时间:2018-12-08 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2009年(五月)


英语课

Three years ago, burning gray mud erupted from the earth, in the Sidoarjo region of the Indonesian island of Java. Since then, the mud volcano has forced 12,000 families to flee their homes. A drilling company is accused of triggering the eruption 1, but some victims of the volcano are still waiting compensation for their lost property.
 
Resident of village affected 2 by mud volcano holds mock bank note during protest in Porong, East Java (2008 File)


A year ago, Lilik Kaminah and her two children were living in a scant 3 10 square-meter stall in a deserted 4 market place, together with 600 other families who had fled the burning mud flow. She called it a tragedy: she lost her land, her house, all of her life savings 5.


Still waiting


A year later, not much has changed in her life.


In a telephone interview, Lilik explains that she is still waiting for most of the compensation she is entitled to for her lost property. She says the money is the only way for her to start rebuilding her life.


The volcano has swallowed villages and farms, leaving more than 40,000 people homeless.


Lapindo is an Indonesian oil and gas company that was drilling near the epicenter of the volcano. Some geology experts say its drilling may have caused the eruption. Lapindo says the volcano was triggered by an earthquake and denies any responsibility for the disaster. Still, the company has promised to compensate 6 its victims.


But the global economic crisis hit the Bakrie conglomerate 7, which owns Lapindo. Yuniwati, a Lapindo representative, says that total payments should be made by 2010.


"We have the intention to settle everything by June [2010]," Yuniwati said, "but unfortunately at this moment we have a global crisis. If it [the compensation] was only borne by Lapindo itself, it would be impossible. That's why Bakrie helps Lapindo."


Court decision deals blow to victims


This week, Indonesia's Supreme 8 Court rejected a lawsuit 9 claiming that Lapindo and government officials were to blame for the disaster and failed to fully 10 compensate the victims.


Victims of the mud volcano have no hope of returning to their land. It lies under a huge lake of mud that sprawls 11 640 hectares - twice the size of New York's Central Park - and is still growing.


Sumarsono heads the Indonesian government's mud flow mitigation team. He says that there is no way to predict when the volcano will stop gushing 12. Some have been active for decades.


For now, victims from the mud volcano are organizing demonstrations 13 to demand their compensation money. For them, it is the only way to get new land, new homes, and their lives back on track.



1 eruption
n.火山爆发;(战争等)爆发;(疾病等)发作
  • The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
  • The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。
2 affected
adj.不自然的,假装的
  • She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
  • His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
3 scant
adj.不充分的,不足的;v.减缩,限制,忽略
  • Don't scant the butter when you make a cake.做糕饼时不要吝惜奶油。
  • Many mothers pay scant attention to their own needs when their children are small.孩子们小的时候,许多母亲都忽视自己的需求。
4 deserted
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的
  • The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
  • The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。
5 savings
n.存款,储蓄
  • I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假,那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
  • By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时,他的存款已全部用完。
6 compensate
vt.补偿,赔偿;酬报 vi.弥补;补偿;抵消
  • She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
  • Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。
7 conglomerate
n.综合商社,多元化集团公司
  • The firm has been taken over by an American conglomerate.该公司已被美国一企业集团接管。
  • An American conglomerate holds a major share in the company.一家美国的大联合企业持有该公司的大部分股份。
8 supreme
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的
  • It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
  • He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
9 lawsuit
n.诉讼,控诉
  • They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
  • He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。
10 fully
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
11 sprawls
n.(城市)杂乱无序拓展的地区( sprawl的名词复数 );随意扩展;蔓延物v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的第三人称单数 );蔓延;杂乱无序地拓展;四肢伸展坐着(或躺着)
  • The city sprawls out to the west, north and south. 该市向西、北、南方不规则地扩张[延伸]。 来自互联网
  • Explanation: Our magnificent Milky Way Galaxy sprawls across this ambitious all-sky panorama. 说明:我们宏伟的银河系蜿蜒穿过这幅高企图心之全天影像。 来自互联网
12 gushing
adj.迸出的;涌出的;喷出的;过分热情的v.喷,涌( gush的现在分词 );滔滔不绝地说话
  • blood gushing from a wound 从伤口冒出的血
  • The young mother was gushing over a baby. 那位年轻的母亲正喋喋不休地和婴儿说话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 demonstrations
证明( demonstration的名词复数 ); 表明; 表达; 游行示威
  • Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
  • The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。
学英语单词
acsulalion
aim at the moon
allergic arthritis
Andvari
anti-masonic parties
appositive
Arctic ice
audience-chambers
bear affliction
Beethoven, Ludwig van
bemporad
bidens bipinata l.
bosnia
brill
browlifts
bullards
Canton blue
capsule type germanium resistence thermometer
Celtiberians
choko
clearing house stock
clopradone
close a difference in price
comparison operator
cross sensitization
daidzin
demagnetizing resistance
e.r.v.
earth gods
ellipsoidal mirror
Evergrande
exchange dealings
fault cleavage
Fifty-Fifty law
final conclusion
fire me up
flooding fine particle
formulations
Fuente Palmera
fundamental physical quantity
get the weight off one's legs
gyno
hadland
have a grievance against sb
headway per drill bit
heslin
hydroid polyp
hypothalamic inhibiting factor
ilxest
kinetics theory
levining
life-boat embarkation area
lollipop joint
LPC (linear power controller)
malmsbury
master lode
Membruggen
metal power magnet
molecular biology of plant development
mortgage loan
nearish
necklacelike
network of roads
normal-mode analysis
null ray
ophiodothella cyclobalanopsidis
oxygen bomb calorimeter
paralytic secretion
pernems
pine sawfly
Pr75gag
practical life
primitive money
purple roscoea
Quercus garryana
rock specific heat
school garden
Scinawa
second category vessel
selected soils
self-excitation optical pumping magnetometer
strictly monotone increasing function
synchronist
tea oil
The Committee on Technical Coorperation
the novosibirsk state ballet theater
track taper
Trichosanthes palmata
tridecylenediacid
trindle-bed
trochochlamys crenulata
tumb
underwriters' agreement
universal effective set
urinary bladders
Ust'-Bagaryak
Vicia deflexa
video tape replay
vitebsks
wandering reach
Warragamba Res.
Zenopsis