VOA常速英语2007年-Heavy Rain, Landslides Destroy Indonesian Villa

By Chad Bouchard
Jakarta
27 December 2007

Indonesian rescue crews are searching for survivors¹ of landslides³ on Indonesia's Java island. Officials say at least 120 people are dead or missing. Chad Bouchard reports from Jakarta.

In the worst hit area, monsoon⁴ rains caused mudslides and severe flooding during the night Wednesday, while people slept.

Most of the victims were killed in a single landslide² in a densely⁵ populated mountainous region of Central Java, about 480-kilometers east of the capital, Jakarta.

Hundreds of rescue workers have been deployed⁶, but many roads and bridges to affected⁷ areas are blocked.

Soaked and muddy residents are trying to recover belongings⁸ and take care of basic needs. One witness describes rescuers using hand tools to dig through mud up to nine meters deep.

Nar, a woman whose home was destroyed, says she doesn't know how she will feed her family. She says people do not know where to evacuate⁹, or where to get food. She says there in no rice in the area after the mudslide, and because the government shelters are already full, no one knows where to go.

Landslides are frequent in Indonesia, where years of deforestation have left many hillsides with little vegetation to hold the soil.

Director of Indonesia's Geological Disaster Mitigation Center, Surono, says the worst hit area has been on the country's highest alert for landslides. He says the affected district has been known to have the greatest risk of landslides in Indonesia, and now it has happened. He adds that monitoring stations there reported unusually heavy rainfall over two days, which triggered the disaster.

Police fear many more people are dead following a bridge collapse¹⁰ in East Java.

Strong currents are hampering¹¹ the search for victims.

The rainy season is expected to last through the end of February.

A year ago, flooding and landslides killed more than 100 people and drove an estimated 100,000 more from their homes in north Sumatra Island.

1 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

2 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

3 landslides   

山崩( landslide的名词复数 )； （山坡、悬崖等的）崩塌； 滑坡； （竞选中）一方选票占压倒性多数

参考例句：

• Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
• The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。

4 monsoon   

n.季雨，季风，大雨

参考例句：

• The monsoon rains started early this year.今年季雨降雨开始得早。
• The main climate type in that region is monsoon.那个地区主要以季风气候为主要气候类型。

5 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

6 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

9 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

10 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

11 hampering   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• So fraud on cows and development aid is seriously hampering growth. 因此在牛问题上和发展补助上的诈骗严重阻碍了发展。
• Short-termism, carbon-trading, disputing the science-are hampering the implementation of direct economically-led objectives. 短效主义，出售二氧化碳，进行科学辩论，这些都不利于实现以经济为主导的直接目标。