CNN 2011-08-28

 This is the first time that we have these large amounts of sculpture that are damaged. And it is a bit disconcerting to me and my colleagues who are stone carvers, but we're gonna put this together, back together the right way and respect the work of our forefathers¹, of our forbearers, the stone carvers and masons who came before us. A price, gonna be millions, no doubt about it.

 

Well, I was in the coming-down east slope, was going to west delivering my high school, junior high and I noticed some smoke coming out of the cover like turn signal covered by the steering² wheel. I thought "Man, there's something wrong here." And I'm coming around the corner. And I shut, you know, shut the key off and then poof, the flames come up under the engine compartment³ onto the windshield and I knew we was in deep trouble. And yes, I said that we get off this bus now. We evacuate⁴ now.

1 forefathers   

n.祖先，先人；祖先，祖宗( forefather的名词复数 )；列祖列宗；前人

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left. 它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All of us bristled at the lawyer's speech insulting our forefathers. 听到那个律师在讲演中污蔑我们的祖先，大家都气得怒发冲冠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

3 compartment   

n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间

参考例句：

• We were glad to have the whole compartment to ourselves.真高兴，整个客车隔间由我们独享。
• The batteries are safely enclosed in a watertight compartment.电池被安全地置于一个防水的隔间里。

4 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。