VOA标准英语2010年-US Military Trains for Possible Terror

It is hard to imagine, but it could happen anywhere in the world - an atomic blast set off by terrorists.  The U.S. military is training for that possibility in the United States.  More than 3,000 Army troops and National Guard - the state militias¹ - are in Indiana to learn how to respond to a nuclear explosion.  Our correspondent visited a training center that is set up to simulate an attack.

The Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in southern Indiana simulates the aftermath of an atomic bomb blast in the largest city in Indiana, Indianapolis.  Buildings are on fire and massive debris² has piled on roads.  Survivors³ are in shock and need medical help.

National Guard, Army and other emergency groups are working together to respond to the chaos⁴ where 100,000 people would likely be killed and up to one million more forced to evacuate⁵ the city. 

Army Colonel James Larsen is the chief of training exercises:

"The most important thing that they can learn is how to operate in this environment," he said. "We don't often train to do it in an environment, what we call a dirty environment, where there is a radiological enemy here."

In a real nuclear attack, hundreds of thousands of people would have to be decontaminated from radiation.  During this mock exercise, water is used instead of chemicals to decontaminate people who play the role of survivors.

Army Lieutenant⁶ Zacharia Davis, a nurse, says it was sometimes difficult to provide help quickly during the exercise, because of a lack of communication among military groups.

"A lot of units from different areas, different parts of the country have to integrate, work as a team, and that's why we come here to practice because we need to be ready in case something does happen," she said.

The training was staged to be as realistic as possible and the soldiers did not know what would happen next. 

Helicopters fly overhead and real local ambulances respond to emergencies.   A speaker sends out emergency messages. 

Police capture a criminal who broke out of jail.  There are even mock journalists and photographers.

Michael Reimer is with Safety Solutions, a company that created the rubble⁷ piles.

"We've brought in tons of rubble that we get from other abandoned buildings," he said. "We've poured some concrete on site and then vehicles we get from a local scrap⁸ yard.  We crush them with the victims in place, such as mannequins."

Soldiers search the debris pulling out the mannequin victims.

Zachary Thomas, with the South Carolina National Guard, says it was tough.

"There's a lot of things to clear and get over," he said. "Cars turned over.  A couple of fires."

During the exercises, military observers stay in the background taking notes with suggestions for improvement.  Besides the actual performance, they look at how long it takes the soldiers to complete their tasks, since time can make the difference between survival or death for those who are lucky enough to be alive after the nuclear blast.
 

1 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

2 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

3 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

4 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

5 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

6 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

7 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。

8 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。