美国有线新闻 CNN 山火未灭 澳大利亚又遭洪灾

Our international coverage¹ starts in Australia where there's been some good news then some bad news, then more good news.

我们的国际新闻报道首先来关注澳大利亚，该国先是迎来了好消息，后又传来了坏消息，不过之后又有了更多好消息。

Let me explain. New South Wales is a state in southeastern Australia. It was the hardest hit state by the bush fires we reported on earlier this year though every Australia state's been effected by them. It's summer there now and the country typically sees a fire season but this one was made worse by an ongoing² drought. Tens of millions of acres burned. Atleast 28 people have been killed. About 3,000 homes have been destroyed and millions possibly hundreds of millions of animals have been effected.

我来解释一下。新南威尔士州位于澳大利亚东南部地区。我们在今年年初报道过，澳大利亚所有州都遭遇了山火袭击，而新南威尔士州是受灾最严重的州。现在是澳大利亚的夏季，该国通常会在夏季迎来火灾季，但持续的旱情无疑令这一火灾季的形势更加严峻。数千万英亩土地被烧毁。至少28人葬身大火。约3000座房屋遭毁，数百万甚至是数亿只动物受到影响。

So what's good in all that? Well in New South Wales it could be coming to an end. Fire officials say all of the wildfires there have been contained meaning some are still burning but they've all been surrounded and stopped from spreading. Firefighters say it's been a traumatic, exhausting and anxious bush fire season so far but that the containment³ of the blazes will allow emergency workers to now focus on helping⁴ people rebuild.

那好消息是什么？新州的山火可能即将结束。消防官员表示，所有山火都已得到控制，这意味着虽然仍有一些大火在燃烧，但它们已被隔离，不会继续蔓延。消防员说，到目前为止，这是令人痛苦、疲惫且不安的山火季，但火势得到控制使紧急救援人员现在得以集中精力帮助人们重建家园。

OK, more bad news. A tropical cyclone⁵ recently rolled along the coast of New South Wales. It brought damaging winds, dangerous waves and it caused major flooding. The storms heavy rains led to the evacuation of several towns. Many schools in the region closed and there are severe thunderstorms in the forecast for the days ahead. But the good thing about the cyclone, which is what hurricanes are called in the south Pacific, is that it's helped put out more than 30 fires since last Friday. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service called that the most positive news they've had in some time.

现在还有一些坏消息。最近，一个热带气旋席卷了新州海岸。其带来了破坏性大风和危险的海浪，并引发了严重洪灾。强降雨导致数个城镇撤离。该地区多所学校停课，天气预报称未来几天该地将迎来雷暴。但这个气旋——即南太平洋称为的飓风——也有好处，自上周以来，它已经帮助扑灭了30余起大火。新南威尔士州乡村消防局称，这是一段时间以来他们听到的最好的消息。

1 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

2 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

3 containment   

n.阻止，遏制；容量

参考例句：

• Your list might include such things as cost containment,quality,or customer satisfaction.你的清单上应列有诸如成本控制、产品质量、客户满意程度等内容。
• Insularity and self-containment,it is argued,go hand in hand.他们争论说，心胸狭窄和自我封闭是并存的。

4 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。

5 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。