新西兰英语 684 Shipping company pays for Rena disaster
英语课
A year ago today, the ship, the Rena, hit a reef 1 in Tauranga harbour. The result was a disaster for the harbour, the beach, sea birds, exporters and local businesses. It probably destroyed the career of the captain and navigator also. They served three months in prison before being deported 2 to their homeland, the Philippines.
It cost the shipping 3 company or their insurance company $80m to remove the shipping containers from the wreck 4 and try to salvage 5 the ship. It cost our government $47m to clean up the oil. This week, the Greek shipping company also agreed to pay $27.6m for the costs of the clean-up, $27m compensation 6 for lost goods in the containers and $11.5m to locals who lost business. If the wreck has to stay in the water, the company will pay another $10.4m.
Under New Zealand law, any ship which causes damage like this has to pay $11.3m. New Zealand’s law is 36 years old and was never updated. However, the company has agreed to pay double this amount to avoid going to court. Instead, the company and the New Zealand government settled this by negotiation 7.
Task
Listen with your eyes closed and see if you can write down the amounts of money correctly, then check by reading the text.
Listen to March 9th 2012 to hear the background to this or type Rena in the search box.
Vocabulary
?reef – rocks
?disaster – terrible thing which happens
?navigator – reads maps
?deported – sent back to their country
?wreck – badly damaged ship; it cannot be used any more
?salvage – remove containers and try to save the ship
?clean up the oil (phrasal verb); a clean-up (n) – take oil from the sea and beach and make the sea and beach clean (Important not to say: clean the oil)
?compensation – money to pay for their loss
?updated – changed for modern times
?negotiation – long discussions and agreement
Questions
1.What local businesses lost money?
2.Why did the company want to avoid going to court?
3.Do you think the ship should stay on the reef? It could be used by divers 8 but local Maori say the reef must be restored to its natural state.
n.礁，礁石，暗礁
- The ship and its crew were lost on the reef.那条船及船员都触礁遇难了。
- The ship was wrecked on a coral reef.这条船在珊瑚暗礁上撞毁了。
v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止
- They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）
- We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
- There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。
n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难
- Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
- No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。
v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救
- All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed.抢救失事船只的一切努力都失败了。
- The salvage was piled upon the pier.抢救出的财产被堆放在码头上。
n.补偿（或赔偿）的款物，补偿，赔偿
- Workers who have been unfairly dismissed may claim compensation.被无理开除的工人可以要求补偿。
- Equal compensation should be given to men and women for equal work.男女同工应同酬。
n.谈判，协商
- They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
- The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。