万花筒 2008-07-22&-07-23 美国东部热浪袭人

Heat wave has enveloped¹ much of the mid-Atlantic and northeast. The temperatures are soaring² to the upper 90s, things could make it downright unbearable³ for many and even dangerous for some. Kristen Welker of NBC station WCAU is in Philadelphia right now. Kristen, it’s good to see you, what's been done to help keep you and the folks there cool?

Good to see you too, Alex. Well, the city has actually set up a heat hot-line in all of the counties⁴ throughout our area, they’ve set up a heat hot-line, that's a number the folks can call if they're struggling in this weather. Of course there is particular concern about people at risk including senior citizens.

 

Senior centers like the one behind me, the Philadelphia Senior Center are encouraging seniors to come to the center, spend the day in the air conditioning. In fact, the Philadelphia Senior Center just got two brand new air conditioning units today, and one woman, one senior woman was so moved by this, that she actually started crying, she said this makes the difference between having a bearable and unbearable summer.

 

And of course, officials are also asking everyone to check on their family members who might be elderly and their friends and also of course your pets. And everyone’s best friend right now---water, it is important that everyone stay hydrated, expect, it's expected to get up to 97 degrees here in Philadelphia today, Alex.

 

Ouch, Ok, thank you so much, concrete and collected, Kristen Welker from WCAU, we appreciate that.

 

1 enveloped   

v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was enveloped in a huge white towel. 她裹在一条白色大毛巾里。
• Smoke from the burning house enveloped the whole street. 燃烧着的房子冒出的浓烟笼罩了整条街。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 soaring   

adj.往上爬升的；高耸的

参考例句：

• The house prices in the city seemed soaring up without limit. 这个城市的房价好像在无限制地飞涨。
• They were amazed at the soaring drive of our oil workers. 他们对我国石油工人的冲天干劲感到惊奇。

3 unbearable   

adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的

参考例句：

• It is unbearable to be always on thorns.老是处于焦虑不安的情况中是受不了的。
• The more he thought of it the more unbearable it became.他越想越觉得无法忍受。

4 counties   

郡，县( county的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The deposits spread for 100 kilometers across four counties. 这些矿藏绵延一百公里，跨越四个县。
• The Jinggang Mountains stand where the boundaries of four counties meet. 井冈山位于四县之交。