美国有线新闻 CNN 美国多州遭遇恶劣天气侵袭 致数人死亡数万人断电

 

In the United States, the country with the most violent weather in the world there've been more than 500 reports of tornadoes² in the last 30 days. That's only happened four times before. The National Weather Service received more than 50 tornado¹ reports on Monday and Tuesday alone. While several states west of the Rocky Mountains recently saw colder than average conditions, much of America east of the Rockies has seen severe storms, flooding and a scorching³ heat wave.

There's been a lot of damage in the Midwest. Parts of Ohio are cleaning up after damaging storms and tornadoes swept through early this week. Homes have been destroyed. Schools have been damaged. More than 70,000 people in Ohio had no electricity as of yesterday morning and more heavy storms with the possibility of tornadoes and large hail⁴ were in the forecast. Soaking⁵ rain was expected in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois. South of those states, parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma have been struggling for days with flooding. The city government of North Little Rock, Arkansas says the rising Arkansas River is one problem.

The fact that the city's storm water drains⁶ to that river and could become blocked from doing that is another. One state west, severe weather in Oklahoma has been blamed for the deaths of nine people since late April and the governor⁷ says things could still get worse there. For the time being, the threat of dangerous storms isn't expected to let up in many parts of America but there are some things you can do to protect yourself if your area is under the threat of a tornado.

1 tornado   

n.飓风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

2 tornadoes   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Tornadoes, severe earthquakes, and plagues create wide spread havoc. 龙卷风、大地震和瘟疫成普遍的毁坏。 来自互联网
• Meteorologists are at odds over the working of tornadoes. 气象学者对龙卷风的运动方式看法不一。 来自互联网

3 scorching   

adj. 灼热的

参考例句：

• a scorching, pitiless sun 灼热的骄阳
• a scorching critique of the government's economic policy 对政府经济政策的严厉批评

4 hail   

n.雹，一阵；vi.下雹；vt.高呼，为...喝彩

参考例句：

• Hail fell with such violence that it broke windows.冰雹猛落，把玻璃窗也砸破了。
• The people lined the streets to hail the returning heroes.人们夹道欢迎凯旋的英雄们。

5 soaking   

v.浸，浸湿(soak的现在分词)；吸收，吸入adj.湿透的；浸透的n.浸湿，浸透adv.湿透地

参考例句：

• That coat is soaking—take it off. 上衣湿透了—脱下来吧。
• I tried to squeeze the water out of my soaking skirt. 我用力拧掉我那件湿透了的裙子上的水。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 drains   

n.消耗( drain的名词复数 )；排水沟；下水道孔盖；流尽v.（使）流干， （使）逐渐流走( drain的第三人称单数 )；喝光，喝干；使（精力、金钱等）耗尽

参考例句：

• The whole island drains into one river. 整个岛上的水都流进了一条河。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The clearing of rubbish and drains is still incomplete. 垃圾与污水的清理工作还未完成。 来自辞典例句

7 governor   

n.统治者，地方长官(如省长，州长，总督等)

参考例句：

• The governor was an expert at fencing with reporters.这位州长是搪塞新闻记者的能手。
• He was elected governor of the state of California.他当选为加州州长。