Melting Ice Reveals Couple Lost in Mountains for 75 Years

 

This is What’s Trending Today.

It turns out the warming climate is good for something.

The children of Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin of Switzerland finally might find out what happened to their parents 75 years ago.

One daughter, 79-year-old Marceline Udry-Dumuolin, says her parents left their house to milk their cows one day in 1942. But, she says they did not return.

The family lived high in the mountains, at an elevation¹ of about 2600 meters. People from nearby villages searched for the man and woman for over two months. But the search was unsuccessful.

Many people believed the couple fell into a crevasse², or a deep divide in the land.

Young Marceline and her five siblings⁴ went to live with other families. She said she and her brothers and sisters spent their entire lives looking for their parents so they could have a proper funeral.

Now, people who work for a company that operates ski lifts may have found the Dumoulins in melting ice. An employee was doing work on one of the lifts last week when he says he saw something strange.

He found two bodies, a man and a woman, close together in the Tsanfleuron glacier⁵. They were wearing clothing from the 1940s and had items like a backpack and food container.

Police said they will do a DNA⁶ comparison to find out for sure if the bodies are the missing Doumoulins.

The director of the ski lift company said the bodies were “perfectly preserved.”

Many people around the world reacted to the news.

One Twitter user, Amber⁷, wrote: “Wow! This now ends the agony of the family left wondering how/where the couple disappeared.”

The newspaper Le Matin reported that daughter Marceline said “this news calms me deeply.” She also said if the bodies turn out to be those of her parents, she will not wear black to their funeral.

She said, “I think white will be more appropriate. This represents hope, which I have never lost."

And that’s What’s Trending Today.

I’m Dan Friedell.

Words in This Story

sibling³ – n. a brother or sister

proper – adj. correct according to social rules

agony – n. extreme mental or physical pain

1 elevation   

n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高

参考例句：

• The house is at an elevation of 2,000 metres.那幢房子位于海拔两千米的高处。
• His elevation to the position of General Manager was announced yesterday.昨天宣布他晋升总经理职位。

2 crevasse   

n. 裂缝，破口；v.使有裂缝

参考例句：

• The deep crevasse yawned at their feet.他们脚下的冰川有一道深深的裂缝。
• He fell down a crevasse.他从裂缝处摔了下来。

3 sibling   

n.同胞手足(指兄、弟、姐或妹)

参考例句：

• Many of us hate living in the shadows of a more successful sibling.我们很多人都讨厌活在更为成功的手足的阴影下。
• Sibling ravalry has been common in this family.这个家里，兄弟姊妹之间的矛盾很平常。

4 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

5 glacier   

n.冰川，冰河

参考例句：

• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。
• The upper surface of glacier is riven by crevasses.冰川的上表面已裂成冰隙。

6 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

7 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。