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Words
in the News
Wednesday 23 April 2003
Vocabulary from the news. Listen to and read the report then find
explanations of difficult words below.
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Bangladesh bans some ferry trips
Summary: Bangladesh has stopped ferries from sailing between late afternoon and early evening after two ferries sank, resulting in the deaths of well over 100 hundred people. Several others are still missing. This report from Alastair Lawson:
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The
News 
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The government's decision to impose restrictions on ferry sailings is intended to stop vessels from operating when the weather is at its most volatile.
The two boats which sunk earlier this week, were both caught in a sudden late afternoon storm which is common at this time of the year. The travel ban means that hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis, who rely on ferries as their only means of transport, will have their movements curtailed.
The government's initiative will inevitably be seen by some critics as a knee-jerk reaction which has been introduced too late. But ministers say that a blanket ban is the only thing they can do at the moment to stop overloaded ferries from sailing. They say that they lack both the money and the resources to deploy officials across the country to assess the safety of each and every ferry.
Rescue workers are meanwhile still recovering bodies from the sites of both disasters, and a stream of government ministers has paid condolence visits to the families of the bereaved. The front pages of many newspapers have photographs of piles of shoes belonging to those who died. For many relatives, they are the only way of identifying their loved ones.
Alastair Lawson, BBC News, Dhaka
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The
Words
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volatile
changing quickly, unexpectedly and often
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only means of transport
only possible way of travelling
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curtailed
reduced or restricted
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a knee-jerk reaction
a sudden, predictable response that has not been carefully thought about
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a blanket ban
a ban that applies to all things or people or in a particular group – in this case, ferries
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overloaded ferries
ferries that carry too many people
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to deploy
to send
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to assess the safety of
to consider and judge how safe the ferries are
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paid condolence
offered sympathy
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piles of shoes
lots of shoes lying on top of each other
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Read
more about this story |
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Other Words in the News archives
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