新闻英语精解【13】地狱之火

本栏目是由世博英语（360abc.com）robin原创编写！带领您体验相当水准英语新闻的精髓！未经书面授权，请勿转载！

Underground Inferno—More Than 130 Dead in S. Korea Subway Fire

地狱烈火—130多人在韩国地铁火灾中丧生

题目underground inferno, 直译是“地下的烈火”，笔者为突出事故的惨烈，改译为“地狱烈火”， 因为inferno就有“地狱或与地狱相似的地方”的意思。有关地铁，美国称subway, 英国伦敦的地铁叫做tube(这个词为口语用法)或underground, 而法国巴黎或其他国家的地铁则多称为Metro。

D A E G U, South Korea, Feb. 18 — More than 130 people were killed and 99 were missing in South Korea today after flames and smoke engulfed two crowded subway trains following an arson attack, officials said.

【参考译文】大邱，韩国，2月18日— 韩国政府官员说，今天在被人故意纵火袭击引发的烈焰和浓烟吞噬两列地铁列车后，共有130多人在火灾中丧生，99人失踪。

【注释】本节中，engulf,“吞没，吞噬”，如：The war is threatening to engulf the entire region. 战火将要蔓延整个地区。 Arson, 纵火（罪）， 例如：A cinema was burnt out in north London last night. Police suspect arson. 昨晚伦敦北部的一家电影院被烧毁。警方怀疑有人纵火。 Arsonist即为“纵火者，纵火犯”。

The mayor of the southeastern city of Daegu said a 56-year-old male with a history of mental illness was suspected of starting the blaze at the end of the morning rush hour.

A witness said the man had set fire to flammable liquid in a milk carton and tossed it into a carriage.

【参考译文】东南部城市大邱市市长表示，一名有精神病史的56岁男子被怀疑制造了这起清晨交通高峰即将结束时候的大火。一位目击者说，这名男子将装在牛奶纸盒内的可燃液体点着，然后把纸盒投向一节车厢。

【注释】Blaze, 大火，这里还可以使用诸如 flame, flare, conflagration（大火灾）, inferno（火海）, holocaust（大面积的毁灭）等。 Flammable, “可燃的，易燃的”，同义词有inflammable, ignitable。 Carton, 纸盒，纸箱， 注意不要和cartoon“卡通画，漫画”相混淆。

Officials said a second train pulled into the station as the blaze took hold. The two trains, each with six carriages, had a total of up to 400 people on board.

【参考译文】官方透露当火势形成的时候，又有一列客车驶入车站。两列客车各有六节车厢，共载有400名乘客。

【注释】Pull into, “到站，进站”：As the train pulled in there was a rush to get seats. 列车进站时人们一拥而上抢占座位。 Take hold, “become established, 蔚然成势”,又如：The newly planted vines quickly took hold. 新种下的葡萄藤很快就扎下了根。

Many struggled in vain to escape the inferno that reduced the trains to metal skeletons and sent black, acrid smoke belching into the sky for hours after the fire started.

【参考译文】许多乘客徒劳的拼命想要逃脱火海，大火将列车烧的只剩金属骨架，并伴有持续数小时的滚滚刺鼻的浓烟直冲云霄。

【注释】In vain, 徒劳地，无益地。而 take one’s name in vain 的意思一是滥用或亵渎上帝之名，如：took the name of the Lord in vain. 妄称上帝之名；二是背后说人的闲话，如： Just then she walked in and said "Who's taking my name in vain?" 就在那时她走进来，问道“谁在背后说我的坏话？”