PBS高端访谈:7.1级地震检测墨西哥的应急反应

 　　In another major story today: An earthquake shook Central Mexico, knocking down buildings and killing¹ at least 61 people.

　　The quake measured 7.1 and was centered about 75 miles southeast of Mexico City.

　　Richard Ensor is the Mexico City bureau chief for The Economist² magazine. We spoke³ just a short time ago by telephone.

　　Richard Ensor, thank you very much for talking with us. What are you seeing? What is the very latest from Mexico City?

　　Well, I'm just outside of Mexico City in a town called... which is much closer to where the epicenter of this earthquake was.

　　And there are collapsed⁴ buildings. There are rescue operations under way. I'm currently outside one right now.

　　And there's a lot of activity. There's a tall building where the dome⁵ of the building has fallen off and then crushed a bus.

　　And it seems that people -- nobody seems to know whether there are going to be any people inside the building.

　　But it's a very, very somber⁶ occasion. And this area is incredibly shocked, especially after having...

　　We know this is a very populated area, of course, Mexico City itself and the area around it. What did you feel?

　　So, I felt this impact a lot stronger than I did the previous one, even though... a 7.1, the magnitude, from the 8.2 two weeks ago.

　　I saw -- I was in a place with a pool, with a swimming pool. And I saw the swimming pool splashing around and moving from side to side.

　　The buildings were... loudly and, of course, the students in the school were incredibly scared.

　　We're seeing images of people in the streets looking pretty frightened.

　　How are people handling this right now? And do you -- is the country prepared in any way to deal with this crisis?

　　Well, this one is going to hit some of the population centers like Mexico City a lot harder than the previous earthquake did, because the epicenter is so close.

　　There are areas in Mexico City that are built on very shallow and soft ground, so the buildings are prone⁷ to coming down very easily.

　　One of the things that was commented on after the previous earthquake was that a lot had been earned since the horrible earthquake in 1985,

　　which killed 10,000 people, and that a lot of lessons about building regulations and emergency response had been learned.

　　This is a stronger earthquake. So, we will have a real test of how the country's emergency services hold up.

　　I know that President Pena has been very active on social media, putting out information and drawing together a national plan of action.

　　On the ground here, in Morelos, the epicenter of the quake, the local services are working as hard as they can to find any survivors⁸ in the rubble⁹ as well.

　　Richard Ensor, the Mexico City bureau chief for The Economist magazine, thank you very much, and we wish you the best. Thank you. undefined

1 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。

2 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

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 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

6 somber   

adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• He had a somber expression on his face.他面容忧郁。
• His coat was a somber brown.他的衣服是暗棕色的。

7 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

8 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

9 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。