5月12日14时28分，四川汶川县发生7.8级地震，北京、上海、天津、陕西等多个省市震感明显。地震发生后，胡锦涛主席指示尽快抢救伤员，温家宝赶赴灾区指导救灾。截止目前，地震已造成9219人死亡。

以下是与地震有关的词汇：

earthquake 地震
shake 震动；摇晃
tremor颤动；震动
temblor [美语] 地震

hit 袭击、打击，使遭受
strike 突然发生；打击
jolt 使颠簸，摇晃
rock 摇，摇动，使振动
roll across 波动，起伏，横摇
rip through 裂开，破开；突进，横撞直闯

damage 损害；损伤
destroy 毁坏，破坏；摧残
shatter 破坏；捣毁；破灭
devastate 蹂躏，破坏；使荒废；毁灭
level 推倒，夷平
flatten 夷为平地

seismological 地震学上的
seismology 地震学
seismograph 地震仪
seismographer 地震学家
aftershock 余震
smaller tremors 小地震
epicenter 震中
magnitude 震级
Richter Scale(1-10) 里氏震级
at a scale of 7.8 on the Richter calculations 里氏7.8级地震
earthquake monitoring 地震监控
tsunami 海啸
rock and mud slides 泥石流
tsunami warning system 海啸预警系统
tidal waves 潮汐波，浪潮
natural disaster 自然灾害
tragedy 灾难
wreckage 残骸
death toll 死亡人数
survivors 幸存者
victims 受灾者
international contributions 国际援助
evacuation 撤离
resparalyze 使瘫痪,使麻痹

公路停运火车票停售的原因是大雪造成了部分地区的公路铁路瘫痪，因此瘫痪一词也频频见诸报端。

请看《中国日报》的报道：

Passengers in Guangzhou have been especially heavy because the southern end of the Beijing-Guangzhou rail line, a north-south trunk railroad, has been paralyzed because of heavy snow in the central Hunan Province.

由于湖南省大雪，造成铁路南北主干线京广线南端瘫痪，聚集在广州火车站内的旅客人数异常巨大。

halt 停止，尤其指暂停

大雪造成铁路运输不畅，公路也停运了。

请看《中国日报》的报道：

Road traffic between Hunan and Guangdong provinces has also ground to a halt. Jiangxi Province has halted all provincial bus service.

湖南和广东之间的公路运输也停止了。江西省也停掉了所有的公路客运运输。evacuate 疏散,撤出

这么严重的雪灾有的地方就要疏散群众了，所以疏散这个词也在报道中被多次提及。

请看外电的报道：

Some 827,000 people have been evacuated in 14 provinces since January 10, the Ministry of Civil Affairs ministry said.

据民政部统计，1月10日以来，全国14个省份约有82.7万人被疏散。

power failure 停电

请看《中国日报》报道：

Almost 150,000 passengers were stuck at Guangzhou railway station by Jan.26 night after a power failure caused by snow, ice and sleet stopped more than 136 electric trains in Hunan province on the trunk line between Beijing and Guangzhou.

报道中说，截止至1月26日晚，由于大雪造成的停电，致使广州火车站内大约15万名旅客滞留；而冰雪天气同时导致京广线湖南境内超过136列列车受阻滞留。

 Power cut / power failure 均表示“停电，断电”；

相关词汇有：电网 power grid， 架高压电缆的铁塔 pylons。

Power brownouts 电力管制，限电

电力短缺不仅对铁路运输造成了影响，同时，天冷也导致煤电消耗很大。为了确保居民用电，部分城市地区实行了电力管制，限制用电。

请看《中国日报》的报道：

Changsha, capital of the central Hunan province, has reported power brownouts.

据报道，湖南省会长沙已经限电。

请看外电的报道：

Several regional airports have been closed and many provinces have imposed power brownouts to conserve energy.

部分地方城市机场已经关闭，许多省份实施限电以节省能源。

 

severe  a. 严格的,凶猛的,严肃的,严重的,严厉的,朴素的

今年的冬天几场大雪让中国南方大部分地区都遭了灾，所以用severe来形容一点也不过分。

Icy temperatures, snow and sleet blanketing much of central, eastern and southern China have crippled thousands of trucks and trains loaded with coal, food and passengers in the most severe winter weather seen in 50 years.——路透社

Severe snowstorms over broad swaths of eastern and central China have wreaked havoc on traffic throughout the country, creating gigantic passenger backups, spawning accidents and leaving at least 24 people dead, according to state news reports.——《纽约时报》

blizzard

除了snowstorm之外，说暴风雪还有另外一个词，就是blizzard。

Blizzards have snapped power lines and destroyed houses and farmland, prompting fears of food and energy shortages.——CNN

A new round of blizzards threatened central Chinese provinces Monday, putting more pressure on already strained transport, communications and power grids. The weather has already affected 67 million people.——《时代周刊》

 snap

snap的意思比较多，比如“掐断”，报道里用的除了这个意思之外，还用了名词义的“天气突变”，用英语解释就是a spell of cold weather。

But the cold snap is hampering travel plans.——CNN

Hunan's Huanghua Airport has been closed since Friday in the worst cold snap in a decade.