英语每日新闻(070929)

China abandons search for bodies in mine

 

BEIJING - Officials have abandoned efforts to retrieve the bodies of 172 coal miners from a flooded mine in eastern China, family members said Saturday, deepening their anger at what they see as callous treatment by the government and mining company.

A government committee notified some families that more than 40 days after the accident, flood waters remain high in the Huayuan Mining Co. mine and it is still too dangerous to enter.

"Due to these above mentioned reasons, there is no way to retrieve the bodies of the accident's victims," the Emergency Rescue Aftermath Working Group, an interagency committee dealing with the accident, said in the notice, dated Thursday. A copy was shown to The Associated Press.

The announcement added a bitter note for the relatives in what was already one of the worst mining accidents in 58 years of Communist rule. In addition to the 172 Huayuan miners, nine other miners in a smaller nearby mine were also caught in the flooding Aug. 17 when heavy rains caused a river to breach a dike and inundate low-lying ground outside Xintai city, 370 miles south of Beijing.

"They did not make rescue a priority and instead only thought about the value of mining. Are people not worth anything?" said Ma Xiuhua, whose brother was among the dead miners.

Government officials in Xintai city, at Shandong province and in Beijing refused to confirm the contents of the notice. An official in Xinwen county's mining bureau, where the Huayuan mine is located, said a public announcement about the dead miners would be made in coming days, but also declined to confirm whether the bodies would be left in the mine.

A duty officer at the smaller Minggong mine said none of the nine bodies had been retrieved but did not know if recovery efforts would be called off.

China's mines are notoriously deadly, with more than 4,700 miners dying in coal mining accidents last year. The toll has become an embarrassment to Communist authorities, as China relies on coal to meet more than two-thirds of its booming economy's energy needs.

 

【听力教室】 #458 Wake Up
Ruth and Todd talk about their morning.

 

Todd: So, what did you do today?

Ruth: Well, actually, I got up this morning quite early. I couldn't sleep so I was a little bit annoyed and then I went to church and I had some lunch and..

Todd: OK, but, you said early, like how early?

Ruth: Well, I think it was about 7 o'clock.

Todd: That's not early.

Ruth: That is early if you went to bed at 1.

Todd: That's true. That's sleeping in for me.

Ruth: That's sleeping in. That's true. You're an early bird aren't you?

Todd: Now, last night we went out and had the beers.

Ruth: Yeah!

Todd: I was actually quite happy this morning. I had no hangover.

Ruth: Did you not? (No) I felt a little bit queasy this morning, and I was a bit ashamed, and I didn't even drink very much. I wasn't, I didn't feel queasy. I think is was more that I hadn't had any sleep actually.

Todd: Yeah, did you feel guilty in church knowing that you still had the beer buzz?

Ruth: No. I didn't feel guilty about that.

Todd: Yeah, that would be tough one. No, I still got up this morning at 5:45.

Ruth: 5:45!

Todd: Yeah.

Ruth: You must be a lunatic.

Todd: Well, I mean when the light comes up and the light goes through your window, I don't know how people can still sleep. You know? You can sleep when the light, the sunrise still comes up?

Ruth: Yeah, not for too, I mean I can't sleep forever, but like, 7 o'clock, 8 o'clock, then my body wakes up.

Todd: The apartment I was at before, it was crazy because there was a rooster outside, and it didn't do what it was supposed to do, like normally when the sun comes up, the rooster is supposed to go, "er-er-er-er" or whatever,
but this thing did it at like 1 and 2 in the morning. It used to drive me nuts, so I used to always wake up at 2 because I'd hear this rooster going "er-er-er" and I just wanted to kill that bird.

Ruth: Did you go sleep, back to sleep after that?

Todd: Yeah, of course I went back to sleep, but the bird would wake me up regularly. Yeah. No roosters here.

Ruth: That's not funny is it?

Todd: Yeah.

 

前漢書（卷一）高帝紀第一

【高帝紀第一】

　　高祖，沛豐邑中陽裏人也，姓劉氏。母媼嘗息大澤之陂，夢與神遇。是時雷電晦冥，父太公往視，則見交龍於上。已而有娠，遂產高祖。

　　高祖為人，隆准而龍顏，美須髯，左股有七十二黑子。寬仁愛人，意豁如也。常有大度，不事家人生產作業。及壯，試吏，為泗上亭長，延中吏無所不狎侮。好酒及色。常從王媼、武負貰酒，時飲醉臥，武負、王媼見其上常有怪。高祖每酤留飲，酒讎數倍。及見怪，歲竟，此兩家常折券棄責。

　　高祖常徭咸陽，縱觀秦皇帝，喟然大息，曰：「嗟乎，大丈夫當如此矣！」

　　單父人呂公善沛令，辟仇，從之客，因家焉。沛中豪傑吏聞令有重客，皆往賀。蕭何為主吏，主進，令諸大夫曰：「進不滿千錢，坐之堂下。」高祖為亭長，素易諸吏，乃給為謁曰「賀錢萬」，實不持一錢。謁入，呂公大驚，起，迎之門。呂公者，好相人，見高祖狀貌，因重敬之，引入坐上坐。蕭何曰：「劉季固多大言，少成事。」高祖因狎侮諸客，遂坐上坐，無所詘。酒闌，呂公因目固留高祖。竟酒，後。呂公曰：「臣少好相人，相人多矣，無如季相，願季自愛。臣有息女，願為箕帚妾。」酒罷，呂媼怒呂公曰：「公始常欲奇此女，與貴人。沛令善公，求之不與，何自妄許與劉季？」呂公曰：「此非兒女子所知。」卒與高祖。呂公女即呂後也，生孝惠帝、魯元公主。

　　高祖嘗告歸之田。呂後與兩子居田中，有一老父過，請飲，呂後因餔之。老父相後曰：「夫人天下貴人也。」令相兩子，見孝惠帝，曰：「夫人所以貴者，乃此男也。」相魯元公主，亦皆貴。老父已去，高祖適從旁舍來，呂後具言：「客有過，相我子母皆大貴。」高祖問，曰：「未遠。」乃追及，問老父。老父曰：「鄉者夫人兒子皆以君，君相貴不可言。」高祖乃謝曰：「誠如父言，不敢忘德。」及高祖貴，遂不知老父處。

　　高祖為亭長，乃以竹皮為冠，令求盜之薛治，時時冠之，及貴常冠，所謂「劉氏冠」也。