Fire put out at 87-story residential skyscraper in Dubai

导读

8月4日凌晨在迪拜发生了一起高层起火事件,本文是一篇典型的英文新闻报道。新闻的特点即倒金字塔形,所以我们选择前9段为重点阅读段落。在星期五(8月4日)凌晨,迪拜发生居民高层失火,导致当夜居民撤离并发生了很多高空残渣坠物,在大火被消防员扑灭后,迪拜的警察又开通了这世界最高的居民建筑之一周围的街道。

更多剧透

第一步:解决高频单词

blaze [blez]

vt. 在树皮上刻路标;公开宣布;n. 火焰,烈火;光辉;情感爆发;vi. 燃烧;照耀,发光;激发

erupt [ɪ'rʌpt]

v. 爆发,喷出

debris [dəˈbri]

n. 碎片,残骸

plummet ['plʌmɪt]

v. 垂直下落

expatriate [,ɛks'petrɪət]

v/n 移居国外的人/被流放到国外的人;移居国外/被流放到国外

inferno [ɪn'fɜːnəʊ]

n. 大火灾

flammable ['flæməbl]

adj. 可燃的,易燃的

cladding ['klædɪŋ]

n. 覆盖层

engulf [ɛnˈɡʌlf]

vt. 吞没,使限于

elaborate [ɪ'læbəret]

v. 详细阐述

60p

第二步:精读重点段落

(Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦)

[1] DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Police in Dubai reopened the streets around one of the world's tallest residential skyscrapers after firefighters put out a blaze that erupted early Friday in the high-rise, forcing residents to evacuate in the middle of the night and sending chunks of debris plummeting below.

[2] No major injuries had been reported in the tower, located in an upscale waterfront district heavily populated by expatriates from around the world. A few people were treated for smoke inhalation, according to Dubai's Gulf News website.

[3] Several residents said the fire broke out just after 1 a.m. at the 87-story Torch Tower — a more than 1,100-foot-tall (335 meters) residential building in Dubai's Marina district.

[4] The tower has 676 apartments — 38 of which were burnt and destroyed by the fire, according to the official Dubai media office. Sixty-four floors of the facade of the building were also burnt, they said.

[5] The same building had also caught fire just two-and-a-half years earlier. The cause of the fire was not immediately known but in the past, such infernos in Dubai have been linked to highly flammable building cladding — as was the devastating June tower fire in London that killed at least 80 people.

  • Blaze (n) 火焰,大火
  • Erupt (v) 爆发,喷出
  • Chunk (n) 块
  • Debris (n) 碎片,残骸
  • Plummet (v) 迅速降落
  • Upscale (adj) 高档的
  • Expatriate (n) 移居国外的人
  • Inhalation (n) 吸入
  • Break out 发生,爆发
  • Façade 表面,外观
  • Inferno (n) 大火灾
  • Flammable (adj) 可燃的,易燃的
  • Cladding (n) 覆盖层
  • Devastating (adj) 骇人听闻的

[6] "You never think it's going to happen to you," said Alireza Aletomeh, a resident of the tower. "I had cash in there, furniture, paintings. ... Many things that are very valuable to me."

[7] Aletomeh, a sales manager, said he moved to the Torch Tower just three months ago, snagging an apartment on the 54th floor of the luxury tower. He said he was coming home after midnight when building security guards told him to remain in the street because a fire had erupted.

[8] He said his roommate grabbed their passports and that it took him more than two hours to come down the stairway because of the rush of people trying to get out at the same time. At least one woman passed out in the stairway, Aletomeh said.

[9] Nearly the entire length of the building on one side became engulfed in flames at one point during the blaze as residents looked on from below, many in tears. The firefighters battled the blaze for more than two hours. Officials say 84 floors of the building are residential and three are for services.

  • Snag (v) 成功得到 (n) 小问题
  • Luxury (n/adj) 奢华;奢华的
  • Pass out 昏倒
  • Engulf (v) 吞没,包围
85p

第三步:攻克必学语法

Because的用法

Because [bɪ'kɔz] conj 连词

1. 表示原因,语气较强,用来回答 why 提出的问题。如:
A:Why do you love her? 你为什么爱她?
B:Because she is beautiful but also intelligent. 因为她不仅漂亮而且很聪明。

2. because 除经常用于引导原因状语从句外,还可引出表语从句或用于强调句等。如:
It is because you’re eating too much. 那是因为你吃得太多了。
It was because I wanted to buy a dictionary that I went to town yesterday. 我昨天是由于想买本字典而进城的。

3. 汉语说“因为……所以……”,英语不能用 because…so…这样的结构。如:
因为我病了半年,所以把工作丢了。
误:Because I was ill for six months, so I lost my job.
正:Because I was ill for six months, I lost my job.
正:I was ill for six months, so I lost my job.

