痛悼英雄 生为勇士 逝亦国殇

3月30日，四川省凉山州木里县发生森林火灾，已致30名失联扑火队员遇难。

Firefighters contain fire in China's mountains where 30 died

The Associated Press

Firefighters on Tuesday had contained a blaze high in the rugged forested mountains of western China that claimed the lives of 30 of their colleagues, in one of the worst disasters for the emergency services in recent years.

State media say open flames had been extinguished and only a few areas continued to emit smoke with no further threat of the fire spreading.

contain除了表示“包含；容纳；含有，包含”（if something such as a bag, box, or place contains something, that thing is inside it），还可以指“抑制；控制；阻止”，英文解释为“to stop something from spreading or escaping”举个🌰：

More than a hundred firemen are still trying to contain the fire at the plant.

一百多名消防队员仍在努力控制工厂火势。

引申：

· self-contained：可以表示“独立自足的；感情不外露的”（You can describe someone or something as self-contained when they are complete and separate and do not need help or resources from outside.）

也可以指“有独立设备的；设备齐全的（指有独立的厨房和卫生间）”（Self-contained accommodations such as an apartment have all their own facilities, so that a person living there does not have to share rooms such as a kitchen or bathroom with other people.）

rugged /ˈrʌɡɪd/ 表示“崎岖多岩的”，英文解释为“A rugged area of land is uneven and covered with rocks, with few trees or plants.”举个🌰：

We left the rough track and bumped our way over a rugged mountainous terrain. 我们驶离坎坷的小道，又颠簸过了崎岖多岩的山地。

表示“熄灭（火或光）”，英文解释为“to make a fire or light stop burning or shining”举个🌰：

Please extinguish all cigarettes.

请把香烟都熄灭了。

同义词：

· put out表示“熄灭”（If you put out a fire, candle, or cigarette, you make it stop burning.）举个🌰：

Firemen tried to free the injured and put out the blaze.

消防员们竭力救出伤者，扑灭大火。

The bodies of the dead firefighters were brought to the town of Xichang in Sichuan province, while three helicopters had brought in reinforcements to extinguish the blaze.

Changing winds Sunday apparently trapped the 27 firefighters and three helpers who were battling the blaze in a remote area at an altitude of 3,800 meters (12,500 feet), according to the Ministry of Emergency Management. Despite attempts at a rescue, all 30 were confirmed dead on Monday afternoon.

通常用复数，表示“援兵，增援部队”，英文解释为“more soldiers, police etc who are sent to a battle, fight etc to make their group stronger”举个🌰：

The police called for reinforcements.

警方要求增援。

Most of the dead were in their 20s, although at least two were teenagers, according to state media reports. One had recently married.

China has been battling forest fires in recent weeks in various parts of the vast country, including on the outskirts of Beijing, fed by dry weather and high winds across many northern areas.

表示“远离城市中心的地区，市郊，郊区”，英文解释为“the parts of a town or city that are furthest from the centre”，用法：on the outskirts (of sth)，举个🌰：

I want to live on the outskirts of Hangzhou.

我想住在杭州的郊区。

The death toll appeared to be the worst among Chinese firefighters since 2015, when an explosion at a chemical warehouse in the port of Tianjin killed 173 people, most of them firefighters and other first responders.

30 Die Fighting Forest Fire in China

The New York Times

A forest fire in southwestern China turned deadly over the weekend when winds shifted unexpectedly, trapping firefighters and local officials in a maelstrom. The bodies of 30 people who could not escape were found on Monday, officials announced, even as the fire continued to burn out of control.

周末，中国西南部的一场森林大火风向突变，多名消防员和当地官员被困，导致人员死亡。官方称，30名来不及逃离者的遗体于周一找到，尽管火势仍未控制。

maelstrom /ˈmeɪlstrəʊm/  表示“漩涡；极度混乱状态；失控状态”，英文解释为“If you describe a situation as a maelstrom, you mean that it is very confused or violent.”

