汶川大地震发生后，除了人们熟知的山体滑坡和泥石流外，“堰塞湖”成为了最大的威胁。而对于广大的英语学习者来说，“堰塞湖”在英语中该如何表达也成为了一个最新关注点，因为这一人们几乎闻所未闻的自然灾害现象在一般辞典中是未被收录的。这时候，我们不妨通过阅读英语新闻报道来了解其英语对应说法，学习地道的英语表达。

中国日报网站援引新华网的报道称，“堰塞湖”在英语中的对应表达是quake lake，而英语中用来表达“堰塞湖”的说法还有barrier lake和dammed lake等。不过，美国《洛杉矶时报》2008年5月23日刊登的一篇关于中国川西北大地震的新闻报道中则使用了barrier lake这一说法并且简明扼要地释义如下：barrier lakes are formed when a landslide plugs a river，其中的plug是“堵塞”，“填塞”的意思，也就是说，由山体滑坡或泥石流堵塞河道之后形成的湖泊。Barrier是“障碍物”的意思，barrier lake顾名思义就是“遭到了堵塞的湖泊”。根据美国英语在国际社会中占有绝对优势地位的情形，我们也许可以说，堰塞湖在英语中的说法就是barrier lake。
 
值得一提的是，通过《洛杉矶时报》的这篇新闻报道，我们还可以学习到许多鲜活的英语词汇，丰富我们的英语表达能力，那就赶快看看吧。
 
Other dangers in quake-ravaged China
（标题other dangers in quake-ravaged China言简意赅画龙点睛地传递了这样的信息，即在中国四川的地震灾区，还存在着除了地震以外的危险，这种危险就是“次生地质灾害”，其中首当其冲的就是“堰塞湖”。标题中用来组成合成词的ravage在这里也十分形象生动，其释义为“严重破坏”，“摧毁”，一般用于被动式。就发生在四川西北部的强烈地震造成的严重后果而言，用ravage来形容是再贴切不过的了。)
 
Summer rains will raise the risk of landslides, avalanches and flooding. The government appeals for 3.3 million tents for the homeless.
（副标题中的信息简明扼要地表达了中国政府在地震灾害之后面临的两大重任，即应对“次生地质灾害”和安置无家可归的受灾群众。副标题中表示的“次生地质灾害”除了我们已经熟悉的landslide之外还出现了avalanche和flooding。Flooding的威胁显然来自堰塞湖，而avalanche本意通常指雪崩，用在这里显然是想表示此次四川的强烈地震引发的山体滑坡已经超出了常见的程度。根据朗文当代高级英语辞典的释义，avalanche指的是a large mass of snow, ice, and rocks that falls down the side of a mountain，从电视画面我们看到，发生在四川地震灾区的山体滑坡中滚落下来的有许多是比一幢房屋还要高的巨大石块，因此，用avalanche来表示才能比较贴切地表达其严重程度。)
 
By Barbara Demick
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 23, 2008
BEIJING--The danger is far from over in the mountainous terrain where last week's earthquake struck, with the risks of landslides, avalanches and flooding growing as the summer rainy season begins, Chinese officials said Thursday.
（Terrain本意是指“地形”，“地势”，“地面”，但其语境联想意义通常指多山的崎岖山地，因此，该单词十分符合此次地震灾区的地形情况，可谓用词准确形象。）
 
The warning came as the death toll from the May 12 quake rose to 55,239, with nearly 30,000 people still missing. More than 5 million are homeless and may not be able to rebuild their houses soon, or ever, because of the instability of the terrain.
 
The grim assessment was based on high-resolution satellite photos provided this week by the US government that show the potential for what are called "secondary geological disasters."
（High-resolution satellite photos高清晰度的卫星图片，下文中的satellite images也是这个意思。Secondary geological disasters就是当前抗震救灾遭遇的巨大威胁“次生地质灾害”，其中的最大威胁就是“堰塞湖”。）
 
"Barrier lakes"
Quakes leave the ground fragile and susceptible to landslides. The biggest danger comes from "barrier lakes" , which are formed when a landslide plugs a river and could easily overflow after a heavy rain or aftershocks.
（这一句子对“堰塞湖”及其危害提供了简明扼要的解释。）
 
