Accidents down during Spring Festival in China

 　　BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Traffic accidents during this year's Spring Festival were down about 50 percent from last year, according to a Saturday statement from the Ministry¹ of Public Security (MPS).

　　It noted² that no heavy or large-scale traffic congestion³ was reported and traffic accidents in which three or more people died dropped by 76.7 percent year on year.

　　No serious fire-related accidents or firework-related deaths were reported during the holiday period from Feb. 9 to 15, said the statement.

　　A fire-related accident is defined as "serious" if the death toll⁴ reaches between 10 and 30.

　　In addition, the police said 25 million people attended 1,784 large-scale activities across the country during the holiday, including 371 gatherings⁵ with more than 10,000 participants. All of these events ran safely and smoothly⁶.

　　A separate press release from the railway authority also reported "sound operations" during the week-long holiday in which railways handled 34.68 million passengers.

　　Railway safety staff seized over 80,000 pieces of dangerous items carried by passengers, including 895,000 firecrackers and over half a tonne of chemicals, according to the statement.

　　Meanwhile, police detained 106 suspects in a crackdown on ticket scalping, it said.

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 congestion   

n.阻塞，消化不良

参考例句：

• The congestion in the city gets even worse during the summer.夏天城市交通阻塞尤为严重。
• Parking near the school causes severe traffic congestion.在学校附近泊车会引起严重的交通堵塞。

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。

5 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

6 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。