從昨天晚上開始，英語君的朋友圈就被“香港火災”刷屏，火災無情人間有愛，大家都在為香港同胞祈福。

據(jù)新華社，香港警方和消防部門27日凌晨召開記者會宣布，大埔屋邨宏福苑火災目前已造成44人遇難，45人受傷。警方已拘捕3名涉嫌誤殺的男子。

國外媒體也在關注此事， 以下是美聯(lián)社對火災的報道：

Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades burned through the night, leaving at least 44 people dead and 279 reported missing with rescuers still pulling residents from blazing high-rise apartment buildings into the morning.

這是香港數(shù)十年來最致命的一場火災，持續(xù)燃燒了一整夜，造成至少44 人死亡，279人失蹤。直到第二天早上，救援人員仍在從熊熊燃燒的高層公寓樓中救出居民。

Police had arrested three men on suspicion ofmanslaughterin connection with fire which began Wednesday afternoon in a housing complex in Tai Po district, a suburb in the New Territories. By Thursday morning local time, the fire was yet to be put out and rescues continued.

警方以涉嫌誤殺的罪名逮捕了三名男子，懷疑他們與這場大火有關。周三下午，新界郊區(qū)大埔的一個住宅區(qū)內開始起火。截至當?shù)貢r間周四早上，火勢仍未完全撲滅，救援行動仍在繼續(xù)。

Hundreds of residents were evacuated as the fire spread across seven of the eight towers in the Wang Fuk Court complex, as bright flames and smoke shot out of windows.

宏福苑住宅區(qū)8棟大樓有7棟被大火蔓延，數(shù)百名居民被緊急疏散，明亮的火焰和濃煙不斷從窗戶中噴出。

Forty of the 44fatalitieswere declared dead at the scene, officials said. At least 62 others were injured, many suffering from burn and inhalation injuries.

官員稱，在44名遇難者中，有40人在現(xiàn)場被宣布死亡。此外，至少還有62 人受傷，其中許多人是燒傷和吸入性損傷。

為什么這次的火災會如此嚴重？

Authorities suspected some materials on the exterior walls of the high-rise buildings did not meet fire resistance standards, as the rapid spread of the fire was unusual.
有關部門懷疑，高層建筑外墻使用的部分材料未達到耐火標準，因為這場火勢蔓延得異常迅速。

Police also said they foundStyrofoammaterials -- that are highly flammable -- outside the windows on each floor near the lift lobby of the one unaffected tower, believed to be installed by a construction company.

警方還表示，他們在未受波及的那棟大樓里發(fā)現(xiàn)了高度易燃的泡沫塑料，這些材料被放置在電梯大堂附近、各層窗戶外，初步判斷是某施工公司安裝的。

“We have reason to believe that those in charge of the construction company were grossly negligent,” said Eileen Chung, a senior superintendent of police. The three men arrested, aged 52 to 68, are the directors and an engineering consultant of the firm.

香港高級警司鐘愛玲（音譯，Eileen Chung）表示：“我們有理由相信，該施工公司的負責人存在嚴重疏忽。”被捕的三名男子年齡介于52至68歲之間，分別是該公司的兩名董事及一名工程顧問。

Officials said the fire started on the externalscaffoldingof one of the buildings, a 32-story tower, and later spread to inside the building and then to nearby buildings, likely aided by windy conditions.

官方通報稱，大火最初從其中一棟32層高的大樓外部腳手架引燃，隨后蔓延至樓體內部，再擴散到附近其他建筑物——強風天氣很可能加速了火勢蔓延。

BBC在報道中特別提到了腳手架（scaffolding）問題：

A fire safety expert believes the large amount ofbambooscaffolding connecting the apartment blocks fanned last night's fire.

一名消防安全專家認為，連接各棟住宅樓的大量竹制腳手架，助長了昨夜大火的蔓延。

The blaze was able to penetrate rapidly, causing a large number of deaths and injuries, said Professor Jiang Liming from Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

香港理工大學的姜利明教授表示，這場火勢能夠迅速穿透多棟樓體，導致大量傷亡，與這些腳手架有直接關系。

Bamboo scaffolding is an iconic sight across Hong Kong and widely used in construction.

竹制腳手架是香港街頭一道獨特的風景，也長期被廣泛應用在建筑工程中。

Earlier this year, authorities announced plans to phase out bamboo in favour of sturdier, fire-resistant steel. They cited bamboo combustibility and tendency to deteriorate over time.

但在今年早些時候，當局已宣布計劃逐步淘汰竹制腳手架，改用更堅固、防火性能更好的鋼制腳手架。原因包括竹子的可燃性，以及隨著時間推移易老化、變質。

Prof Jiang also noted that the blocks at Wang Fuk Court were "relatively old" - they were built in the 1980s - so "the the glass windows are not that fire resilient".

姜教授還指出，宏福苑的小區(qū)樓齡“相對較老”——建于上世紀80年代——因此“玻璃窗的耐火性能并不高”。

"The modern buildings have double pane glass windows, but for this one they perhaps used just a single pane... [which makes it] very easy to be broken by the flames and the flames can then penetrate through the facade," he told BBC News.

他向 BBC 新聞表示：“現(xiàn)在的現(xiàn)代樓宇普遍配備雙層玻璃，但這些大樓可能仍然使用單層玻璃……火焰非常容易把玻璃燒裂，然后順勢從外立面滲入室內?！?/p>

愿所有同胞平平安安

本期重點單詞

manslaughter：/ ?m?nsl??t?(r) / n.過失殺人

fatality：/ f??t?l?ti / n.(事故或暴力導致的) 死亡

Styrofoam/ ?sta?r??f??m/ n.泡沫聚苯乙烯

scaffolding/ ?sk?f?ld?? / n.腳手架

bamboo/ ?b?m?bu? / n.竹，竹子，adj.竹制的

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