THE autumn term of primary and middle schools in Zhouqu County will be postponed 10 days to August 25, a spokesman for the county education department said yesterday.

Because of a barrier lake formed by the mudslide, most of the county seat is still under water. Many schools were damaged, including Chengguan No. 1 Primary School, which had all of its classrooms and teaching facilities destroyed, and Chengguan No. 2 Primary School, which is still under water.

It was difficult to provide goods and materials for boarding schools in the county, the spokesman added, and undamaged schools had been designated as shelters.

• primary [´praiməri] a.主要的 n.居首位的 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• barrier [´bæriə] n.栅栏；屏障；障碍 (高中英语单词)
• august [ɔ:´gʌst] a.尊严的；威严的 (英语六级单词)
• spokesman [´spəuksmən] n.发言人 (英语六级单词)