PBS高端访谈:黎巴嫩发生特大爆炸

JUDY WOODRUFF: In the day's other news：A monstrous¹ explosion shook Beirut, Lebanon, and shattered much of the city's port. The health minister reported that at least 70 dead and more than 3, 000 injured. Video showed an enormous blast and shockwave that damaged buildings miles away. Officials said that 2, 700 tons of ammonium nitrate blew up. Special correspondent Rebecca Collard is in Beirut. She spoke² with us a short while ago. Rebecca, thank you so much for talking with us. So, what exactly is known about what happened?

朱迪·伍德乐夫：在今天的新闻里，一场巨大的爆炸震撼了黎巴嫩贝鲁特，摧毁了该市的大部分港口。卫生部长报告称该爆炸导致至少70人死亡以及3000多人受伤。视频显示，巨大的爆炸和冲击波毁坏了几英里之外的建筑。相关官员表示有2700吨硝酸铵爆炸。特别记者丽贝卡·科拉德在贝鲁特为我们报道，她此前和我们连线。丽贝卡，非常感谢和我们连线，那么，情况究竟是怎样的呢？

REBECCA COLLARD: Well, actually, Judy, a lot is still not known about what happened today. The initial report said that this was some sort of a fireworks cache that was being held in a port that caught fire. But I can tell you, where I am now…and I'm very close to my apartment…we're miles from the blast site, and even here, you can see we have almost no electricity. Many of the buildings here that are even more than a dozen stories high have the top windows blown out. The walls are off of things. There is glass all over the street. So, the most recent thing that we have heard now is that there was some sort of chemical being that was held in that facility. And that chemical caught fire. And because of that, we saw this massive explosion, and we're really talking, if you look at these photos, this video of the explosion, a massive explosion, then, afterwards, this huge plume³ of smoke coming from this area in Beirut's port.

丽贝卡·科拉德：嗯，其实，朱迪，关于今天发生的事情还有很多信息不太明了。报告最初称是一些放置在港口的烟花导致了此次爆炸，不过我可以告诉你，我现在所在的地方……这里离我的公寓很近，距离爆炸地点几英里，即使这么远的距离，你可以看到，这边的电已经停了，这里的一些甚至有十多层楼高的建筑顶层的窗户都被炸毁了，墙上也在掉东西，街道上到处都是玻璃。所以，我们目前听到的最新消息是，那个设施里有某种化学物质，而该化学物质起火了，正因如此，我们看到了这次的大爆炸。我们一直在谈论，如果你看了这些照片的话，还有这次爆炸的视频，真的是一场大爆炸，之后，巨大的浓烟从贝鲁特港口这边冒了出来。

JUDY WOODRUFF: And as you describe, massive aftereffect, loss of life, so many injuries, we're hearing.

朱迪·伍德乐夫：正如你所描述的，巨大的余波，很多人受伤，请继续。

REBECCA COLLARD: Yes. The toll⁴ now, the official toll from the Lebanese government, the latest we're hearing is over 60 and over 3, 000 people injured. But I can tell you, even where I am now, to this point, hours and hours after this blast took place, I'm still hearing ambulances ferrying people to hospitals. We have heard that a lot of the hospitals here in Beirut are basically overwhelmed with the numbers of injuries that are coming in. And, unfortunately, Judy, I think that, over tonight and into tomorrow, we're only going to see the number of dead and the number of injured rise really significantly.

丽贝卡·科拉德：是的，目前黎巴嫩政府公布的官方死亡人数，我们听到的最新数据是60多人死亡、3000多人受伤。不过我可以告诉你，即使我现在所在的位置，在爆炸发生的数小时之后，我仍能听见送伤员去医院的救护车的声音，此外我还听说贝鲁特的很多医院已经被大量的伤员挤满。还有，不幸的是，朱迪，我觉得，从今天晚上到明天，死亡人数和受伤人数还会大幅上涨。

JUDY WOODRUFF: Such a terrible incident. Rebecca Collard reporting for us from Beirut, thank you so much.

朱迪·伍德乐夫：太可怕了，丽贝卡·科拉德在贝鲁特为我们报道，非常感谢。

REBECCA COLLARD: You're welcome.

丽贝卡·科拉德：不客气。

1 monstrous   

adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的

参考例句：

• The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升，形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
• Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人！

2 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。

3 plume   

n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰

参考例句：

• Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
• He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。

4 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。