新西兰英语 373 The future of coal mining

　　At the moment, workers at the Pike River Coal mine are using a jet¹ machine to pump CO2 into the mine to put out the fire. Then they will put a cover over the entrance. When the mine is cool and all poisonous gases have gone, rescuers will enter the mine to recover the bodies. This could take a few weeks.
But will the mine reopen in the future? It will stay closed at least until after the Royal Commission² of Inquiry³ and that could take a year. Meanwhile, what will happen to the miners⁴ who were not working that afternoon and now have no work?
If the Pike River coal mine closes forever, this will make a big difference to the economy of the West Coast. This is a fairly new mine which opened two years ago and started shipping⁵ coal to India this year. The company hoped to export 1m tonnes of coal each year for at least 18 years. The price for coking coal has reached US$225 a tonne recently, much more than Pike River expected. The future was looking good.
It cost the company $280m to build the mine and a lot of that money went into the West Coast economy. The mine employed 180 men. Some experienced⁶ miners were paid a salary of around $80,000. This is a big salary. Spending by workers probably adds about $30m to the economy of the West Coast.
The West Coast has had a problem with unemployment in the past. There were not enough jobs. Tourism does provide some jobs as visitors come to enjoy the native rain forest, mountains, glaciers⁷, lakes and rivers. However, many jobs in tourism are low paid ones like restaurant work. There is a lot of coal on the West Coast and two other underground mines near Greymouth. Mining is an important industry for the future economy of the West Coast.
Questions
1. New Zealand has a lot of coal. Most of our electricity is produced by clean energy – hydro or geo-thermal – not from coal. Do you think New Zealand should export coal for other countries to produce greenhouse⁸ gases?
2. Some mines are not underground. They are opencast. However, Pike River coal is in a National Park and an opencast mine was not allowed. What are the problems with opencast mining? What are the benefits?

1 jet   

n.喷气发动机，喷气式飞机；v.喷出，喷射

参考例句：

• Put a match to the jet to light the gas.将火柴放在煤气喷嘴上点燃煤气。
• I don't see the jet of your plan.我不明白你的计划的要点。

2 commission   

n.委托，授权，委员会，拥金，回扣，委任状

参考例句：

• The salesman can get commission on everything he sells.这个售货员能得到所售每件货物的佣金。
• The commission is made up of five people,including two women.委员会由五人组成，其中包括两名妇女。

3 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

4 miners   

矿工( miner的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The coal miners have come out for about two weeks. 煤矿工人已罢工约两周了。
• The roof of the cave dropped in on the miners, trapping them. 洞穴的顶部坍了下来，砸在矿工身上。

5 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

6 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。

7 glaciers   

冰河，冰川( glacier的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Glaciers gouged out valleys from the hills. 冰川把丘陵地带冲出一条条山谷。
• It has ice and snow glaciers, rainforests and beautiful mountains. 既有冰川，又有雨林和秀丽的山峰。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

8 greenhouse   

n.花房，温室，玻璃暖房

参考例句：

• Behind the green house was a greenhouse.在那所绿房子后面是一个花房。
• The tomatoes were grown in the greenhouse.这些西红柿是在温室栽培的。