VOA慢速英语2021--封锁苏伊士运河的船只终于获释

Specialty¹ teams on Monday set free a large container ship that had stopped international trade through the Suez Canal.

For nearly one week, the ship has brought one of the world's most important sea trade routes to a complete stop. It held up nearly $9 billion of trade each day.

Several tugboats pulled the large ship, called the Ever Given, from the canal's side, where it has been stuck since last Tuesday.

The teams pulled the 220,000-ton ship toward the Great Bitter Lake, which is halfway² between the north and south end of the canal. Experts will examine the ship there.

Video released by the Suez Canal Authority showed the Ever Given moving, surrounded by the tugboats that helped free it. The tugboats sounded their horns to celebrate the end of the crisis.

"We pulled it off!" said Peter Berdowski, the head of Boskalis, the specialty company that was asked to move the Ever Given. He said his team and experts from the Suez Canal Authority had "successfully refloated the Ever Given...thereby³ making free passage through the Suez Canal possible again."

It remained unclear when ships will be permitted to enter the canal for normal passage. At least 367 ships, carrying everything from oil to cattle, are waiting to pass at both ends of the canal.

It is estimated that it could take more than 10 days to clear the number of waiting ships. Many ships did not wait and left to travel around the Cape⁴ of Good Hope at Africa's southern tip. That route takes two weeks longer because it adds 5,000-kilometers. It also costs hundreds of thousands of dollars more.

The freeing of the Ever Given succeeded after heavy equipment pulled up dirt that was holding the front of the ship in place. Ten tugboats pushed and pulled it for five days. Early Monday morning the ship began to pull free.

It was not clear if the Ever Given would continue to its original destination, Rotterdam, or if it would go to a port for repairs.

The Ever Given flies the flag of Panama and is owned by a Japanese company. It normally carries goods from Asia to Europe.

Officials did not offer a time for the canal to reopen. The Suez Canal carries over 10 percent of international trade, including seven percent of the world's oil. Over 19,000 ships passed through last year, said canal officials.

Millions of barrels of oil and gas move through the canal from the Persian Gulf⁵ to Europe and North America. Goods made in China that are being carried to Europe also must go through the canal, or else take the longer route around Africa.

The shutdown had threatened to stop oil and gas shipments to Europe from the Middle East. It caused fears of extended delays, shortages and rising costs for most of the world's economies.

The operation to free the Ever Give succeeded using only the tugboats and other heavy equipment. Canal officials did not have to lighten the ship by removing its 20,000 containers.

Words in This Story

route – n. a way, or path, to get from one place to another

tugboat – n. a small powerful boat that is used for pulling or pushing ships in harbors

horn – n. a device that is used to make a loud noise

stuck –adj. unable to be moved from a position

original –adj. happening or existing first

destination –n. the place where someone or something is going

1 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

2 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

3 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

4 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

5 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。