俄克拉荷马州龙卷风救援工作接近尾声

时间：2013-05-22 07:51:45

（单词翻译:单击）

Rescue workers are combing the ruins left by the gigantic tornado¹ that killed two dozen people in Oklahoma on Monday.

本周一，美国俄克拉荷马州的救援人员正在巨大龙卷风造成的废墟中搜寻幸存者。

The huge tornado ripped through a suburb of Oklahoma City, <a href=

flattening² entire neighbourhoods." style="cursor:pointer" onclick="window.open('http://www.enread.com/upimg/allimg/130522/1_130522075316_1.jpg')" />
The huge tornado ripped through a suburb of Oklahoma City, flattening entire neighbourhoods.

Officials say the search for survivors³ is nearly over as efforts turn towards recovery.

Fire chief Gary Bird said he was "98% sure" there were no more survivors or bodies to recover from the rubble⁴.

The storm, which also killed nine children, has meanwhile been upgraded to the most powerful level of twister.

Packing winds of at least 200mph (320km/h), the tornado razed⁵ a swathe of the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore.

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said the death toll⁶ may rise above 24 as some bodies could have been taken directly to funeral homes.

The body count was revised down from 51 after the state medical examiner said some victims may have been counted twice in the confusion.

According to the local fire chief, no survivors or bodies have been found since Monday night.

He said the goal was to conduct three searches of each location just to be sure.

Emergency crews have had trouble navigating⁷ the devastated⁸ neighbourhoods because there were no street signs remaining. Some used mobile phones and GPS to navigate⁹.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has upgraded the tornado to EF-5, the most powerful type on the Fujita scale. It uses the word "incredible'' to describe the force of such a storm.

The NWS said the twister's path was 17 miles long and 1.3 miles wide.

For about 45 minutes on Monday afternoon, the storm battered¹⁰ the suburb of about 55,000 people.

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1 tornado
n.飓风，龙卷风
参考例句：
A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。 The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

2 flattening
n. 修平动词flatten的现在分词
参考例句：
Flattening of the right atrial border is also seen in constrictive pericarditis. 右心房缘变平亦见于缩窄性心包炎。 He busied his fingers with flattening the leaves of the book. 他手指忙着抚平书页。

3 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

4 rubble
n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾
参考例句：
After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。 After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

5 razed
v.彻底摧毁，将…夷为平地( raze的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
The village was razed to the ground . 这座村庄被夷为平地。 Many villages were razed to the ground. 许多村子被夷为平地。来自《简明英汉词典》

6 toll
n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)
参考例句：
The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。 The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

7 navigating
v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃
参考例句：
These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。来自About Face 3交互设计精髓 Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。来自互联网

8 devastated
v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的
参考例句：
The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。 His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

9 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。

10 battered
adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损
参考例句：
He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。 The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。