英文阅读：Chinese defy natural calamities
It was a disaster for the whole nation. It was a challenge to the Chinesepeople's willpower. We have stood the test and will triumph over it, though not
without paying a price.
The snow and sleet storms that have ravaged half of the country for three
weeks are dying down, though weather authorities predicted yesterday that
moderate snowfalls and rain would continue in southern provinces next week.
According to statistics announced over the weekend, the disaster has
wreaked havoc in 19 provinces, causing economic losses of 53.8 billion yuan
($7.27 billion) and 60 deaths. But the courage, discipline, unity and mutual
love the Chinese people demonstrated in their battles against the wretched
weather greatly dwarfed the might of the elements.
Blizzards may not be uncommon for countries and regions at high latitudes,
but they are rare for people who live in the central and southern provinces. The
recent snowfalls in those places were the heaviest in a century. People were
unprepared and public utilities proved vulnerable to the freezing weather. To
make things worse, the humid climate there turned snow and sleet into an icy
veneer, coating roads and power transmission lines.
When the bad weather paralyzed highways, railroads and flights and led to
power cuts, some sections of the public panicked. But after they learned from
media reports about the overall situation, they realized that the difficulties
and inconveniencies they were suffering were not their personal or community
agony, but rather part of a disaster facing the whole nation.
They began to regard their struggles as part of the broader, nationwide
battle with nature. Whether they were passengers stranded in buses stuck on
highways, power grid workers knocking the ice off transmission lines, water
plant technicians who worked overnight to repair burst pipelines or coal miners
who worked round-the-clock to meet the need of fuel-hungry power plants, they
all knew they were backed by the whole nation.
Though the northern part of the country was not affected, people there were
as concerned as their compatriots in the south. Army troops, police officers and
government officials appeared on highways to remove snow and ice and gave hot
food and water to stranded passengers; employees of power and water plants
overcame difficulties to maintain normal supplies of utilities; transportation
workers raced against time to deliver relief materials to disaster-hit
areas.
Their selfless devotion to the emergency work and the disaster-affected
people's cooperation with the government's efforts proved that Chinese people
have kept the tradition of subordinating individual interests to those of the
nation despite the fact that China's economic life has basically become
market-oriented. Yesterday, the central government ordered power companies in
northern provinces to send workers to Hunan to help repair disrupted power
grids. The workers set off immediately, without any complaints, even though they
knew the emergency mission would mean that they would not be able to spend
Spring Festival, which is three days away, with their families at home.
Quite a few people have sacrificed their lives. For example, seven workers
attempting to repair a power line died when the pylons they were working on fell
because of the heavy snow.
The disaster struck at a time when many Chinese people are heading home for
the lunar yearend reunion with their loved ones. The blizzards did not prevent
them from going home. On the Beijing-Zhuhai Highway, many passengers were
stranded for several days, but they still remain confident in the government's
rescue effort.
E-mail: liushinan@chinadaily.com.cn
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