2008年5月至6月，随着四川地震的发生以及南方数省大范围的洪涝灾害，中央和地方政府纷纷启动应急预案，积极应对自然灾害，组织力量投入到抢险救灾工作中去，以尽可能减少自然灾害造成的损失和影响。我国的应急预案制度从全国范围来说开始于2003年一度肆虐的“非典”疫情。2003年7月，国家提出加快突发公共事件应急机制建设的重大课题，国务院办公厅专门成立“建立突发公共事件应急预案工作小组”。2006年1月8日，国务院发布《国家突发公共事件总体应急预案》，其中又分设国家专项应急预案，国务院部门应急预案和地方应急预案。国家总体应急预案指出：为了提高政府保障公共安全和处置突发公共事件的能力，最大程度地预防和减少突发公共事件及其造成的损害，保障公众的生命财产安全，维护国家安全和社会稳定，促进经济社会全面、协调、可持续发展，依据宪法及有关法律、行政法规，制定本预案。本预案所称突发公共事件是指突然发生，造成或者可能造成重大人员伤亡、财产损失、生态环境破坏和严重社会危害，危及公共安全的紧急事件。各类突发公共事件按照其性质、严重程度、可控性和影响范围等因素，一般分为四级：Ⅰ级（特别重大）、Ⅱ级（重大）、Ⅲ级（较大）和Ⅳ级（一般）。本预案适用于涉及跨省级行政区划的，或超出事发地省级人民政府处置能力的特别重大突发公共事件应对工作。本预案指导全国的突发公共事件应对工作。

    由于各类自然灾害的不可避免，自从《国家突发公共事件总体应急预案》出台之后，“应急预案”就成了我们经常听说的一个新闻词语，成为了我们生活中的一部分。那么，国外是否也有“应急预案”，“应急预案”在英语中是怎么表达的呢？

    查询有关资料，我发现这里的“应急”所对应的英语词汇是contingency，根据朗文当代高级英语辞典，其释义为“（可能发生的）意外事件，不测事件”（an event or situation that might happen in the future），在该词条的例证中，contingency¹ plan赫然在目，其意思正是我们所说的“应急预案”，英文释义称：a plan that you make in order to deal with a problem that might happen。著名的网络百科全书维基百科（Wikipedia）对contingency plan则提供了更为全面详细的解释如下：A contingency plan is a plan devised for a specific situation when things could go wrong. Contingency plans are often devised by governments or businesses who want to be prepared for anything that could happen. They are sometimes known as "Back-up plans", "Worst-case scenario² plans" or "Plan B".从中我们也可以看出，contingency plan还有另外一些替代表达，而且经常以复数形式出现。

    查询到“应急预案”在英语中对应的表达之后，通过功能强大的搜索引擎GOOGLE，我们很快就可以找到许多相关表达，由此也可以看出，contingency plan乃是一个国际通用的说法，如在http://www.business-continuity-world.com网站上就有关于Business Continuity, Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery的介绍，而英国的一个域名为http://www.contingency-planning-disaster-recovery-guide.co.uk的网站则提供了一个应急预案指南（CONTINGENCY PLANNING AND DISASTER RECOVERY GUIDE），详细介绍了各类突发事件的应对措施及方案。另外，英国的一个名为http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/control/contingency/exotic.htm网站则介绍了如何应对来自境外的动物传染病的应急预案（Disease control: Contingency Plan for Exotic Animal Diseases），根据该网站，这些动物传染病包括口蹄疫（Foot and Mouth Disease），禽流感（Avian Influenza³）和狂犬病（Rabies）和蓝舌病（Bluetongue）等。此外，contingency plan不仅应用于应对自然灾害，而且还用于国际关系领域，如新华网2007年1月5日就发表了一篇新闻报道，就日美应急预案表示了关注：

    China says Japan-U.S. contingency plan should adhere to one-China principle

    China on Thursday said a contingency plan made by Japan and the United States for a possible military conflict across the Taiwan Strait should follow the one-China principle.

