VOA慢速英语2021 迈阿密附近大楼倒塌 救援人员正在搜寻幸存者

Rescue workers still hope to find survivors¹ of the collapse² of a large condominium building on an island community near Miami, Florida, on Thursday.

周四，救援人员仍然寄希望于在一栋倒塌的大型公寓大楼中找到幸存者，这座大楼位于佛罗里达州迈阿密附近的一个岛屿社区。

Officials now say 10 people have died but more than 150 remain missing.

官员们目前表示已经有10人死亡，但还有150多人失踪。

Families of the missing have taken buses to an area nearby to watch the rescue effort, which includes using heavy equipment such as cranes. Rescue workers are using dogs and high technology devices in an effort to find people trapped in the wreckage³ and concrete. But, the search has been slowed by rain and a fire.

失踪者家属已经乘坐巴士到附近地区观看救援工作，救援中用到了包括起重机在内的重型设备。救援人员正在利用搜救犬和高科技设备寻找被困在废墟中的人士。但是救援工作因为下雨和火灾而放缓。

"We have over 80 rescuers at a time that are breaching⁴ the walls that collapsed⁵," said Andy Alvarez on national television. He is a commander with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. He said workers are looking in spaces left by the collapsed floors and walls.

安迪·阿尔瓦雷斯在国家电视台上表示：“我们同时有超过80名救援人员正在破拆倒塌的墙壁。”阿尔瓦雷斯是迈阿密戴德消防救援队的指挥官。他说，救援人员正在寻找倒塌的地板和墙壁留下的空间。

"We have been able to tunnel through the building. This is a frantic⁶ search to seek that hope, that miracle, to see who we can bring out of this building alive."

他说：“我们已经能够开凿隧道洞穿这栋大楼。这是一次疯狂的搜救行动，以寻求希望和奇迹，看我们能把谁从这栋大楼里活着救出来。”

Alfredo Lopez lived with his wife on the sixth floor of the building. They escaped. But he said it was hard to believe that anyone could have survived the collapse.

阿尔弗雷多·洛佩斯和妻子住在这栋大楼的6楼。他们逃生了。但是他表示，很难相信会有人能在废墟中幸存下来。

"If you saw what I saw: nothingness. And then, you go over there and you see, like, all the rubble⁷. How can somebody survive that?" Lopez told the Associated Press.

洛佩斯表示：“如果你能看到我所看到的虚无。然后，你去到现场就会看到一片废墟。怎么会有人能够活下来？”

Rescuers are using tools such as a microwave radar⁸ device developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Department of Homeland Security. The chief of the company that sells the device said it is able to "see" through up to 20 centimeters of solid concrete. It can also listen for human breathing and heartbeats.

救援人员使用了美国宇航局喷气推进实验室和国土安全部开发的微波雷达等工具。销售该设备的公司负责人表示，它能够“看穿”厚达20厘米的实心混凝土。它还可以侦听人类的呼吸和心跳声。

The collapse happened days before people living in the building were to start making payments toward a $9 million repair project. Three years earlier, a report had warned of major structural⁹ damage to the building which is in the island town of Surfside.

这次倒塌发生在这栋大楼的居民正要开始支付900万美元的维修项目的前几天。早在3年前就有一份报告警告说，这栋位于岛城瑟夫赛德的建筑物发生了重大结构性损坏。

Six to eight teams are searching the partially¹⁰ collapsed building at any given time. Hundreds of people are involved in the effort which started on Thursday and has not stopped since.

在任何时间里，都有6到8支队伍在搜索这栋部分倒塌的大楼。数百人参与了周四开始的搜救工作，自此之后搜救一直没有停止。

Earl Tilton is a search-and-rescue expert from North Carolina. He warned that moving too fast without careful planning can be very dangerous for rescuers.

厄尔·蒂尔顿是来自北卡罗莱纳州的搜救专家。他警告说，如果没有缜密规划，行动太快对救援人员来说是非常危险的。

"Moving the wrong piece of debris¹¹ at the wrong time could cause it to fall" endangering workers, he said.

他说：“在错误的时间移动错误的残骸可能会导致它倒塌，从而危及到救援人员。”

Tilton added that there was still hope of finding people alive. He said rescuers have found survivors up to one week after a disaster.

蒂尔顿还说，仍有希望找到存活者。他说，救援人员曾经在灾难发生长达一周后找到幸存者。

1 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

2 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。

3 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

4 breaching   

攻破( breach的过去式 )； 破坏，违反

参考例句：

• 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》。
• Third, an agency can abuse its discretion by breaching certain principles of judge-made law. 第三，行政机关会因违反某些法官制定的法律原则而构成滥用自由裁量权。

5 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。

6 frantic   

adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的

参考例句：

• I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
• He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。

7 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

8 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

9 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

10 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

11 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。