VOA慢速英語:Safe Rooms Saved Lives in Tornado Disaster

From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語科技報道。

The deadly tornado in Moore, Oklahoma has wind speeds of 400 kilometres an hour. 24 people were killed when the storm cut a path of destruction through the city.

俄克拉何馬州穆爾鎮(zhèn)這場致命的龍卷風的風速達到了每小時400公里。風暴穿城而過造成破壞的同時還奪去了24人的生命。

With only a 15 minutes' warning, people fled Moore, or took refuge in the most secure area of their homes or other buildings. The lucky ones took cover in underground shelters, or steel-and-concrete structures called safe rooms.

在僅有的15分鐘預警里，人們逃離穆爾鎮(zhèn)，或者躲到自己的住房或其它建筑最安全的地方避難。這些幸運兒們躲進了地下避難所，或者鋼筋混泥土結構的安全屋。

Leslie Chapman Henderson is head of a non-profit group called the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes. The home safety activists is a big supporter of tornado safe rooms. She says they can help reduce the number of tornado deaths.

萊斯利·查普曼·亨德森(Leslie Chapman Henderson)是一家名為“安全屋全美聯(lián)盟”的非營利組織的負責人。住宅安全活動人士是龍卷風安全屋的重要支持者。她表示，安全屋有助于減少龍卷風遇難人數(shù)。

"The safe room is an interior room of the home that has been reinforced and tested and certified to withstand high wind and debris impact of the type that we've just seen happening in Moore, Oklahoma. In fact, we've already heard of families and stories of survival of people who were in safe rooms, either above ground, or below ground."

她說，“安全屋是住宅中經(jīng)過加固的內部房間，經(jīng)檢測和認證，它們能夠承受的強風和殘骸撞擊，我們在俄克拉何馬州穆爾鎮(zhèn)就正好目睹了這些。實際上，我們已經(jīng)聽說了躲在安全屋中的家庭和幸存者的故事，無論是地上還是地下安全屋。”

Skye Strouhal of Moore was one of those people. He watched as the tornado moved in his direction, he and a friend run to a neighbor's underground shelter only minutes before the storm struck.

斯凱·斯德魯哈爾就是穆爾鎮(zhèn)的這些人之一。他看到龍卷風向他這個方向移動，在風暴來臨前的幾分鐘，他和朋友跑到了鄰居的地下避難所。

"It was getting a little too scary for me and I followed him back there into that backyard and we tried to open that cellar and it was locked by a chain, and then they let us in and shortly after that (the storm) was on top of us."

他說，“嚇死我了，我跟著他回到后院，我們試圖打開那個酒窖，但它被鏈子鎖住了。然后他們(鄰居)讓我們進去了，沒多久，風暴就到了我們頭頂。”

Better methods for predicting storms give people like Skye Strouhal and his friend more time to react, but they need someplace safe to go. Buildings can be built to resist strong winds, but not like those in the tornado that struck Moore. It was rated an F-5, a tornado with the fastest wind speeds.

預測風暴方法的改進為斯德魯哈爾及其朋友這樣的人們提供了更多的反應時間，但他們需要有安全的地方可以去。建筑物能夠被建造成可以抵御強風，但沒法抵抗襲擊穆爾鎮(zhèn)的這種龍卷風。這次龍卷風達到了F-5級，這是風速最大的龍卷風。

Leslie Chapman Henderson says even the building codes or laws that do exist, are not widely used or enforced.

亨德森表示，即使這樣的建筑規(guī)范或法律確實存在，它也未被廣泛使用或強制執(zhí)行。

"There are places at the EF-0, 1 and 2 level where a building code can make a difference. But what we really need here is a combination of both the code and the safe room."

“對于EF-0，1或2這樣的龍卷風級別，建筑規(guī)范會使得結果不同。但我們真正需要的是建筑規(guī)范和安全屋兩者相結合。”

Most of the ruined structures in Moore had neither. Only one in ten homes there have tornado safe rooms.

穆爾鎮(zhèn)大多數(shù)被毀壞的建筑兩者都不具備。當?shù)刂挥惺种坏淖≌旋埦盹L安全屋。

Moore sits in a central area of the United States called tornado alley where such storms are common. This is the fourth severe tornado in the city in fourteen years.

穆爾鎮(zhèn)坐落在美國中部被稱為龍卷風帶的地區(qū)，這類風暴非常常見。這是該市14年來第四次強龍卷風。

But Leslie Chapman Henderson says memories do not alway last. Neither of the two elementary schools destroyed in Moore had safe rooms. Those rooms, she says could have saved the seven children who died.

但亨德森表示人們總不長記性。穆爾鎮(zhèn)兩所被毀的小學都沒有安全屋。她說，這種安全屋原本可以挽救那7名遇難孩子的生命。

"I think we need to focus on our schools, and we need to set a minimum standard of always having a safe room option for students. What we've learned here tragically is that is the most important investment that we can make."

她說，“我認為我們必須重點關注我們的學校，我們需要設立一種最低標準，為學生們提供安全屋可選擇。我們得到的慘痛教訓就是，安全屋是我們能做的最重要的投入。”

As the people of Moore start to rebuild, its mayor is pushing for new laws requiring safe rooms in all new buildings. Similar proposals were made following each recent tornado strikes, but none such laws have been passed.

隨著穆爾鎮(zhèn)的人們開始重建，該鎮(zhèn)鎮(zhèn)長正在推動所有新建住房必須設有安全屋的新法律。最近每次龍卷風襲擊后都提出了類似建議，但這類法律從未被通過。

And that's the Technology Report.

以上就是本期科技報道的全部內容。