2007年VOA标准英语-Greek Fires Under Control, But Controversy Over

By Nina Maria Potts
Athens
03 September 2007
 

Fire officials in Greece say wildfires that have swept through southern Greece over the past week have been brought under control. The fires have claimed at least 64 lives and burned numerous villages and thousands of hectares of forest.  Police have charged six people with deliberately¹ setting fires, but environmentalists say the state is also to blame. Nina-Maria Potts reports.

Greek fire now the subject of debate

 First the inferno², now public outrage³ burns at the government's handling of the disaster.

Forest experts say not putting out the fires fast enough is not the real crime. They instead blame a 1998 decision to transfer full responsibility for wildfires from the forestry⁴ department to the fire department.

A former government adviser⁵ and forest fire expert, Gavril Xanthopoulos says state policies and ignorance led to this summer's tragedy. "They started evacuating⁶ villages instead of organizing people to defend villages, rather than trying to clear up the areas close to the villages

Gavril Xanthopoulos

while they had time, where it was prescribed those villages would burn in two hours, or in five hours."

The government has not directly addressed that charge, but is promising⁷ immediate⁸ compensation to the victims.

Forestry expert’s say Mediterranean⁹ forests are meant to burn - that is why fire prevention, not fire suppression is the answer.

Fire aftermath said to interfer with the city's natural air conditioning systems

Clearing logs and branches - natural fuel for fast moving fires - would create firebreaks and fire zones around villages.

Environmentalists say ruthless property developers have in the past exploited weak environmental protection laws, by starting forest fires for their own benefit.

And the environmental cost of the fires is not yet known.

Problems include the potential influx¹⁰ of thousands of environmental refugees to overpopulated cities.

In Athens, environmental activists¹¹ say hot forest fire winds may even have interfered¹² with the city's natural air conditioning system of cool air funneled¹³ by the surrounding mountains.

The director of Greenpeace Greece, Nikos Charalambides says successive governments are to blame. "That's why there is a huge amount of anger among the public and that's something the political parties face following the polls. It's there. They know there's huge anger- they know they have to change their policies."

For now, the fires are diminishing, but environmentalists say the future looks bleak¹⁴, unless the political will can be found to invest not only in firefighting equipment  but in preventing fires from getting started.

1 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

2 inferno   

n.火海；地狱般的场所

参考例句：

• Rescue workers fought to get to victims inside the inferno.救援人员奋力营救大火中的受害者。
• The burning building became an inferno.燃烧着的大楼成了地狱般的地方。

3 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

4 forestry   

n.森林学；林业

参考例句：

• At present, the Chinese forestry is being at a significant transforming period. 当前, 我国的林业正处于一个重大的转折时期。
• Anhua is one of the key forestry counties in Hunan province. 安化县是湖南省重点林区县之一。

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 evacuating   

撤离，疏散( evacuate的现在分词 )； 排空（胃肠），排泄（粪便）； （从危险的地方）撤出，搬出，撤空

参考例句：

• The solution is degassed by alternately freezing, evacuating and thawing. 通过交替的冻结、抽空和溶化来使溶液除气。
• Are we evacuating these potential targets? 能够在这些目标地域内进行疏散吗？

7 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

8 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

9 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

10 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

11 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 interfered   

v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉

参考例句：

• Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 funneled   

漏斗状的

参考例句：

• The crowd funneled through the hall. 群众从走廊中鱼贯而过。
• The large crowd funneled out of the gates after the football match. 足球赛后大群人从各个门中涌出。

14 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。