2007年VOA标准英语-7 Dead as US Highway Bridge Collapses in Minnes

By Greg Flakus
Houston
02 August 2007

A bridge spanning the Mississippi River in the Midwestern city of Minneapolis collapsed² Wednesday, during the evening rush hour, dumping scores of vehicles into the river. At least seven people died and local hospitals have treated dozens of people for injuries. VOA's Greg Flakus has more on the story from Houston.

Wreckage3 lies in water at scene of freeway bridge collapse1 over Mississippi River in Minneapolis, 01 Aug 2007" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070804/0953580.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Wreckage lies in water at scene of freeway bridge collapse over Mississippi River in Minneapolis, 01 Aug 2007

Officials say the Interstate 35 West bridge was crowded with about 50 vehicles when it collapsed. Part of the structure fell 18 meters into the river. Other sections fell back onto the river bank. Buses, trucks and automobiles⁴ crashed on top of one another, as they slid down the broken sections of the bridge. Some people who were able to get out of their vehicles managed to get off the damaged structure and to safety on the river bank. One man who escaped from his truck and got off the bridge spoke⁵ to the local Star Tribune newspaper by telephone.

"I fell probably 30 or 40 feet and landed on the shore (bank) of the Mississippi river. I am so lucky to be alive. On the way down, I thought I was dead," he said.

Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack says divers⁶ went into the river, searching for possible survivors⁷ who had been trapped in vehicles. He says, after the first few hours, the likelihood of finding people still alive diminished. He says his teams shifted from rescue operations to body recovery operations.

"When we move from a rescue to recovery mode, you want to search every void space. When you have a collapse of freeway spans like this, there's a lot of void spaces that are hard to get into and we do not want to get into those spaces until it is safe to do so," he explained.

Chief Clack says officials are working closely with structural⁸ engineers to determine when and where it is safe for recovery crews to enter. As to why the bridge suddenly collapsed, Clack says investigators⁹ will start looking for clues, Thursday morning.

"Federal, state and city experts are going to be looking at this span of bridge to make that determination. It is way too early for us to speculate. It is a total collapse of a significant section of the freeway and so something went wrong and we are going to get to the bottom of what happened," he said.

Clack says this is by far the worst disaster he has seen in Minneapolis in the more than 20 years he has worked there. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty called it "a catastrophe¹⁰ of historic proportions" for the whole state.

The eight-lane bridge, which passes near the University of Minnesota, near downtown Minneapolis, was the scene of some repair or road maintenance work at the time of the collapse, but there is no indication as to whether that played a role in the disaster. University of Minnesota School of Engineering inspectors¹¹ had examined the bridge in 2001 and found no serious problems, although their report does mention signs of fatigue¹² on a steel truss under the roadway.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says there is no indication that there was any sabotage¹³ of the structure.

1 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。

2 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。

3 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

4 automobiles   

n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• When automobiles become popular,the use of the horse and buggy passed away. 汽车普及后，就不再使用马和马车了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Automobiles speed in an endless stream along the boulevard. 宽阔的林荫道上，汽车川流不息。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 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。

6 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

7 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

8 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

9 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

11 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。

13 sabotage   

n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏

参考例句：

• They tried to sabotage my birthday party.他们企图破坏我的生日晚会。
• The fire at the factory was caused by sabotage.那家工厂的火灾是有人蓄意破坏引起的。