VOA慢速英语--泰国学校发生火灾 超过18名女孩死亡

AS IT IS 2016-05-24 Fire in Thailand Kills at Least 18 School Girls 泰国学校发生火灾 超过18名女孩死亡

At least 18 young girls are dead after a fire at a boarding school in northern Thailand.

Officials told the Associated Press that the victims were between five and 12 years old.

The fire started late Sunday in a wooden, two-floor dormitory. News reports said a total of 38 students lived in the building. It is part of a private Christian¹ school near the city of Chiang Rai, about 800 kilometers north of Bangkok.

About 400 day students and boarders attend the school. Most of the students are said to be ethnic² minorities.

An official from the school said the fire started on the lower level of the dormitory. That floor was used for activities. The second floor was used as the sleeping area.

Officials say five girls were injured. Two of them were reported to have suffered serious injury. The Reuters news service said 15 girls escaped without injury.

One girl said, “We remembered some lessons from Girl Scouts³ to tie cloth together to make a long rope. We climbed out of the window.”

Firefighters put out the fire in three hours. Thai officials are investigating the cause of the blaze⁴.

Words in This Story

dormitory – n. a building on a school campus⁵ that has rooms where students can live

kilometer– n. a measure of length equal to 1,000 meters

boarder – n. a person who pays to live and have meals at a school

Girl Scouts – n. members of an organization for girls who take part in group activities, learn skills and are urged to have good morals and be good citizens

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

3 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

4 blaze   

n.火焰，火堆，火光，火灾；vi.燃烧，着火

参考例句：

• In a blaze of anger he shouted at them.他怒火中烧，对着他们大吼起来。
• Dry wood makes a good blaze.干木燃起夺目的光焰。

5 campus   

n.大学校园，学校校园；大学　

参考例句：

• They spoke of the old days on the campus.他们谈起昔日的校园生活。
• The campus covers an area of twenty square kilometres.这个校园占地二十平方公里。