纽约大楼倒塌死亡人数上升到3人

 　　纽约大楼倒塌死亡人数上升到3人

　　NEW YORK, March 12 (Xinhua) -- A powerful explosion leveled two residential¹ buildings in New York's East Harlem neighborhood on Wednesday morning, killing² three people, while nine others remained missing, officials said.

　　Officials from the local fire department also said 27 people were injured, while the Associated Press quoted the New York City mayor's office as saying more than 60 people were injured.

　　The blast struck a building at 116th Street and Park Avenue in Upper Manhattan at about 9:30 a.m. (1330 GMT), blowing out windows in surrounding buildings and sending debris³ crashing down onto nearby streets.

　　Two five-story residential buildings next to each other collapsed⁴, with one essentially⁵ gone from the blast. Preliminary investigation⁶ suggested that the only warning before the blast was a call about a gas leak.

　　Utility company Con⁷ Edison said it received the call from a resident in an adjacent building about 15 minutes before the explosion. The company said it sent two workers to the scene after the call, but they arrived two minutes after the explosion.

　　In a media briefing more than two hours after the explosion, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the explosion was caused by a gas leak. A heavy fire ensued as well.

　　"This is a tragedy of the worst kind because there was no indication in time to save people," he told reporters at the scene.

　　There will be a search those who are missing through the rubble⁸ as soon as the fire is put out, de Blasio said.

　　Earlier Wednesday, local officials said two people were killed in the accident and more than 12 people remained missing, and at least 22 were injured, including two in critical condition.

　　They indicated that the death toll⁹ could rise further.

1 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

4 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

5 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

6 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

7 con   

n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的

参考例句：

• We must be fair and consider the reason pro and con.我们必须公平考虑赞成和反对的理由。
• The motion is adopted non con.因无人投反对票，协议被通过。

8 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

9 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。