U.S., Canada Power Outage Leaves Millions in Dark
美加停電使數(shù)百萬(wàn)人處于黑暗之中
Fri Aug 15, 5:27 AM ET
NEW YORK （Reuters） - The blackout in North American plunged the streets of New York and other major U.S. and Canadian cities into darkness, forcing millions to spend a night in the sweltering summer heat without air conditioning, lights or television.
紐約（路透社）美國(guó)北部的大面積停電使得紐約和其他美國(guó)大城市以及加拿大一些城市街道一片黑暗，數(shù)百萬(wàn)的市民不得不在沒(méi)有空調(diào)、電燈和電視的情況下度過(guò)悶熱的夏夜。
★在這里引用一下中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)新聞詞匯對(duì)blackout的解釋?zhuān)@個(gè)詞的基本的意思是停電a period of darkness caused by a failure of the electric power supply.“blackout”還可以解釋為短時(shí)的知覺(jué)喪失a loss of consciousness for a short time，例如：She had a blackout after the accident and couldn't remember what had happened.事故發(fā)生后她一時(shí)昏了過(guò)去，記不得當(dāng)時(shí)出了什么事。
★plunge，To cast suddenly, violently, or deeply into a given state or situation. 使突然陷入，突然地、猛烈地或深深地投進(jìn)一種特定的狀態(tài)或情形：the street was plunged in cool shadow.街道突然陷入蔭涼之中。
More than 12 hours after the power outage began at about 4 P.M. EDT, most of New York was pitch black and only a few sections of the nation's largest city had electricity. Thousands of commuters, who were unable to make it home, slept in the streets of Manhattan. Authorities were unsure what caused the power outage, except to say it was not the work of saboteurs. Some blamed the outage on North America's aging electricity transmission grid, which saw its greatest expansion in the years following World War II.
美國(guó)東部時(shí)間14日下午4點(diǎn)大面積停電后12個(gè)多小時(shí)內(nèi)，紐約絕大部分地方一片漆黑，只少數(shù)地方還有電力照明。成千上萬(wàn)的乘客由于無(wú)法回家而露宿曼哈頓街頭。美官方還未確定停電原因，但否認(rèn)停電與恐怖活動(dòng)有關(guān)。一些人指責(zé)事故原因是北美老化的電路傳輸網(wǎng)，這家公司自二戰(zhàn)以來(lái)一直進(jìn)行大規(guī)模的線(xiàn)路擴(kuò)充。
★pitch在本文中的意思是Any of various thick, dark, sticky substances obtained from the distillation residue of coal tar, wood tar, or petroleum and used for waterproofing, roofing, caulking, and paving. 瀝青。as black as pitch是習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)，意思是漆黑的，所以pitch black的意思也是漆黑。
★commuter在美語(yǔ)里指One that travels regularly from one place to another, as from suburb to city and back. 通勤者, 經(jīng)常（乘火車(chē)）往返者；使用月（季）票乘車(chē)者。urban commuter，市區(qū)定期票旅客；commuter movement，（近郊）經(jīng)常［長(zhǎng)期車(chē)票］客流；commuter time，上下班時(shí)間。
★sabotage，Treacherous action to defeat or hinder a cause or an endeavor; Deliberate subversion. 暗中破壞，故意搗亂。 saboteur，One that commits sabotage.蓄意破壞者。The soldiers shot the three saboteurs. 士兵們擊斃了那3名破壞者。
Bush vowed that the government would investigate what caused the outage and promised to prevent a recurrence.
布什表示政府會(huì)調(diào)查停電原因，防止停電事件再次發(fā)生。
★recurrence，再現(xiàn)；重現(xiàn)。More care in the future will prevent recurrence of the mistake.將來(lái)的小心可防止錯(cuò)誤的重現(xiàn)。習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)have recurrence to是罕見(jiàn)語(yǔ)，用來(lái)作求助于……, 求援于……, 依靠……講。
美加停電使數(shù)百萬(wàn)人處于黑暗之中
Fri Aug 15, 5:27 AM ET
NEW YORK （Reuters） - The blackout in North American plunged the streets of New York and other major U.S. and Canadian cities into darkness, forcing millions to spend a night in the sweltering summer heat without air conditioning, lights or television.
