VOA标准英语2010年-Severe Winter Weather Grips Europe

A wave of cold and snowy weather continues to grip Europe, grounding  airplanes, trains and cars and causing dozens of deaths. 

Britons shivering through one of the coldest winters to hit the United Kingdom in decades got no reprieve¹ from Mother Nature on Sunday. Channel 4 and other British media delivered more bad news - including weather-related deaths. 

A week of snow and ice also temporarily shuttered Dublin airport and led to cancellations of planes, trains and sporting events in London and elsewhere.

Conditions are not much better in France, where weather forecasters are predicting more arctic temperatures on Monday and a wave of snow to hit some parts of the country on Tuesday.

Snow has also grounded flights around the country.  Roughly 1,000 passengers were forced to spend the night at the Lyon airport and nearby hotels in east-central France.

One irate² man told French radio he did not understand why Lyon airport authorities did not open at least one runway, closed by a 20-centimeter snowfall.

Meanwhile, the Eurostar rail service linking London, Brussels and Paris is experiencing delays and cancellations through at least Sunday due to severe weather conditions.

In Germany, more than 160 people were trapped overnight in their cars on an icy highway.  They survived by running the heating in their vehicles until police rescued them.  Wintry conditions killed at least nine people in Poland over the last week.

Meanwhile, heavy rain and melting snow have cause flooding in parts of Croatia and Bosnia.

Europeans are taking precautions to survive the cold snap.  The German government has urged residents to stock up on food and medicines.  Britain is cutting down on its industrial gas use to save supplies.

But others are taking advantage of the wintry weather.  In the Netherlands, thousands of people laced up their skates and headed out to skate in frozen lakes.

1 reprieve   

n.暂缓执行（死刑）；v.缓期执行；给…带来缓解

参考例句：

• He was saved from the gallows by a lastminute reprieve.最后一刻的缓刑令把他从绞架上解救了下来。
• The railway line, due for closure, has been granted a six-month reprieve.本应停运的铁路线获准多运行6 个月。

2 irate   

adj.发怒的，生气

参考例句：

• The irate animal made for us,coming at a full jump.那头发怒的动物以最快的速度向我们冲过来。
• We have received some irate phone calls from customers.我们接到顾客打来的一些愤怒的电话