VOA标准英语2009年-Indian Floods Death Toll Reaches 200

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
05 October 2009

More than 220 people have been killed and more than 1.5 million others have been displaced by massive floods which have devastated¹ parts of Southern India in the past five days. 

 
People use a pipe to swim across a river swollen² by flood waters at Kurnool district, about 205 kilometers from Hyderabad, India, 04 Oct 2009
Days of torrential rains eased Monday in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh states, but not before they had submerged hundreds of villages, caused widespread havoc³. Authorities are coping with the worst flooding in decades in this southern region.

With roads swept away, helicopters and boats have been deployed⁴ to rescue people stranded⁵ on roof tops or marooned⁶ in their homes. The army and air force joined the rescue effort. But there are fears that many people may still be stranded in villages which have not yet been accessed.

Authorities have established hundreds of relief camps to house the displaced people. Medical teams are trying to prevent the spread of water-borne diseases. Food packets and water is being dropped in remote areas.

The flooding has hit a region which, until days ago, was coping with one of the worst droughts in recent times.

The secretary of Karnataka's Natural Disaster Monitoring Center, H.V. Parashwanath, tells VOA the flooding is of unprecedented⁷ magnitude, because it has swept across a region which usually receives scanty⁸ rainfall.

"It was a totally drought hit area all these days," said Parashwanath. "It is totally unexpected. As per our information, in many of these places they have not seen these types of rains for the last 100 years."

Weather officials say the intense rains were caused by a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal. The flooding worsened because authorities released water from rain-swollen reservoirs and dams in both states to prevent them bursting.

Karnataka state has suffered heavier loss, compared to Andhra Pradesh.

The damage is extensive. More than a quarter-million homes have been destroyed. Livestock⁹ has perished and crops, including rice and sugar cane¹⁰, have been destroyed across vast tracts¹¹ of land. Officials say they will need millions of dollars to rebuild the rural regions which have borne the brunt of the flooding.

The head of India's ruling Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi, and Home Minister P. Chidambaram traveled to the region and surveyed the damage from the floods on Monday.

1 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

2 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

3 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

4 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

5 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

6 marooned   

adj.被围困的；孤立无援的；无法脱身的

参考例句：

• During the storm we were marooned in a cabin miles from town. 在风暴中我们被围困在离城数英里的小屋内。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Five couples were marooned in their caravans when the River Avon broke its banks. 埃文河决堤的时候，有5对夫妇被困在了他们的房车里。 来自辞典例句

7 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

8 scanty   

adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的

参考例句：

• There is scanty evidence to support their accusations.他们的指控证据不足。
• The rainfall was rather scanty this month.这个月的雨量不足。

9 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

10 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

11 tracts   

大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文

参考例句：

• vast tracts of forest 大片大片的森林
• There are tracts of desert in Australia. 澳大利亚有大片沙漠。