2007年VOA标准英语-Undersea Cable Thieves Slow Vietnam's Internet

By Matt Steinglass
Hanoi
01 June 2007

Vietnamese Internet users are experiencing slower service after thieves stole part of the one of the country's main fiber-optic transmission cables from the sea floor and sold it for scrap¹. If one more cable is cut, experts say, Vietnam could lose almost all of its telecommunications capacity. Matt Steinglass reports from Hanoi.

Traders monitor share prices at Securities Trading Center in Ho Chin Minh city, 20 December 2006

According to Vietnamese press reports, the country's military signed a contract last August with several companies to salvage² undersea copper³ cable left over by the former government of South Vietnam, which fell to North Vietnamese communist forces in 1975.

The contractors⁴, or someone else, apparently⁵ went on to "salvage" at lot more than that.

Lam Quoc Cuong, deputy director of the Vietnamese telecom company VTI, says a stretch measuring at least 11 kilometers of the operational fiber-optic cable serving present-day Vietnam is missing.

Cuong says the line was initially⁶ cut in March, and Vietnamese police are continuing to catch people selling illegally salvaged⁷ cable.

Last week, police in the southern coastal⁸ town of Vung Tau said they had captured four boats carrying a total of 100 tons of salvaged fiber-optic cable. The boats allegedly belonged to one man, a Vung Tau resident.

But VTI said the fiber-optic cable seized in Vung Tau does not match VTI's own cable, and must have come from some other line.

Police have not determined⁹ who initially cut the operational cable, or how they discovered its location. VTI's Cuong says finding the cable would have been difficult for the thieves.

He says the cable runs through different locations and at different depths. He says thieves might have found the cable by accident, while raising an anchor.

VTI says fixing the cable will cost $2.6 million, and take almost three months. Experts say if VTI's second undersea cable were cut, Vietnam could lose 82 percent of its telecommunications capacity.

1 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。

2 salvage   

v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救

参考例句：

• All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed.抢救失事船只的一切努力都失败了。
• The salvage was piled upon the pier.抢救出的财产被堆放在码头上。

3 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

4 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

7 salvaged   

（从火灾、海难等中）抢救（某物）( salvage的过去式和过去分词 )； 回收利用（某物）

参考例句：

• The investigators studied flight recorders salvaged from the wreckage. 调查者研究了从飞机残骸中找到的黑匣子。
• The team's first task was to decide what equipment could be salvaged. 该队的首要任务是决定可以抢救哪些设备。

8 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

9 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。