VOA标准英语2010年-On the Scene: VOA's Brian Wagner Descr

Food and supplies from around the world continue to arrive in Port-au-Prince, Haiti as rescue workers search the rubble¹ for survivors² of Tuesday's devastating³ earthquake.  VOA Correspondent Brian Wagner is in Port-au-Prince.

We're driving around now with a group of Haitians that I met at the hotel.  We're in search of gasoline.  The concern is that the supplies will run out pretty quickly and our vehicle will be left stranded⁴.  A few blocks earlier, we saw a four-to-five story commercial building that looks like it has been completely toppled over.

An enormous bulldozer was trying to pull out some of the rubble.  There was a pile of bodies next to that.  Just to my left, we're passing another area where a number of bodies have been piled, many of them have just been cast aside, some of them are covered in sheets of plastic.  There's a stream of pedestrians⁵ through most parts of the city.

When people pass these areas with bodies, they just simply cover their faces with their shirts.  Some of them have surgical⁶ masks or other things to cover their noses.  We've just come upon the large plaza⁷  near many government buildings downtown.  It seems to be a flood of people displaced from their homes right now staying here, living here.  It's almost a tent community in some parts.  There are tents and sheets hung up in some places, elsewhere there are just people with their belongings⁸ gathered around them.

We turned another corner around the central plaza area and the density⁹ of people is even greater over here.  A number of people have taken over a children's climbing set.  They've set up sheets and tents and what look like make shift sleeping bags.  Scores of people have apparently¹⁰ gathered here, hoping that there will be supplies.  From what we can tell, other than one fire engine distributing water, there's really no presence of any government or other international aid groups here.

1 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

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 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

4 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。

5 pedestrians   

n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Several pedestrians had come to grief on the icy pavement. 几个行人在结冰的人行道上滑倒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Pedestrians keep to the sidewalk [footpath]! 行人走便道。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 surgical   

adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的

参考例句：

• He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
• All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。

7 plaza   

n.广场，市场

参考例句：

• They designated the new shopping centre York Plaza.他们给这个新购物中心定名为约克购物中心。
• The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen.这个广场上布满了便衣警察。

8 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

9 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

10 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。