新西兰英语 459 Too much snow on the mountain

 　　There was too much snow on Mt Lyford in North Canterbury yesterday. Last night 250 skiers had to stay on the mountain in the day lodge¹. The road was closed because of high winds and the risk of avalanches³ from so much snow. It was too dangerous for cars to drive back down the mountain to their accommodation.

　　People slept on seats or on the floor. There were some mattresses⁴ for the children. The lodge has a generator⁵ for electricity. They used the generator until 11pm to keep the lodge warm.

　　The day lodge has a café so dinner last night was leftovers⁶ from the café. This morning, a snow groomer machine came up the road, bringing food for breakfast. The groomer cleared some avalanches which had fallen on the road. Later in the day, the wind dropped enough for people to leave.

　　In August last year, 1,000 skiers were trapped at Mt Hutt because of high winds. They had to spend the night at the lodge, sleeping on the floor. There were some school groups with their teachers too. However, it is school holidays now so children at Mt Lyford were with families. Listen to August 13th 2010 to hear more about this.

　　Vocabulary

　　Avalanche² – snow slide that can bury people and cars under the snow when it falls

　　A generator uses diesel⁷ oil to generate (= make) electricity

　　A snow groomer is a big tractor which pushes soft snow down to make it firm.

　　trapped – couldn’t escape

　　Grammar

　　It was too dangerous (for cars) to drive

　　This is a useful structure: too + adjective to + verb e.g. I was too tired to do anything; it was too hot to work; it is too far to walk etc. Try to make your own sentences like this.

1 lodge   

v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆

参考例句：

• Is there anywhere that I can lodge in the village tonight?村里有我今晚过夜的地方吗？
• I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。

2 avalanche   

n.雪崩，大量涌来

参考例句：

• They were killed by an avalanche in the Swiss Alps.他们在瑞士阿尔卑斯山的一次雪崩中罹难。
• Higher still the snow was ready to avalanche.在更高处积雪随时都会崩塌。

3 avalanches   

n.雪崩( avalanche的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The greatest dangers of pyroclastic avalanches are probably heat and suffocation. 火成碎屑崩落的最大危害可能是炽热和窒息作用。 来自辞典例句
• Avalanches poured down on the tracks and rails were spread. 雪崩压满了轨道，铁轨被弄得四分五裂。 来自辞典例句

4 mattresses   

褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
• The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。

5 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

6 leftovers   

n.剩余物，残留物，剩菜

参考例句：

• He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
• She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。

7 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。