Chinese geologists who examined the photos detected 34 such lakes. One particularly large one near the town of Beichuan already has forced the evacuation of thousands of people living in the potential flood path.
（evacuation就是“疏散”的英文表达，其动词是evacuate，这个单词通常用于描述各种灾难之中转移遇到威胁的百姓。）
 
"These lakes pose a very severe risk," said Liu Yuan, an environmental official with the Land and Resources Ministry.
（pose a very severe risk就是“构成十分严重威胁”的意思，其中的pose risk属于固定搭配，类似的说法还有pose threat，这又是一个十分地道的英语表达。）
 
Altered landscape
The satellite images were provided by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, according to the US Embassy in Beijing, along with medical and rescue equipment. Initial photographs were marred by heavy cloud cover, and the Chinese received another batch two days ago. The images also revealed damage to dams, reservoirs and hydroelectric plants.
（Hydroelectric plants就是“水力发电厂”，而“火力发电厂”在英语中的表达则是thermal power plant。）
 
The magnitude 7.9 quake rearranged Sichuan province's already complicated landscape of rushing rivers, flood-prone valleys and jagged mountains. Even re-creating roads is a dangerous mission. More than 200 government employees, most of them with the Transportation Ministry, were entombed in mud by landslides over the weekend when they tried to clear the rubble from a road near the epicenter in Wenchuan.
（flood-prone是个合成单词，其中的prone我们许多人可能不熟悉，但在英语中它却是一个常用词，其意思是“易于发生某事（尤指不好的或有害的事）的”，“很可能……的”，“有……倾向的”。作为形容词，其搭配可以是be prone to something，如Some plants are prone to a particular disease.（某些植物很容易生某种特定的疾病。），也可以是be prone to do something，如Kids are all prone to eat junk food.（孩子往往都喜欢吃垃圾食品。）不过，prone这个单词的另一常见用法就是与一个前置名词一起构成一个合成词，表示容易发生或出现该名词所指的现象或事情，这时候通常是指不好的现象或事情，如accident-prone就表示“容易出事故的”。
 
Re-creating roads再造道路；entomb是“埋葬”，“掩埋”的意思，为英语中的正式用词，只用被动式。一般地说，英语中表示“掩埋”的首选单词是bury，但由于这些工人被埋进泥石流之中之后几乎没有可能被救出，因此，这里使用了entomb就十分准确到位，因为那里只能成为他们的tomb了。）
 
"The devastating phenomenon we see today is a natural consequence of the earthquake," said Guo Huadong, a geologist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
（The Chinese Academy of Sciences就是我们所熟知的中国科学院，需要注意的是这里的science应该使用复数，表示有许多科学门类。）
 
Guo, whose department reviewed the satellite images, said many areas would be left uninhabitable. Beichuan, where many of the 20,000 residents were killed, is in a steep valley squeezed between a river and mountain.
（Uninhabitable就是“不适宜人类居住的”，Uninhabitable的词干就是动词inhabit，其派生构造首先是加上后缀-able，表示“能够……的”，然后是加上表示否定意义的前缀un-。我们在学习英语的时候掌握一些基本的构词法知识是完全有必要的。）
 
"Maybe they can build a memorial there to victims of the earthquake," he said. "But as far as living there, it is not a wise idea."
(Memorial是“纪念物”，“纪念碑”的意思，其实也可以指“纪念馆”，“纪念堂”。在中国，许多“纪念馆”的英文都被翻译为memorial hall，其实这里的hall纯属多余，一个memorial即可，美国有Lincoln Memorial，中国有Chairman Mao's Memorial。)
 
An appeal for tents
Housing the homeless is the next priority. The Chinese government appealed to the international community Thursday for 3.3 million tents, saying that only 400,000 had reached the disaster area. Officials said Chinese factories were working around the clock to produce tents but could not meet the demand.
(Housing在这里作为动词使用可谓贴切逼真，形象生动，因为安置受灾群众就是为他们提供可以安身的住处；working around the clock to produce tents帐篷生产企业则是全天候生产。）
 
The government also has set a goal of building 1 million temporary houses by August.
（Temporary houses就是临时住房，也可以说temporary shelters或makeshift houses，其中的makeshift又是一个我们不太熟悉却属于地道英语的词汇。本文中的临时住房可以指帐篷，但考虑到帐篷在文中已单独出现，因此它更应该指帐篷以外的各种活动板房（movable plank houses/movable houses）和预制房屋（prefabricated house）。）