2006年VOA标准英语-Egypt's Train Crash Exposes Antiquated Rail Sys

By Leslie Boctor
Cairo
21 August 2006
 
Fifty eight people have died and more than 143 were injured Monday when one train rammed¹ into another just out Cairo during the morning commute² to the capital.

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People gather at the site of a train crash in rail station of Qalyoub, north of Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Aug. 21, 2006

By late afternoon, the wreckage³ had been removed from the track and rail service resumed.

But parts of bodies were still strewn across the surrounding corn fields. Rescuers were told to burry the body parts in the sand next to the tracks. Witnesses say it took more than an hour for the first ambulances to arrive at the scene.

In the meantime, people from neighboring apartment buildings rushed to pull out the injured, clawing at the wreckage with pieces of scrap⁴ metal.

"This is our Egypt,'' one onlooker⁵ said, asking aloud why ambulances had not yet arrived. Some family members of the injured and deceased directed their anger at police stationed at the tracks near the collision.

Twenty seven-year-old Sobhi Azem was on his daily commute to Cario when the trains collided. He says he was 10 centimeters away from death and considers himself lucky to climb out of the crumpled⁶ carriage car alive.

"People were screaming, and there was blood splashed all over" him and body parts were everywhere." He says he saw behind him dead bodies 'piled from the floor to the ceiling.'" He said he is only one of six people who survived in that train car.

While visiting the injured at one of the local hospitals, Egypt's Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif acknowledged the country's 150-year-old railway system needs an overhaul⁷.

Mr. Nazif says Egypt must "prevent these accidents that keep happening in the railway industry." "The Egyptian railway needs our immediate⁸ attention," he says, "We need to fund new compartments⁹ and we have to improve the railroads and rail signals. We also need to provide better training for the railway workers."

Mr. Nazif said the government would give the families of the deceased compensation equivalent to $1,000 U.S. and $250 to the injured. He added that this was a good compensation package, considering the price of the train ticket was the equivalent of a nickel.

He said the government had committed $8 billion to revamping the antiquated¹⁰ railway.

The train collision worsens the country's already poor record of rail safety. One of the world's worst railway accidents took place in Egypt four years ago, when 360 people died.

1 rammed   

v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• Two passengers were injured when their taxi was rammed from behind by a bus. 公共汽车从后面撞来，出租车上的两位乘客受了伤。
• I rammed down the earth around the newly-planted tree. 我将新栽的树周围的土捣硬。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

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 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

5 onlooker   

n.旁观者，观众

参考例句：

• A handful of onlookers stand in the field watching.少数几个旁观者站在现场观看。
• One onlooker had to be restrained by police.一个旁观者遭到了警察的制止。

6 crumpled   

adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。
• She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。

7 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

8 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

9 compartments   

n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 )；（列车车厢的）隔间；（家具或设备等的）分隔间；隔层

参考例句：

• Your pencil box has several compartments. 你的铅笔盒有好几个格。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The first-class compartments are in front. 头等车室在前头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 antiquated   

adj.陈旧的，过时的

参考例句：

• Many factories are so antiquated they are not worth saving.很多工厂过于陈旧落后，已不值得挽救。
• A train of antiquated coaches was waiting for us at the siding.一列陈旧的火车在侧线上等着我们。