VOA标准英语2009年-Plane Carrying 153 Crashes Near Comoros, C

A Yemeni Airbus 310 passenger plane traveling from Yemen's capital, Sanaa, to the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean, crashed early Tuesday as it approached the islands, killing¹ most of the 153 people on board. A Comoros police official says a child has been rescued alive from the sea, but he knew of no other survivors².
　
Relative of passenger cries at Marseille airport, southern France, 30 Jun 2009

It was the second crash in just under a month involving an Airbus passenger jet. The Yemeni plane went down as it was approaching Moroni, the Comoros capital.

Eyewitnesses³ indicated that "meteorological conditions were bad" around the time of the crash and that there was a "great deal of wind."

French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau told a French TV station that the Yemenia Airlines Airbus A-310 which crashed had been prohibited from flying in French airspace since an inspection⁴ in 2007 found "numerous [technical] faults."

Yemeni Civil Aviation spokesman Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Kader told journalists that "bodies were seen floating on the surface of the water and that a fuel slick had also been seen about 16 or 17 kilometers from Moroni."

Abdel Kader describes the situation. He says that 142 passengers and 11 crew members were on board the jetliner, including a number of children ... He adds that there was turbulence⁵ at the time that the flight was approaching a landing at Moroni airport and the sea was rough. Three rescue boats, he says, were sent out to search for survivors. A high-level committee, he emphasizes, has been set up to investigate the crash.

Sixty-six French citizens were reportedly on board the Yemenia airliner⁶ and most of the other passengers were from the Comoros.

French Army General Command spokesman Christophe Prazuck told France 24 TV a French Army rescue unit from Reunion Island is to help locate victims and recover parts of the crashed plane."

The Yemenia Airlines station chief in the Comoros islands, Gamal Abdel Ghaffour Ibrahim, told Yemeni TV that "Arab businessmen and tourists often take the flight to the Comoros and Yemenia [airlines] does its best to run a top-notch service."

An Air France Airbus A-330 crashed on a flight between Rio de Janeiro and Paris on June 1 killing all 228 people on board. The cause of that crash is still being investigated.

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 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

3 eyewitnesses   

目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The examination of all the eyewitnesses took a week. 对所有证人的质询用了一周的时间。
• Several eyewitnesses testified that they saw the officers hit Miller in the face. 几位目击证人证明他们看见那几个警官打了米勒的脸。

4 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

5 turbulence   

n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流

参考例句：

• The turbulence caused the plane to turn over.空气的激流导致飞机翻转。
• The world advances amidst turbulence.世界在动荡中前进。

6 airliner   

n.客机，班机

参考例句：

• The pilot landed the airliner safely.驾驶员使客机安全着陆。
• The passengers were shepherded across the tarmac to the airliner.旅客们被引导走过跑道去上飞机。