新西兰英语 84 Japanese Climber Rescued

　　Early this morning, one Japanese climber, Hideaki Nara, was rescued from Aoraki Mt Cook and the body of his climbing mate¹, Kiyoshi Ikenouchi, was taken down the mountain by helicopter. The two men were both experienced² climbers and Mr Ikenouchi was a mountain guide who had climbed Mt Cook before.
They began their climb of Mt Cook on Thursday last week, eight days ago when the weather was good. They planned to return to Mt Cook village by Saturday but on Friday the weather changed. They were caught in severe weather, strong winds, thunder and lightning, blowing snow and temperatures between -20° and -25°. They decided³ to put up their tent on a ledge⁴, which was more than 3,500m high, and stay there until the weather cleared.
The weather did not clear for six days. On Wednesday, a helicopter managed to drop a rescue pack near the tent. It contained food, fuel, warm sleeping bags, and a radio but we know now that the men did not see it. The wind was probably so noisy they didn’t hear the helicopter. Helicopter pilots tried several times to reach the tent but the weather was too bad.
Finally, at 5.30am this morning, the weather cleared for a few hours, and the helicopter managed to land on one ski. It took one minute for Nara to jump on board before the helicopter took off. He knew that his mate had died in the night. The wind took their tent and one sleeping bag away on Wednesday night and left the two men with no shelter. Nara was lucky to survive. He was taken to hospital but his condition is not serious.
The helicopter pilot, Nigel Gee⁵, is a skilled⁶ pilot who knows the mountain well. It is a very, dangerous job in bad weather. Poor visibility means that it is difficult to see when it is snowing, and strong winds make the helicopter hard to control. The summer climbing season is from November to March and Gee knows that the weather can change suddenly which means that climbers can be in trouble. When that happens, the helicopter pilot is called in to help.
Mr Ikenouchi is the 69th climber to have died on Aoraki Mt Cook since climbing began on this mountain in 1882.

1 mate   

n.伙伴，同事；配偶；大副；v.(使)交配

参考例句：

• Where is the mate to this glove?这副手套的另一只在哪儿？
• She has been a faithful mate to him.她一直是他忠实的配偶。

2 experienced   

adj.有经验的；经验丰富的，熟练的

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• Perhaps you and I had better change over;you are more experienced.也许我们的工作还是对换一下好，你比我更有经验。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 ledge   

n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁

参考例句：

• They paid out the line to lower him to the ledge.他们放出绳子使他降到那块岩石的突出部分。
• Suddenly he struck his toe on a rocky ledge and fell.突然他的脚趾绊在一块突出的岩石上，摔倒了。

5 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

6 skilled   

adj.(in)熟练的，有技能的；需要技能的

参考例句：

• Unskilled workers usually earn less money than skilled workers.无技能的工人通常比有技能的工人挣钱少。
• She was skilled enough in French to translate a novel.她法语娴熟，足以翻译小说。