voa标准英语2008-At Least 23 Russians Killed in Tour Bus Crash in

Forty ambulances raced into the desert in southern Israel, after a bus carrying Russian tourists plunged¹ 80 meters into a desert ravine, killing² 23 people. White body bags were lined up in a row and baggage and wreckage³ were scattered⁴ over the steep slope down from the highway. The wrecked⁵ bus lay on its side.
　

Israeli soldiers carry a body past an overturned bus at scene of a crash near southern Israeli resort city of Eilat, 16 Dec. 2008

Police, soldiers and emergency workers sought to evacuate⁶ the injured, but rescue efforts were hindered by the rough terrain⁷. Six air force helicopters and ambulances ferried the injured to the nearby Red Sea resort of Eilat.

Eilat is a small city and Yosef Tal hospital was overwhelmed.

"Of course, a hospital like Yosef Tal is small, and does not have the same experience of say the major city hospitals that have been dealing⁸ with terror attacks," said Israeli trauma⁹ doctor Joe Djemal.

Many of the injured are in critical condition.

"In this case you have 36 injured people in your emergency room, and you are talking about a lot of very serious conditions, a lot of blood loss and everything else," Djemal said. "And once they have stabilized¹⁰ the patients, then they are being flown out to other hospitals."

Police have ruled out terrorism. One witness said the bus driver sped by him in a no passing zone, lost control and crashed through a guard rail into the ravine.

The tourists had just arrived on a flight from St. Petersburg.

1 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

2 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。

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 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

5 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

6 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。

7 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

8 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

9 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

10 stabilized   

v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The patient's condition stabilized. 患者的病情稳定下来。
• His blood pressure has stabilized. 他的血压已经稳定下来了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》