Among those who died were the chief of a regional forestry bureau in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, and his deputy, state media reported.

据官方媒体报道，遇难者包括四川省凉山彝族自治州一名地方林业局局长及其手下的一名工作人员。

The officials had traveled to the scene of the fire, which broke out on Saturday in a remote location at altitudes nearing 13,000 feet, and had not been heard from since.

周六，大火发生在海拔4000米的偏远地点，官员赶到现场后失去了联络。

“A huge fireball was formed in an instant,” the Ministry of Emergency Management said in a statement announcing the deaths.

“瞬间形成巨大火球，”应急管理部在公布伤亡情况的公告中称。

The death toll appeared to be the largest for firefighters in China since a devastating blaze at a chemical plant in Tianjin killed more than 100 in 2015.

自2015年天津化工厂大爆炸引发毁灭性大火、导致100多人死亡以来，此次似乎是中国消防人员死亡人数最多的一次火灾。

Although forest fires are common in China in the spring, the government had issued fire warnings in recent days in Sichuan and several other regions experiencing high temperatures and drought.

尽管春季森林火灾在中国很常见，但近日政府已就四川及其他几个正经历高温干旱的地区发布了火灾预警。

The Chinese Meteorological Observatory warned that dry weather, strong winds and high temperatures would persist, and it urged people to exercise particular caution during the annual holiday of Qingming, known as Tomb Sweeping Day, which falls this coming Friday.

中国气象局警告称，干旱天气、强风及高温状况将持续，并敦促人们在周五将至的清明假期期间要格外谨慎。

Millions travel to their ancestral homes during the holiday.

数百万人在这个假期会返回老家。

The warning cited heightened risks in the mountains north of Beijing, near parts of the Great Wall; in Shanxi Province in central China; and in Sichuan and neighboring Yunnan Province in the southwest.

警告指出，北京北部山区近长城部分区段、中部山西省、西南部四川及毗邻的云南省火灾风险加剧。

“The forest fire risk level in some areas is extremely high,” The Paper, a digital news organization, said, citing the observatory.

“这些地区的森林火险等级达到极度危险级别，”数字新闻媒体澎湃新闻援引气象局的分析称。

Nearly 700 firefighters from the Liangshan branch of the Sichuan Forest Fire Brigade have been fighting the blaze. On Sunday afternoon, the wind abruptly shifted the fire, catching dozens by surprise.

来自四川森林消防总队凉山州支队的近700名消防员一直在灭火。周日下午，火势因风向突变，导致数十人措手不及。

brigade /brɪˈɡeɪd/ 表示“（为做某事而组织起来的）队”，英文解释为“a group of people who are organized to do something”，fire brigade指的就是“消防队；消防署”（the fire service）。

A staff member of the Sichuan Provincial Fire Corps Combat Command Center, reached by telephone, said that firefighting teams organized by the local government usually recruited villagers.

记者通过电话联系到四川省消防总队作战指挥中心一名工作人员，对方表示当地政府组织的消防队招募的通常是村民。

Another official said that local villagers were familiar with the terrain and conditions and received adequate training.

另一名官员称，当地村民较熟悉地形和环境，也经过适当培训。

表示“地形，地势”，英文解释为“Terrain is used to refer to an area of land or a type of land when you are considering its physical features.”举个🌰：

The terrain changed quickly from arable land to desert.

这里的地形很快由耕地变为沙漠。

“The advancement of technology in recent years should have provided them with better safety guarantees than before,” the official China Daily wrote on Monday evening, referring to the latest fire and the deadly blaze in 2015.

“近些年技术的进步本应给他们提供比先前更好的安全保障，”官方的《中国日报》周一晚谈及最新一起火灾和2015年致命大火的报道中写道。

“But the two fires in Tianjin and Sichuan have exposed that there is still a long way for China to go to modernize its firefighting system.”

“但天津和四川的两起火灾已暴露出，实现消防系统的现代化，中国仍有很长的路要走。”

来源：美联社 & 纽约时报

译文来源纽约时报，仅供参考

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