4. 汉语说“之所以……是因为……”, 英语可以类似以下这样的句型(用that比用 because普通)。如:
The reason (why) I’m late is that [because] I missed the bus. 我迟到的原因是因为我没有赶上公共汽车。
传统语法认为这类句型不能用 because, 但在现代英语中用because 的情形已很普遍。

5. 有时可引导一个句子作主语,此时通常采用just because这样的形式,并且主句谓语动词通常(当然不是一定)为mean。如:
Just because you speak English doesn’t mean you can teach it. 你会说英语并不意味着你能教英语。
Just because you’re old doesn’t mean you have to be idle. 只是因为你年纪大了,这并不意味着你就应该懒散不活动。
Because you have words with your wife is no reason to smash up things. 你和你的妻子吵架并不能成为摔东西的理由。

6. 用于构成复合介词 because of,其后可接名词、代词、 动名词、what 从句(但不能是that从句或没有引导词的从句)等。如:
He is here because of you (that). 他为你(那事)而来这里。
We said nothing about it, because of his wife’s being there. 因为他妻子在那儿,我们对此只字未提。
He left the company because of what the boss said at the meeting. 他离开了这家公司,是因为老板在会上讲的话。

7. because of 通常用来引导状语,而用于不引导表语(引导表语时可用 due to)。如:
误:His absence is because of the rain.
正:His absence is due to the rain. 他因雨未来。
但是,若主语是代词(不是名词),则它引出的短语也可用作表语。如:
It is because of hard work. 那是因为辛苦工作的原因。
It will be because of money. 那将都是因为钱的原因。

100p

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(Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦)

Fire put out at 87-story residential skyscraper in Dubai

Pic1 Pic2 Pic3

[1] DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Police in Dubai reopened the streets around one of the world's tallest residential skyscrapers after firefighters put out a blaze that erupted early Friday in the high-rise, forcing residents to evacuate in the middle of the night and sending chunks of debris plummeting below.

[2] No major injuries had been reported in the tower, located in an upscale waterfront district heavily populated by expatriates from around the world. A few people were treated for smoke inhalation, according to Dubai's Gulf News website.

[3] Several residents said the fire broke out just after 1 a.m. at the 87-story Torch Tower — a more than 1,100-foot-tall (335 meters) residential building in Dubai's Marina district.

[4] The tower has 676 apartments — 38 of which were burnt and destroyed by the fire, according to the official Dubai media office. Sixty-four floors of the facade of the building were also burnt, they said.

[5] The same building had also caught fire just two-and-a-half years earlier. The cause of the fire was not immediately known but in the past, such infernos in Dubai have been linked to highly flammable building cladding — as was the devastating June tower fire in London that killed at least 80 people.

  • Blaze (n) 火焰,大火
  • Erupt (v) 爆发,喷出
  • Chunk (n) 块
  • Debris (n) 碎片,残骸
  • Plummet (v) 迅速降落
  • Upscale (adj) 高档的
  • Expatriate (n) 移居国外的人
  • Inhalation (n) 吸入
  • Break out 发生,爆发
  • Façade 表面,外观
  • Inferno (n) 大火灾
  • Flammable (adj) 可燃的,易燃的
  • Cladding (n) 覆盖层
  • Devastating (adj) 骇人听闻的

[6] "You never think it's going to happen to you," said Alireza Aletomeh, a resident of the tower. "I had cash in there, furniture, paintings. ... Many things that are very valuable to me."

[7] Aletomeh, a sales manager, said he moved to the Torch Tower just three months ago, snagging an apartment on the 54th floor of the luxury tower. He said he was coming home after midnight when building security guards told him to remain in the street because a fire had erupted.

[8] He said his roommate grabbed their passports and that it took him more than two hours to come down the stairway because of the rush of people trying to get out at the same time. At least one woman passed out in the stairway, Aletomeh said.

[9] Nearly the entire length of the building on one side became engulfed in flames at one point during the blaze as residents looked on from below, many in tears. The firefighters battled the blaze for more than two hours. Officials say 84 floors of the building are residential and three are for services.