紐約（路透社）美國(guó)北部的大面積停電使得紐約和其他美國(guó)大城市以及加拿大一些城市街道一片黑暗，數(shù)百萬(wàn)的市民不得不在沒(méi)有空調(diào)、電燈和電視的情況下度過(guò)悶熱的夏夜。
★在這里引用一下中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)新聞詞匯對(duì)blackout的解釋?zhuān)@個(gè)詞的基本的意思是停電a period of darkness caused by a failure of the electric power supply.“blackout”還可以解釋為短時(shí)的知覺(jué)喪失a loss of consciousness for a short time，例如：She had a blackout after the accident and couldn't remember what had happened.事故發(fā)生后她一時(shí)昏了過(guò)去，記不得當(dāng)時(shí)出了什么事。
★plunge，To cast suddenly, violently, or deeply into a given state or situation. 使突然陷入，突然地、猛烈地或深深地投進(jìn)一種特定的狀態(tài)或情形：the street was plunged in cool shadow.街道突然陷入蔭涼之中。
More than 12 hours after the power outage began at about 4 P.M. EDT, most of New York was pitch black and only a few sections of the nation's largest city had electricity. Thousands of commuters, who were unable to make it home, slept in the streets of Manhattan. Authorities were unsure what caused the power outage, except to say it was not the work of saboteurs. Some blamed the outage on North America's aging electricity transmission grid, which saw its greatest expansion in the years following World War II.
美國(guó)東部時(shí)間14日下午4點(diǎn)大面積停電后12個(gè)多小時(shí)內(nèi)，紐約絕大部分地方一片漆黑，只少數(shù)地方還有電力照明。成千上萬(wàn)的乘客由于無(wú)法回家而露宿曼哈頓街頭。美官方還未確定停電原因，但否認(rèn)停電與恐怖活動(dòng)有關(guān)。一些人指責(zé)事故原因是北美老化的電路傳輸網(wǎng)，這家公司自二戰(zhàn)以來(lái)一直進(jìn)行大規(guī)模的線(xiàn)路擴(kuò)充。
★pitch在本文中的意思是Any of various thick, dark, sticky substances obtained from the distillation residue of coal tar, wood tar, or petroleum and used for waterproofing, roofing, caulking, and paving. 瀝青。as black as pitch是習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)，意思是漆黑的，所以pitch black的意思也是漆黑。
★commuter在美語(yǔ)里指One that travels regularly from one place to another, as from suburb to city and back. 通勤者, 經(jīng)常（乘火車(chē)）往返者；使用月（季）票乘車(chē)者。urban commuter，市區(qū)定期票旅客；commuter movement，（近郊）經(jīng)常［長(zhǎng)期車(chē)票］客流；commuter time，上下班時(shí)間。
★sabotage，Treacherous action to defeat or hinder a cause or an endeavor; Deliberate subversion. 暗中破壞，故意搗亂。 saboteur，One that commits sabotage.蓄意破壞者。The soldiers shot the three saboteurs. 士兵們擊斃了那3名破壞者。
Bush vowed that the government would investigate what caused the outage and promised to prevent a recurrence.
布什表示政府會(huì)調(diào)查停電原因，防止停電事件再次發(fā)生。
★recurrence，再現(xiàn)；重現(xiàn)。More care in the future will prevent recurrence of the mistake.將來(lái)的小心可防止錯(cuò)誤的重現(xiàn)。習(xí)慣用語(yǔ)have recurrence to是罕見(jiàn)語(yǔ)，用來(lái)作求助于……, 求援于……, 依靠……講。