美国有线新闻 CNN 墨西哥发生8.1级地震 美国各地举行9·11纪念活动

 

AZUZ: Moving to another coast now. Rescuers are scouring¹ homes in southern Mexico. They're looking for survivors² after a tremendous earthquake struck about 74 miles offshore³ on Thursday night. With a magnitude of 8.1, the tremor⁴ was capable of destroying entire towns.

On average, the world only sees about one quake this powerful every year. Mexico hasn't had a tremor like this for a century. It struck an impoverished⁵ area. There were multiple aftershocks. And government officials say it killed dozens of people. Many in the region were asleep when the quake struck near midnight.

It was felt hundreds of miles away, in places like Mexico City, in Guatemala City, and it generated a tsunami⁶, a massive ocean wave that measured almost six feet in one area. Mexico's military and police are helping⁷ the search for survivors and distribution of medical supplies.

Memorial ceremonies are being held across America today, 16 years after the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history. Americans are honoring the thousands who were killed and the police, firefighters and other rescuers who died trying to save them.

The assault was carried out by the al Qaeda terrorist group, a radical⁸ Islamic organization based in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Nineteen al Qaeda members hijacked⁹ four U.S. passenger planes on September 11, 2001. They crashed two of the planes into the Twin Towers, the skyscraper¹⁰ that formed the World Trade Center in New York City, both of the massive buildings collapse¹¹ soon afterward¹².

A third plane was crashed in Washington, D.C. It hit the Pentagon. The headquarters of the U.S. Defense¹³ Department and a fourth flight crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, reportedly after its passengers and crew tried to take back control of the plane.

Two thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven people were killed in the September 11th attacks, and just over a week later, U.S. President George W. Bush declared a war on terror.

The southeast Asian country of Afghanistan was giving al Qaeda a place to live and train at that time. And on October 7, 2001, after Afghanistan's Taliban rulers refused to turn over al Qaeda's leader to the United States, America led attacks against targets in Afghanistan. The conflict there continues today.

1 scouring   

擦[洗]净，冲刷，洗涤

参考例句：

• The police are scouring the countryside for the escaped prisoners. 警察正在搜索整个乡村以捉拿逃犯。
• This is called the scouring train in wool processing. 这被称为羊毛加工中的洗涤系列。

2 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

3 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

4 tremor   

n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震

参考例句：

• There was a slight tremor in his voice.他的声音有点颤抖。
• A slight earth tremor was felt in California.加利福尼亚发生了轻微的地震。

5 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

9 hijacked   

劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图）

参考例句：

• The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
• The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。

10 skyscraper   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• The skyscraper towers into the clouds.那幢摩天大楼高耸入云。
• The skyscraper was wrapped in fog.摩天楼为雾所笼罩。

11 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。

12 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

13 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。