaster in 25 years. It happened Monday afternoon at the Upper Big Branch South Mine: a massive blast inside the coal mine that killed at least 25 people, left four others trapped. Rescue workers are trying to drill their way into the mine, but they need to get 1,200 feet down inside of it, and that could take a while. Not only is the process slow, it's dangerous. Crews are having to deal with potentially harmful gases.

President Obama and other officials, including both of West Virginia's U.S. senators, have offered their thoughts and prayers to the families of the miners. They've also said they're determined² to find out what happened and how it can be prevented in the future. One government official said, "Miners should never have to sacrifice their lives for their livelihood⁴." This all happened inside a facility that does what's called longwall mining. Tom Foreman explains how that works and its potential dangers.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a type of mining that was actually pioneered in England several hundred years ago, but has really caught on in the past 30 years here because of new technology, primarily because mine owners have believed that this new technology might allow them to automate⁵ further, which would reduce the risk to miners and produce more coal.

So, let's check a little section of the land here. If we were to cut part of this out just like that, and we were able to move this aside, and say this is what it looks like underneath⁶. This is from YouTube; a fellow put together a demonstration⁷ with what happens with longwall mining.

You may notice here -- this is a seam of coal -- and you'll see there had been little rooms cut in on the sides over here. This is the beginning of longwall mining. You cut off an area like this. You create a field, and this may be enormous. It's like 800 feet across here. It can be as much as a mile or more, along this way. And then, this is what happens: They start cutting away at the face of that. It's about eight feet tall. They cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. You can see a tremendous amount of coal would come out of it cutting it this way.

But I do want to point out that this video is a little bit deceptive⁸, because what you don't see here is as they're cutting all that coal out, you're not creating a big giant room here. What you're doing is you're allowing it to all collapse⁹ in behind you as you cut. So, you're actually filling in all of this area with the mountainside collapsing¹⁰ behind you. And the actual working area is actually only about 15 feet or so from the face right up in here. So, this is the area we're looking at when we're focusing on this idea of longwall mining.

You have all of this space here. That grinding on the surface up front produces an enormous amount of coal dust. That's what you're seeing right there and that's the issue of ventilation here. What are the dangers if you have this kind of operation going on on the face of coal? You have this issue of coal dust building up. That's a potential threat because it is enormously explosive. You also have the threat of methane¹¹ building up if it's not vented³ enough, also enormously explosive. And because of all the weight here and the width of this, you always have the danger of some kind of structural¹² collapse.

Again, many people believe this is less likely to produce a structural collapse than the other method of cutting out little rooms and leaving pillars, but nonetheless, when you put all these together, this is the danger.
 

1 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

3 vented   

表达，发泄（感情，尤指愤怒）( vent的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He vented his frustration on his wife. 他受到挫折却把气发泄到妻子身上。
• He vented his anger on his secretary. 他朝秘书发泄怒气。

4 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

5 automate   

v.自动化；使自动化

参考例句：

• Many banks have begun to automate.许多银行已开始采用自动化技术。
• To automate the control process of the lathes has become very easy today.使机床的控制过程自动化现已变得很容易了。

6 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

7 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

8 deceptive   

adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• His appearance was deceptive.他的外表带有欺骗性。
• The storyline is deceptively simple.故事情节看似简单，其实不然。

9 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。

10 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

11 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

12 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。