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(单词翻译)
Despite Hurricane Katrina, it isn't New Orleans
Ted1 Landphair | Washington, DC 26 April 2010
This Harper's Weekly illustration, published shortly after the flood, was no exaggeration of the churning, watery2 wall of death that befell Johnstown.
One of the most famous small towns in America is Johnstown, Pennsylvania, population 24,000.
Unfortunately, it owes that fame to a tragedy.
In the late 19th Century, Johnstown was the nation's mightiest3 steel center - more prosperous than Pittsburgh - turning out steel rails and barbed wire. The air was yellow and black from the smoke, but the pay was good.
Johnstown, Pennsylvania after the Great Flood of 1889
The town lay on a flat plain at the base of an Allegheny Mountain valley so steep that the hillsides rose straight upward along the Little Connemaugh River.
It was a natural funnel4, pointed5 directly downhill at Johnstown.
High in those mountains, behind a crude earthen dam, wealthy Pittsburgh industrialists7 and their friends sailed yachts on a pretty private lake.
Naysayers warned of a catastrophic flood should the dam break, but amid the prosperity, the warnings were ignored. Town leaders said any floodwaters coursing down the mountain would flatten8 out once they reached the valley.
This monument to unknown victims - there were 777 unidentified - stands at a national park commemorating9 the Great Flood in Johnstown.
But one spring night in 1889 and on into the next day, drenching10 thunderstorms pounded the mountainsides.
The lake rose, intensifying11 pressure against the dam.
With the force of a giant waterfall, the dam burst, launching a wall of water 18 meters [60 feet] high down the funnel toward Johnstown faster than warnings could be sounded.
Grinding up trees, houses, boulders12, locomotives, humans, and animals in its path, it slammed into Johnstown, pulverizing13 the center of town.
Afterward14, most observers blamed the rich yachtsmen and their leaky earthen dam for the deaths of 2,200 men, women and children.
Johnstown is still flood-prone. This shot was taken in 1977, when 85 people died, hundreds were left homeless, and property damage topped $300 million in flooding that followed a summer deluge15.
These days, tourists make a point of visiting a museum that tells the dramatic story. Ironically, it's located in a building donated by industrialist6 Andrew Carnegie.
He was one of the owners of the pleasure club whose members cavorted16 high above ill-fated Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
1 ted | |
vt.翻晒,撒,撒开 | |
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2 watery | |
adj.有水的,水汪汪的;湿的,湿润的 | |
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3 mightiest | |
adj.趾高气扬( mighty的最高级 );巨大的;强有力的;浩瀚的 | |
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4 funnel | |
n.漏斗;烟囱;v.汇集 | |
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5 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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6 industrialist | |
n.工业家,实业家 | |
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7 industrialists | |
n.工业家,实业家( industrialist的名词复数 ) | |
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8 flatten | |
v.把...弄平,使倒伏;使(漆等)失去光泽 | |
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9 commemorating | |
v.纪念,庆祝( commemorate的现在分词 ) | |
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10 drenching | |
n.湿透v.使湿透( drench的现在分词 );在某人(某物)上大量使用(某液体) | |
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11 intensifying | |
v.(使)增强, (使)加剧( intensify的现在分词 );增辉 | |
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12 boulders | |
n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 );巨砾;(受水或天气侵蚀而成的)巨石;漂砾 | |
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13 pulverizing | |
v.将…弄碎( pulverize的现在分词 );将…弄成粉末或尘埃;摧毁;粉碎 | |
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14 afterward | |
adv.后来;以后 | |
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15 deluge | |
n./vt.洪水,暴雨,使泛滥 | |
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16 cavorted | |
v.跳跃( cavort的过去式 ) | |
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