VOA慢速英语2019 巴西大坝垮塌造成60人遇难,300人失踪

60 Dead, 300 Missing After Dam Collapse¹ in Brazil

Rescue workers confirmed on Monday that at least 60 people are dead after a dam collapsed² in Minas Gerais state in Brazil.

救援人员周一证实，巴西米纳斯吉拉斯州大坝垮塌造成至少60人遇难。

Officials say at least 300 other people remain missing.

有关官员称，至少还有300人失踪。

The dam, owned by Brazil's Vale mining company, collapsed Friday in the town of Brumadinho. Water and mud swept over hundreds of mine workers as they were taking a lunch break.

这座位于布鲁马迪纽镇、隶属于巴西淡水河谷矿业公司的大坝于周五垮塌，其引发的泥石流袭击了数百名正在午休的矿工。

Search efforts continued on Monday. Rescue workers used long pieces of wood to cross mud-covered areas to search for bodies inside of a bus. Villagers discovered the bus as they tried to rescue a nearby cow that was stuck in the mud.

搜救工作人在周一继续进行。救援人员利用长木板跨过泥土覆盖的区域，以搜寻一辆公汽中的尸体。村民们在试图拯救一头陷在泥浆中的奶牛时发现了这辆公汽。

Ademir Rogerio lives in Brumadinho. He cried as he looked at the mud where Vale’s facilities once stood on the edge of town.

Ademir Rogerio住在布鲁马迪纽镇。当他看到泥土淹没淡水河谷矿业公司一度屹立在城镇边缘的各种设施时，他哭了起来。

He told the Reuters news service, “The world is over for us. Vale is the top mining company in the world. If this could happen here, imagine what would happen if it were a smaller mine.”

他对路透社表示：“我们的天塌了。淡水河谷是全球最大的矿业公司。如果这里都能发生这种事情，想象一下如果它是一个更小的矿山会发生什么。”

Brazil’s top prosecutor³, Raquel Dodge⁴, said Vale should be held responsible and criminally prosecuted⁵. She added that executives⁶ working there could also be personally held responsible.

巴西最高检察官拉奎尔·道奇（Raquel Dodge）称淡水河谷公司应当承担责任并受到刑事起诉。她补充说，当地的公司高管也可能需要亲自承担责任。

Reaction to the disaster could threaten the plans of new Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. He wants to reduce restrictions⁷ on the mining industry, and has proposed opening up indigenous⁸ land areas and parts of the Amazon rain forest for mining.

民众对这场灾难的反应可能会威胁到巴西新任总统雅伊尔·博索纳罗（Jair Bolsonaro）的计划。他希望减少对矿业的限制，并提出开放土著土地和亚马逊雨林部分地区进行采矿。

Four years ago, another mining dam broke in the state of Minas Gerais. Nineteen people were killed. That dam was controlled by Vale as well as Australian mining company BHP Billiton.

4年前，米纳斯吉拉斯州另一座采矿大坝垮塌造成19人遇难。该大坝是由淡水河谷以及澳洲的必和必拓公司所控制。

The 2015 dam collapse released millions of tons of deadly iron waste along hundreds of kilometers. It caused what is considered Brazil's worst-ever environmental disaster.

2015年的这场大坝垮塌造成数百万吨致命的铁矿废弃物席卷了数百公里，它引发了被认为是巴西有史以来最为严重的环境灾难。

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

prosecutor – n. a lawyer who represents the side in a court case that accuses a person of a crime and who tries to prove that the person is guilty

facilities – n. something such as a building or large piece of equipment that is built for a specific purpose

indigenous – adj. produced, living, or existing naturally in a particular region or environment

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

3 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

4 dodge   

v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计

参考例句：

• A dodge behind a tree kept her from being run over.她向树后一闪，才没被车从身上辗过。
• The dodge was coopered by the police.诡计被警察粉碎了。

5 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

6 executives   

（公司或机构的）经理( executive的名词复数 )； （统称公司或机构的）行政领导； （政府的）行政部门； [the Executive][美国英语]（美国政府的）行政当局

参考例句：

• They have taken measures to equate the salaries of higher civil servants to those of business executives. 他们采取措施使高级文职人员的工资和企业管理干部的工资相等。
• He disregarded the advice of his executives. 他对主管层的建议置若罔闻。

7 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

8 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。