英语听力精选进阶版 6155

Bad Weather Causes Chaos¹ 坏天气导致混乱

The British usually expect one or two snowfalls each year but the amount of snow rarely affects everyday life. However, this week Britain has had the worst snow it has seen in around 18 years. Some places had more than 30cm in a day.

The bad weather caused severe disruption². More than 3000 schools had to close as teachers and pupils were unable to get to school.

School children weren’t too unhappy about it though as they headed out to play in the snow, building snowmen, having snowball fights, sledging³ and some even snowboarding and skiing.

In London, bus services were withdrawn⁴ for a day and tubes and trains were cancelled. Major motorways⁵ in the country had to close.

Many people were unable to get to work and it is thought the cost of this lost labour is around ￡1 billion (10 billion yuan) to businesses and the economy.

Anyone wanting to leave the country had problems too. Runways were closed at all the UK’s major airports because of the amount of snow. Hundreds of flights were cancelled leaving some passengers stranded⁶ at airports.

So why is the UK so ill-prepared for snow? The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, explained that there aren’t enough snow-ploughs and gritters and it doesn’t make sense to buy such equipment when it snows so infrequently.

The south-east of England was the hardest hit at the beginning of the week but the snow is now moving northwards where the chaos continues.

More ice and snow is forecast throughout the week and the advice from travel and weather organisations is to stay indoors unless you really need to venture out!

GLOSSARY 词汇表

snowfalls 降雪；下雪

severe disruption 严重干扰

snowmen 雪人

snowball fights 打雪仗

sledging （坐）雪橇

withdrawn 撤回；停运

tubes 伦敦地铁

motorways 高速公路

￡1 billion 10亿英镑

runways 跑道 

stranded 搁浅；被困

ill-prepared 措手不及

mayor 市长

snow-ploughs 铲雪机 

gritters 撒沙机

it doesn't make sense 不划算的

infrequently 不经常的

the hardest hit 受袭最重的

forecast （天气）预报

to venture out 冒险出门

1 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

2 disruption   

n.分裂

参考例句：

• The state was in disruption. 国家处于分崩离析之中。
• Such storms cause considerable disruption in magnetic prospecting operation. 这种磁暴对磁法勘探产生严重的破坏。

3 sledging   

v.乘雪橇( sledge的现在分词 )；用雪橇运载

参考例句：

• We were hoping we could go sledging . 我们本来希望能去乘雪橇。
• After it had stopped snowing, we all went sledging. 雪停了以后我们全去坐雪橇玩。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

5 motorways   

n.高速公路( motorway的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Most of Britain's motorways radiated from London. 英国的大多数公路从伦敦向四方延伸。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Cuba is well served by motorways. 古巴的高速公路四通八达。 来自辞典例句

6 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。