Fire destroys Brazil

张琪

海词积累

1. memorabilia n. 纪念品

2. incalculable adj. 不可估量的

3. blaze n. 烈火

4. hydrant n. 消防龙头

5. enormous adj. 巨大的

6. bicentennial n. 兩百周年纪念日

7. neglect n. 忽视

8. numerous adj. 许多的

9. ironically adv. 讽刺地

10. finance v. 提供资金

A big fire that raced through Brazil's 200-year-old National Museum on Sunday is believed to have destroyed much of its collection of more than 20 million items， ranging from archaeological finds to historical memorabilia.

The destruction of the building was an “incalculable loss for Brazil，” President Michel Temer said in a statement. “Two hundred years of work， research and knowledge were lost.”

It wasn't immediately clear how the fire began and there were no reports of injuries. Fire department spokesman Roberto Robadey said crew got off to a slow start fighting the blaze because the two fire hydrants closest to the museum were not functioning. Instead， trucks had to be sent to get water from a nearby lake. But he added that some of the museum's pieces had been spared. “We were able to remove a lot of things from inside with the help of workers of the museum，” Robadey told Globo News.

Live television broadcast images of the fire， which began after the end of visiting hours at 5 pm， burning out of control throughout the building late into the night.

“It is an enormous tragedy，” museum director Alexander Kellner said in a statement posted on Facebook early Monday. He added that they haven't yet been able to measure the total damage to the collection.

The museum， which is tied to the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the education ministry， was founded in 1818 and was proudly celebrating its bicentennial. It houses several landmark collections， including Egyptian artifacts（手工艺品） and the oldest human fossil found in Brazil.

The museum had suffered from years of neglect under numerous governments. “We never got anything from the federal government，” said the official， Luiz Duarte. “We recently finalized an agreement with state-run development bank BNDES for a massive investment， so that we could finally restore the palace and， ironically， we had planned on a new fire prevention system.”

In a statement posted on its website in June， BNDES agreed to financing of $5.35 million to “physically restore the historic building” and also to carry out work to “guarantee more security to its collections”.

Reading Check

1. Why did the firefighters fight the fire slowly at the beginning？

A.They didn't have enough fire trucks.

B.The water source was far from the museum.

C.The fire hydrants closest to the museum didn't work.

D.The firefighters didn't find out the cause of the fire.

2. What was Luiz Duarte's attitude to the federal government？

A.Grateful.

B.Unsatisfied.

B.Confident.

D.Hopeful.

Language Study

Difficult sentence

Live television broadcast images of the fire， which began after the end of visiting hours at 5 pm， burning out of control throughout the building late into the night. 电视实时播送了这场大火现场的画面。火灾发生在下午5点参观时间结束后，整栋大楼一直燃烧到深夜。

【点石成金】本句是一个复合句。Live television broadcast images of the fire是主句，which began after...5 pm是非限制性定语从句，burning out of control...night作伴随状语。