President Barack Obama eulogized 29 coal miners who died in an explosion in the nearby Upper Big Branch Mine in a speech that avoided assigning blame for the disaster.
国总统奥巴马(Barack Obama)在讲话中称赞了在Upper Big Branch煤矿爆炸中失去生命的29名矿工，但未对这起灾难表示谴责。
With the president looking on, grieving families of the dead filed into a convention center here on Sunday as the men's names were read out loud. The audience applauded for each one and a member of each family placed a miner's helmet atop one of 29 white crosses standing in a row at the foot of the stage.
周日，随着旁人大声宣读出死难矿工的姓名，沉浸在悲痛之中的死者家属在总统的注视下走进当地的一家会议中心。主席台下，29个白色的十字架排成一排。每个家庭派一名成员把矿工的头盔放在其中的一个十字架上。在场之人为每一名死难矿工献上自己的掌声。
'Nothing we can say can fill the hole they leave in your hearts; the absence they leave in your lives,' Mr. Obama said, standing on a black-draped stage hung with photos of the men.
主席台蒙着黑幔，悬挂着死难者的照片。奥巴马站在台上说，我们无论说什么也无法弥补亲人逝去在你们内心中留下的创伤，生活中从此不再有他们的身影。
'All the hard work; all the hardship; all the time spent underground; it was all for their families, it was all for you . . . . These miners lived, as they died, in pursuit of the American dream,' the president said after a vivid passage that described the men's daily five-mile journey into the mine where they died on April 5.
总统用一段生动的话描述了这些矿工每日下矿的五英里路程。在此之后，奥巴马说，所有的努力工作，所有的辛劳，所有在矿下的劳作，都是为了他们的家人，都是为了你们......这些矿工生前一直在追求着美国梦，他们为此付出了生命。4月5日，这些矿工因煤矿爆炸事故身亡。
Vice President Joe Biden made remarks before the president, saying the miners 'represent what I believe is the heart and the soul and the spine of this nation . . . the nation mourns them.'
奥巴马发表讲话之前，副总统拜登(Joe Biden)在发言中称，我相信这些矿工所代表的是这个国家的内心、精神和脊梁......国家哀悼他们。
'In the days that followed the disaster, emails and letters poured into the White House,' the president said. 'Postmarked from different places across the country, they often began the same way: 'I am proud to be from a family of miners,' 'I am proud to be a coal miner's daughter.' . . . And then, in these letters they make a simple plea: don't let this happen again . . .' How can we fail them?'
总统说，灾难发生后，来自全国各地的电子邮件和信件如潮水般涌向白宫，信的开头通常相同：我来自矿工家庭，我对此感到骄傲，或我很自豪我是一名矿工的女儿......信中的请求很简单：别让灾难再次发生......我们怎能让他们失望？
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a slew of new rules on the coal industry, drawing fresh ire in a state the president failed to carry in the 2008 presidential campaign.
美国环境保护局(Environmental Protection Agency)正在起草一系列煤矿行业的新规，这再次在西弗吉尼亚州引起反弹。奥巴马在2008年总统大选中未能在西弗吉尼亚州获胜。
Elizabeth Williamson
- audience [´ɔ:diəns]
n.听众；观众；接见 (初中词汇) - helmet [´helmit] n.钢盔 (初中词汇)
- standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中词汇)
- absence [´æbsəns] n.不在，缺席；缺乏 (初中词汇)
- pursuit [pə´sju:t] n.追踪；追击；事务 (初中词汇)
- disaster [di´zɑ:stə] n.灾难，不幸 (初中词汇)
- protection [prə´tekʃən] n.警戒；护照；通行证 (初中词汇)
- agency [´eidʒənsi] n.代理商；机构；代理 (初中词汇)
- presidential [,prezi´denʃəl] a.总统的；统辖的 (初中词汇)
- explosion [ik´spləuʒən] n.爆炸；爆发；发作 (高中词汇)
- hardship [´hɑ:dʃip] n.受苦，吃苦；苦难 (高中词汇)
- underground [,ʌndə´graund] ad.&a.地下(的) (高中词汇)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中词汇)
- drawing [´drɔ:iŋ] n.画图；制图；图样 (四级词汇)
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