  • Snag (v) 成功得到 (n) 小问题
  • Luxury (n/adj) 奢华;奢华的
  • Pass out 昏倒
  • Engulf (v) 吞没,包围

[10] Dubai's Civil Defense announced at about 3:30 a.m. that firefighters had brought the blaze under control and said cooling operations were underway. Authorities shared video of the building from the outside later on Friday, showing the entire length of the tower charred on one side.

[11] By midday Friday, a few police cars could be seen in the area, but the main streets around it were open to traffic and had been wiped clean of debris, some of which had fallen on cars parked below.

[12] The skyscraper, however, remained closed to residents. Officials said they were providing shelter at three nearby hotels for residents. By nightfall, residents still had not been told when they would be allowed to return to check on their apartments.

[13] The Torch Tower previously caught fire in February 2015; there were also no casualties reported in that blaze.

[14] In both incidents, fire alarms alerted residents and building staff knocked on doors to ensure evacuation.

[15] Kingfield Owner Association Management Services, which manages the tower, did not provide any details about the cause of the blaze in a brief response to questions.

[16] "The safety of all residents and staff is of the utmost importance, and our efforts are currently focused on arranging the necessary emergency accommodation for residents," spokeswoman Anel-Carline Beukes said without elaborating.

[17] The tower was built by developer Select Group and opened in 2011. Select did not respond to requests for comment.

[18] Aletomeh, who is now staying with friends, said towers like the Torch should have sprinklers. He wondered why Civil Defense crews did not deploy helicopters to try and extinguish the fire quicker.

  • Previously (adv) 之前地
  • Casualty (n) 伤亡人员
  • Alert (v) 警告
  • Utmost (adj) 极度的
  • Elaborate (v) 清晰的阐释
  • Sprinkler (n) 洒水器
  • Deploy (v) 部署
  • Extinguish (v) 使熄灭;消除

[19]"Putting out the fire was the most important thing, which took them so long," he said.

[20] Simon Bach, a New Zealander who lives in a high-rise across the street, told The Associated Press he saw a few policemen as well as Emiratis in traditional white robes helping people get out. About 10 to 12 firetrucks arrived quickly on the scene, he said.

[21] He said just as the firefighters had seemed to bring the blaze under control, falling debris ignited a part of the building further down.

[22] "It seemed really out of control," he said. "People were streaming out of the car parks of the building."

[23] Several skyscrapers in the United Arab Emirates have caught fire in recent years, including a towering inferno that engulfed a 63-story luxury hotel in Dubai on New Year's Eve in 2016. In that blaze, as in others in Dubai in recent years, residents escaped without major injury.

[24] And on Thursday evening, in the neighboring emirate of Sharjah, an under-construction tower caught fire that raged for several hours as local media and nearby residents posted dramatic images of the blaze.

[25] Earlier this year, Dubai passed new fire safety rules requiring buildings with quick-burning side paneling to replace it with more fire-resistant siding. Authorities have previously acknowledged that at least 30,000 buildings across the UAE have cladding or paneling that safety experts have said accelerates the rapid spread of fires.

[26] While the new regulations are now in place for construction in Dubai and other cities, it's unclear how authorities will force owners to replace flammable siding with better material.

[27] The tragic June inferno in London prompted Britain to order more thorough testing on the cladding systems of its towers.

  • Robe (n) 长袍
  • Ignite (v) 点燃
  • Stream (v) 涌向
  • Sharjah (n) 沙迦
  • Rage (v) 肆虐,发怒
  • Dramatic (adj) 引人注目的
  • Paneling (n) 镶板
  • Fire-resistant (adj) 防火的
  • Accelerate (v) 加速
200p

blaze [blez]

vt. 在树皮上刻路标;公开宣布;n. 火焰,烈火;光辉;情感爆发;vi. 燃烧;照耀,发光;激发

erupt [ɪ'rʌpt]

v. 爆发,喷出

debris [dəˈbri]

n. 碎片,残骸

plummet ['plʌmɪt]

v. 垂直下落

expatriate [,ɛks'petrɪət]

v/n 移居国外的人/被流放到国外的人;移居国外/被流放到国外

inferno [ɪn'fɜːnəʊ]

n. 大火灾

flammable ['flæməbl]

adj. 可燃的,易燃的

cladding ['klædɪŋ]

n. 覆盖层

engulf [ɛnˈɡʌlf]

vt. 吞没,使限于

elaborate [ɪ'læbəret]

v. 详细阐述

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Fire put out at 87-story residential skyscraper in Dubai

[1] DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Police in Dubai reopened the streets around one of the world's tallest residential skyscrapers after firefighters put out a blaze that erupted early Friday in the high-rise, forcing residents to evacuate in the middle of the night and sending chunks of debris plummeting below.

