新西兰英语 726 Strange summer weather

 　　Those of us who live in New Zealand know that we can have warm days in winter and cold days in summer. We also know that the weather in the north can be entirely¹ different from the weather in the south. Likewise, the weather in the west is often the opposite of the weather in the east. These last few days, the weather in the east of the South Island has been fine and warm while the west has had heavy rain, bringing flooding. A small one-lane bridge on the West Coast was washed away by a flooded river. Dairy tankers² cannot collect the milk from farmers on the other side of the river until there is a replacement³ bridge. Some farmers had to dump the milk.

　　Heavy rain meant that 120 trampers on the famous Milford Track could not get out for 24 hours.

　　Central Otago had snow on the hills and on Lindis Pass. However, roads stayed open. This is very surprising weather for mid-summer.

　　The forecast for nearly the whole country is for fine weather during the weekend.

　　Vocabulary

　　?entirely – totally

　　?likewise – the same

　　?one-lane – cars going in one direction have to wait for cars going in the other direction

　　?dairy tankers – trucks that collect milk from dairy farms and take it to the dairy factory. The milk is inside a closed tank, like a cylinder⁵ (similar to a petrol tanker).

　　?replacement – another one in its place

　　?dump – throw it away, probably pour the milk onto a paddock

　　?tramper⁴ – hiker (British English), a person who walks in the forest, hills or mountains

　　Note: ‘different from’ – you can also say ‘different to’. American English allows ‘different than’.

1 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

2 tankers   

运送大量液体或气体的轮船[卡车]( tanker的名词复数 )； 油轮； 罐车； 油槽车

参考例句：

• They should stop offloading waste from oil tankers into the sea. 他们应当停止从油轮上往海里倾倒废弃物。
• The harbour admits large tankers and freighters. 这个港口容得下巨型油船和货轮。

3 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

4 tramper   

夯实器，流浪者，流动工匠

参考例句：

5 cylinder   

n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸

参考例句：

• What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少？
• The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。