Athens locals flee as fires rage 雅典火灾,居民被迫撤离
文章来源:未知 文章作者:meng 发布时间:2009-08-24 00:39 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)

Several thousand residents of Athens' northern suburbs have evacuated2 their homes as several wildfires continue to blaze around the Greek capital.

希腊首都附近发生几起严重的大火,雅典北部郊区上千居民从家中撤离。

Almost the entire population of Agios Stefanos, 23km (14 miles) north-east of Athens, fled by vehicle or on foot.

Multiple fires have been burning across an area some 50km wide, fanned by strong and unpredictable winds.

The fires - the worst since those in 2007 which killed about 70 people - are being called an environmental disaster.

Firefighting efforts were suspended as darkness fell on Sunday, with several major blazes still burning into the night, although no casualties(人员伤亡) have been reported.

Although the fires had reportedly retreated from the capital's suburbs and were burning mainly forest land, unpredictable winds meant populated areas were still at risk.

"The constant shift in the wind's direction is rekindling3(重点火) the flames," fire brigade(消防队) spokesman Giannis Kapakis told Reuters news agency. "We must all remain calm through this night."

Dozens of homes were burnt down and a state of emergency was declared in the Athens area.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said the country was facing "a great ordeal4" but praised the emergency services for making "a superhuman effort".

Italy, France and Cyprus have sent aircraft to help the hard-pressed Greek fire crews.

'Too late'

Police with loudspeakers went through Agios Stefanos earlier on Sunday telling residents to head immediately to Athens.

"We had been begging the authorities since early in the morning to send forces," said Panayiotis Bitakos, the area's deputy mayor(副市长). "It is too late now. Too late."

The fires are reported to have begun late on Friday near the site of a planned waste disposal facility in Grammatiko, near the ancient town of Marathon.

They spread rapidly across the hills outside Athens, burning through forests, olive groves5 and encroaching on suburbs.

The fires grew larger over Saturday and spread to Varnavas. By Sunday morning, houses were burning in the Athens suburbs of Drafi, Pikermi and Pallini.

Overnight, fires also crested6(有顶饰的,有冠毛的) the top of Pendeli, a hilly, northern suburb with a panoramic7 view(全景) of Athens, setting houses alight.

Much of Pendeli mountain was laid waste in 2007, says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens.

Three of the four mountains surrounding the capital have already been stripped of their trees by previous fires and further erosion(腐蚀,侵蚀) of the forest cover would be devastating8, our correspondent adds.

'Great ordeal'

Hundreds of firefighters and soldiers - backed by helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft dropping water - battled the fires but they were too numerous and widespread to contain, our correspondent says.

A regional Athens governor, Yiannis Sgouros, told Greek television that more than 30,000 acres of land had been burnt, in what he described as "an ecological9 disaster".

While many residents of the threatened areas followed instructions to evacuate1, others stayed behind to try to defend their homes.

Two children's hospitals, a summer camp and a psychiatric clinic(精神病治疗所) have been evacuated.

The fires have left a thick haze10 of smoke hanging over much of Athens.

Other fires are burning in the central Greek region of Viotia, on the Ionian island of Zakynthos, which has already been hit by fires this summer, and on the Aegean islands of Skyros and Evia.

In July, dozens of fires burnt through thousands of hectares(公顷) of land in Greece, Spain, France and Italy.

According to the conservation group Greenpeace, heat waves and drier conditions are leading to larger and more uncontrollable forest fires across the whole Mediterranean11 region.



点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 evacuate ai1zL     
v.遣送;搬空;抽出;排泄;大(小)便
参考例句:
  • We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵!
  • They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。
2 evacuated b2adcc11308c78e262805bbcd7da1669     
撤退者的
参考例句:
  • Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
  • The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。
3 rekindling cc40d191c1c99f092511caad8ee205cf     
v.使再燃( rekindle的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • There might be a rekindling of the kind of nationalistic fervour of yesteryear. 过去的国家主义狂热可能再次被点燃。 来自互联网
  • Bryant and O'Neal on the floor at the same time, rekindling memories both good and bad. 科比和奥尼尔在地板上在同一时间,死灰复燃的回忆有好有坏。 来自互联网
4 ordeal B4Pzs     
n.苦难经历,(尤指对品格、耐力的)严峻考验
参考例句:
  • She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
  • Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。
5 groves eb036e9192d7e49b8aa52d7b1729f605     
树丛,小树林( grove的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The early sun shone serenely on embrowned groves and still green fields. 朝阳宁静地照耀着已经发黄的树丛和还是一片绿色的田地。
  • The trees grew more and more in groves and dotted with old yews. 那里的树木越来越多地长成了一簇簇的小丛林,还点缀着几棵老紫杉树。
6 crested aca774eb5cc925a956aec268641b354f     
adj.有顶饰的,有纹章的,有冠毛的v.到达山顶(或浪峰)( crest的过去式和过去分词 );到达洪峰,达到顶点
参考例句:
  • a great crested grebe 凤头??
  • The stately mansion crested the hill. 庄严的大厦位于山顶。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
7 panoramic LK3xM     
adj. 全景的
参考例句:
  • Most rooms enjoy panoramic views of the sea. 大多数房间都能看到海的全景。
  • In a panoramic survey of nature, speed is interesting because it has a ceiling. 概观自然全景,速率是有趣的,因为它有一个上限。
8 devastating muOzlG     
adj.毁灭性的,令人震惊的,强有力的
参考例句:
  • It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
  • Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。
9 ecological IrRxX     
adj.生态的,生态学的
参考例句:
  • The region has been declared an ecological disaster zone.这个地区已经宣布为生态灾难区。
  • Each animal has its ecological niche.每种动物都有自己的生态位.
10 haze O5wyb     
n.霾,烟雾;懵懂,迷糊;vi.(over)变模糊
参考例句:
  • I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中,我看不见她。
  • He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。
11 Mediterranean ezuzT     
adj.地中海的;地中海沿岸的
参考例句:
  • The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
  • Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。
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