VOA标准英语2009年-Plane Carrying 16 Missing in Indonesia

A plane carrying 16 people has disappeared over the remote province of Papua in the Indonesian archipelago.
　
Family members of passengers from a missing Merpati Airlines plane gather at Sentani airport in Jayapura for more information about their relatives, 02 Aug 2009

The routine flight from the capital of Papua province, Jayapura, to the town of Oksibil, near the border with Papua New Guinea, should have taken just 50 minutes. But air traffic controllers say they lost contact with the Twin Otter¹ plane.

Airline officials said 16 people, including three crew members, were aboard the plane, operated by Merpati Nusantara airlines.

Merpati Nusantara's director of operations, Captain Nikmatullah, said the plane had recently been inspected by a technician, and there were no reports of problems. It was carrying enough fuel to fly for more than three hours.

A spokesman in Papua said bad weather is hampering² search efforts.
Crashes are not uncommon³ in Papua province where light aircraft, must navigate⁴ soaring mountains covered with impenetrable jungle. Some missing planes have never been found.

Indonesia's airline industry has come under scrutiny⁵ in recent years after a series of crashes of both commercial and military aircraft in which hundreds of people have died.

Last month, the European Union lifted a two-year ban on travel in its airspace for the national carrier Garuda and three other commercial airlines.

Merpati Nusantara is one of a handful of Indonesian operators that remain banned from entering European airspace.

1 otter   

n.水獭

参考例句：

• The economists say the competition otter to the brink of extinction.经济学家们说，竞争把海獭推到了灭绝的边缘。
• She collared my black wool coat with otter pelts.她把我的黑呢上衣镶上了水獭领。

2 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。

3 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

4 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

5 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。