PBS高端访谈:关于亚航客机失联我们了解到什么?

 　　ZACHARY GREEN: At Singapore's Changi airport, friends and relatives gathered to await news about AirAsia flight 8501, which disappeared early this morning. Among those waiting: the fiance of a young man who had been traveling with relatives.

　　FIANCE: It was supposed to be their last vacation, before we got married. It was to be his last vacation with his family.

　　ZACHARY GREEN: The flight took off at 5:35 am local time from Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city. The scheduled flight time to Singapore was 1 hour 55 minutes.

　　But at 6:13 am, 38 minutes after takeoff, the pilot radioed air traffic control, asking to change course and increase altitude to avoid storm clouds. There were reports of lightning in the area.

　　The flight was last seen on radar² three minutes later at 6:16 am, near Belitung island in the java sea.

　　A minute later, it was gone. According to an Indonesian transportation official, no distress³ signal had been sent out.

　　Search and rescue teams from Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia spent several hours Sunday searching for any sign of the plane, an Airbus A320. But as night fell, officials halted the search until morning. The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea, and India have all volunteered search and rescue teams.

　　TATANG KURNIADI: I heard many rumors⁴ from people and I said the rumors are not true that the plane has been found and wreckage⁵ has been found — this is not true.

　　Tony Fernandes, chief executive of AirAsia, a budget carrier based in Malaysia, also cautioned against speculation⁶.

　　TONY FERNANDES: We do not know what's happened yet, so we'll wait for the accident investigation⁷ to really find out what's happened. Our concern right now is for the relatives and for the next of kin¹. There is nothing more important to us for our crew's family, and for our passengers' families that we look after them.

　　ZACHARY GREEN: Airasia has had a clean safety record since the company began operating in Malaysia 13 years ago. The plane that went missing had undergone maintenance just the month before.

　　Last march, Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappeared with 239 people aboard, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It's never been found.

　　In July, Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing⁸ all 298 people on board.

1 kin   

n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的

参考例句：

• He comes of good kin.他出身好。
• She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。

2 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

3 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

4 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

6 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

7 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

8 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。