    Contingency plan用于国际关系领域的其他例证还有很多，如：（标题）Gulf⁴ countries adopt oil export contingency plan（导语）DUBAI: Faced with the standoff between the United States and Iran, the six Gulf countries have adopted a contingency plan to make up for the possible closure of two exit points from where most of their oil supplies pass. 又如：（标题）U.S. developing contingency plan to bomb Iran，（正文）Still, the Pentagon is continuing intensive planning for a possible bombing attack on Iran, a process that began last year, at the direction of the President. In recent months, the former intelligence official told me, a special planning group has been established in the offices of the Joint⁵ Chiefs of Staff, charged with creating a contingency bombing plan for Iran that can be implemented⁶, upon orders from the President, within twenty-four hours.

    在我国官方英文媒体中，contingency plan也经常会被使用到，如新华网（Xinhuanet）2005年9月28日刊发了一篇关于启动预防全国流行性感冒应急预案的报道，其标题和导语如下：

    China launches flu pandemic contingency plan

    BEIJING, Sept. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- China's Ministry⁷ of Health (MOH) on Wednesday launched a contingency plan for enhancing national readiness against a possible outbreak of pandemic influenza.

    2008年5月23日，在四川大地震搜救工作基本结束之后，国家有关部门指出，为了确保灾区饮水安全，政府已启动应急预案，该新闻报道的标题和导语分别如下：

    Water Security Contingency Plan made

    Beijing, May 23 --Wu Xiaoqing, vice⁸ minister of the PRC Ministry of Environment Protection said at today’s press conference that the next main task facing them is to ensure the water security in quake-hit areas, including disposal of livestock⁹ and poultry¹⁰ corpse¹¹, and that a water security contingency plan has been made by MEP, China News Agency reported.

    又如，为了确保2008北京奥运会顺利进行，中国政府提前制定了各类应急预案，其中包括应对可能发生的恶劣天气的应急预案，新华网为此在2007年11月8日有报道如下：

    Official: contingency plans in place for bad weather

    BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Organizers of next year's Olympic Games have worked out contingency plans to deal with possible bad weather during the world's prime sporting event, an official said.

    一篇关于国际奥委会官员在对北京奥运会准备工作视察之后表示满意的新闻报道（IOC satisfied with renewed assurances from Beijing organizers）中则提到了国际奥委会官员对于环境应急预案的满意：Commenting at the conclusion of the meetings, Coordination¹² Commission Chairman Hein Verbruggen said: "BOCOG is progressing well with all of its operations and we are confident that our Chinese friends will put on great Games for the athletes of the world. The IOC noted¹³ an increased level of support from the government authorities for the Organising Committee, which will undoubtedly¹⁴ help reinforce BOCOG's excellent work. We were satisfied by the assurances we received across a number of areas -- media service levels, including internet access, brand protection, environmental contingency plans for improved air quality, and the live broadcast feed.

    由于“应急预案”就是专门针对各类自然灾害的，而自然灾害的种类繁多，因此，contingency plan又会出现在不同的组合之中，“地震应急预案”就是contingency plan for earthquake,通过GOOGLE搜索发现，我国香港特别行政区政府的一个网站http://www.hko.gov.hk/gts/equake/contingency_e.htm就专门谈到了地震应急预案，明确指出The Government's Contingency Plan for Natural Disasters would be able to cope with major natural disasters including earthquakes. “防汛应急预案”就叫做flood contingency plan,“消防应急预案”就是fire fighting contingency plans，“安全应急预案”就是security contingency plan，依此类推，“火灾应急预案”就是fire contingency plan，“重大突发实践应急预案”就是contingency plan for major emergencies，“自然灾害应急预案”就是contingency plan for natural disasters。

    另外，从上述多个例证来看，contingency plan的动词性搭配词语常用的为launch, adopt, make, create, prepare, work out等等。掌握正确的词语搭配是提高语言表达能力的一个有效途径，在我国的英语学习中，不少学习者的英语语言能力欠佳，其中的一个因素就是不懂得词语之间存在着固定搭配，违背这样的搭配原则，由此而来的问题不仅是语法错误，表达不够地道，而且还严重妨碍了交际的实现，从而使得外语学习失去了其实质的目的。