[2] No major injuries had been reported in the tower, located in an upscale waterfront district heavily populated by expatriates from around the world. A few people were treated for smoke inhalation, according to Dubai's Gulf News website.

[3] Several residents said the fire broke out just after 1 a.m. at the 87-story Torch Tower — a more than 1,100-foot-tall (335 meters) residential building in Dubai's Marina district.

[4] The tower has 676 apartments — 38 of which were burnt and destroyed by the fire, according to the official Dubai media office. Sixty-four floors of the facade of the building were also burnt, they said.

[5] The same building had also caught fire just two-and-a-half years earlier. The cause of the fire was not immediately known but in the past, such infernos in Dubai have been linked to highly flammable building cladding — as was the devastating June tower fire in London that killed at least 80 people.

[6] "You never think it's going to happen to you," said Alireza Aletomeh, a resident of the tower. "I had cash in there, furniture, paintings. ... Many things that are very valuable to me."

[7] Aletomeh, a sales manager, said he moved to the Torch Tower just three months ago, snagging an apartment on the 54th floor of the luxury tower. He said he was coming home after midnight when building security guards told him to remain in the street because a fire had erupted.

[8] He said his roommate grabbed their passports and that it took him more than two hours to come down the stairway because of the rush of people trying to get out at the same time. At least one woman passed out in the stairway, Aletomeh said.

[9] Nearly the entire length of the building on one side became engulfed in flames at one point during the blaze as residents looked on from below, many in tears. The firefighters battled the blaze for more than two hours. Officials say 84 floors of the building are residential and three are for services.

[10] Dubai's Civil Defense announced at about 3:30 a.m. that firefighters had brought the blaze under control and said cooling operations were underway. Authorities shared video of the building from the outside later on Friday, showing the entire length of the tower charred on one side.

[11] By midday Friday, a few police cars could be seen in the area, but the main streets around it were open to traffic and had been wiped clean of debris, some of which had fallen on cars parked below.

[12] The skyscraper, however, remained closed to residents. Officials said they were providing shelter at three nearby hotels for residents. By nightfall, residents still had not been told when they would be allowed to return to check on their apartments.

[13] The Torch Tower previously caught fire in February 2015; there were also no casualties reported in that blaze.

[14] In both incidents, fire alarms alerted residents and building staff knocked on doors to ensure evacuation.

[15] Kingfield Owner Association Management Services, which manages the tower, did not provide any details about the cause of the blaze in a brief response to questions.

[16] "The safety of all residents and staff is of the utmost importance, and our efforts are currently focused on arranging the necessary emergency accommodation for residents," spokeswoman Anel-Carline Beukes said without elaborating.

[17] The tower was built by developer Select Group and opened in 2011. Select did not respond to requests for comment.

[18] Aletomeh, who is now staying with friends, said towers like the Torch should have sprinklers. He wondered why Civil Defense crews did not deploy helicopters to try and extinguish the fire quicker.

[19]"Putting out the fire was the most important thing, which took them so long," he said.

[20] Simon Bach, a New Zealander who lives in a high-rise across the street, told The Associated Press he saw a few policemen as well as Emiratis in traditional white robes helping people get out. About 10 to 12 firetrucks arrived quickly on the scene, he said.

[21] He said just as the firefighters had seemed to bring the blaze under control, falling debris ignited a part of the building further down.

[22] "It seemed really out of control," he said. "People were streaming out of the car parks of the building."

[23] Several skyscrapers in the United Arab Emirates have caught fire in recent years, including a towering inferno that engulfed a 63-story luxury hotel in Dubai on New Year's Eve in 2016. In that blaze, as in others in Dubai in recent years, residents escaped without major injury.

[24] And on Thursday evening, in the neighboring emirate of Sharjah, an under-construction tower caught fire that raged for several hours as local media and nearby residents posted dramatic images of the blaze.

[25] Earlier this year, Dubai passed new fire safety rules requiring buildings with quick-burning side paneling to replace it with more fire-resistant siding. Authorities have previously acknowledged that at least 30,000 buildings across the UAE have cladding or paneling that safety experts have said accelerates the rapid spread of fires.

[26] While the new regulations are now in place for construction in Dubai and other cities, it's unclear how authorities will force owners to replace flammable siding with better material.

[27] The tragic June inferno in London prompted Britain to order more thorough testing on the cladding systems of its towers.

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