每天读一篇英语小故事：Interstate Bridge
An eight-lane steel bridge on interstate 35 collapsed during evening rushhour. Dozens of cars plummeted 60 feet into the Mississippi River. Ten people
died, and more than 50 were seriously injured. The bridge was being repaired
because it was found to be structurally deficient; it needed to be reinforced.
Like many bridges throughout America, the bridge was built more than 40 years
ago. Traffic was much lighter then. Nowadays, cars, buses, and big trucks cross
the bridge steadily, even late at night.
“I heard a terrific boom. It was like the loudest thunder I ever heard,”
said one witness to the disaster. She ran out of her car to see what was
happening. She saw cars falling into the river and heard people screaming. She
heard the loud cracking sounds of the bridge collapsing and splashing sounds as
bridge sections and vehicles hit the water. “It was horrible,” she said.
Engineers had no explanation for the collapse. They said the bridge had
been inspected recently. The report said that, although it was structurally
deficient, the bridge was not unsafe. Since the report did not declare the
bridge unsafe, the decision was to simply reinforce it at strategic
locations.
Americans were shocked that an American bridge could simply collapse. The
news was all over TV, radio, and most newspapers. One newspaper investigation
revealed that almost 10 percent (about 59,000) of America’s bridges were
structurally deficient.
Initially, some people speculated that terrorists might have rigged a bomb
to the bridge. Others noted that all the pigeon poop on the bridge’s support
rails might have eroded the steel. One blogger wrote that, before he drove over
another bridge in America, he would make sure that a life jacket was in the
front seat next to him.
页:
[1]