VOA标准英语2014--Severe Weather Conditions Hit Parts of Europe, US, Asia 美国、欧洲、亚洲部分地区遭遇恶劣天气

 Severe Weather Conditions Hit Parts of Europe, US, Asia 美国、欧洲、亚洲部分地区遭遇恶劣天气

WASHINGTON — Severe winter weather is affecting the lives of people in many parts of the world. 

Stormy weather battered¹ Britain's western coast on Wednesday, causing floods and destruction in regions already suffering from prolonged flooding. British  Prime Minister David Cameron promised government support to the victims.

Floods also have struck the southwestern Irish city of Cork². Some local governments are blaming the city management.

"It looks like something you'd see in a third world country where there is no system in place to protect against the flooding. Really I don't think that in 2014 we should be having flooding at this level," said one local resident.

In Spain's Galicia region, five Philippine nationals were rescued by a helicopter when their ship ran into trouble off the coast.

The Spanish cargo³ ship, the Luno, split in two after high winds crashed it against a jetty off the coast of France, but its crew members were rescued. 

In Slovenia, days of blizzards⁴ have left the city of Postojna trapped under thick layers of ice and some 50,000 homes without power. Austrian emergency worker Mateusz Frym was part of a team that brought 26 generators⁵ to Postojna.

"We have never seen anything like this. So much chaos⁶ and ice everywhere. It is crazy, this kind of thing has never happened over at our place (in Austria)," said Frym.

Parts of China also are also suffering extremely low temperatures at the time when much of Asia is celebrating a traditional spring festival.

Tian Shuping, a resident of Mohe County in northeastern Helongjiang Province, where temperatures dropped to minus 43 degrees Celsius⁷ Wednesday, said, “The spring has come. But the weather here in Mohe is very cold. I wouldn't have even come out if I didn't have an errand to do."

Many parts of the United States are also buried in snow. Cities have used tons of salt to make their streets passable.

Jeff Fleming, spokesman for the Port of Milwaukee in Wisconsin, welcomed the arrival of fresh salt supplies.

"We've had a lot of snow and we've used an enormous amount of salt. In 2013, the Port of Milwaukee brought in over a million tons of salt and the piles have dwindled⁹ to almost nothing," said Fleming.

But for many people, snow means fun and recreation. Thousands of visitors gathered in the Japanese city of Sapporo to admire elaborate ice and snow sculptures at an annual ice festival. Malaysian minister of Tourism Seri Mohammed Nazri bin¹⁰ Abdul Aziz attended the opening ceremony Wednesday.

"Because my country is very warm, I love the cold in Sapporo,” said Aziz.

 

Aziz spoke⁸ outside a booth promoting tourism to his country, where the climate is very balmy especially compared to freezing temperatures at the Sapporo festival.

1 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

2 cork   

n.软木，软木塞

参考例句：

• We heard the pop of a cork.我们听见瓶塞砰的一声打开。
• Cork is a very buoyant material.软木是极易浮起的材料。

3 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

4 blizzards   

暴风雪( blizzard的名词复数 )； 暴风雪似的一阵，大量（或大批）

参考例句：

• Even in the summertime we might be struck by blizzards. 甚至在夏天，我们也可能受到暴风雪的袭击。
• Blizzards battered Britain for the third day. 大风雪袭击英国已进入第三天。

5 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。

7 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 dwindled   

v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Support for the party has dwindled away to nothing. 支持这个党派的人渐渐化为乌有。
• His wealth dwindled to nothingness. 他的钱财化为乌有。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。