外媒如何用一句话报道首尔踩踏事故？

多读英语新闻对于提升词汇和阅读水平都大有益处，而在读新闻时要特别注意“导语”部分。所谓的新闻导语通常出现在报道首段前一两句的位置，用于引起读者兴趣，以便能让他们读完报道。

新闻导语信息量都非常大，力求通过最少的字数交代清楚一则新闻中的几个要素，即“5W1H”：When, Who, What, Where, Why, How。而为了把这么多信息压缩在一两个句子中，记者在写导语时通常都使用复杂的长难句，而这对读者的语法水平有一定的要求。

比如昨天《华盛顿邮报》针对首尔踩踏事件的新闻报道中就出现了这样的导语：

SEOUL — At least 151 people died and another 82 were injured Saturday night into early Sunday after a huge crowd celebrating Halloween in the narrow streets and alleys of the Itaewon area of Seoul became crammed in so tightly that many could not move or breathe, according to fire department officials.

上面这一个长句把新闻中的几个要素都写清楚了，分别是：

When: Saturday night into early Sunday

Who: 151 people and another 82

What: At least 151 people died and another 82 were injured

Where: the narrow streets and alleys of the Itaewon area of Seoul

Why & How: a huge crowd became crammed in so tightly that many could not move or breathe

同时，为了显示出报道的真实和客观，记者通常会对新闻事实以及有关的言论、观点、意见等说明来源，因此导语末尾一般都标有新闻出处。比如上面这则报道的出处：according to fire department officials.

上面长句主干为：At least 151 people died and another 82 were injured Saturday night into early Sunday after a huge crowd became crammed in so tightly that many could not move or breathe

其中celebrating Halloween in the narrow streets and alleys of the Itaewon area of Seoul是现在分词作为后置定语修饰a huge crowd。became crammed in so tightly that many could not move or breathe… 这里使用了so…that…句式，意思相当于“（一大群人）被紧紧挤在一起，以至于很多人不能移动或者呼吸”。

句子中有这样的说法：…another 82 were injured Saturday night into early Sunday，这里读起来可能有点奇怪，因为它省略了on，即：...another 82 were injured on Saturday night into early Sunday。这是on的一个特殊用法，当介词on与XX night这样的搭配连用时，有时候可以省略on，比如：Where were you (on) the night of June 20th?

此外，into意思相当于“持续到，进入”。比如：Andy and I talked well into the night. 安迪和我一直谈到深夜。

At least 151 people…into early Sunday意思相当于 “在周六晚到周日凌晨的这段时间内至少有151人丧生，以及82人受伤”。

可以看到，新闻导语中的信息量大，长句的应用也很灵活，平时在读英语新闻时可以多留意开头第一句的写法。如果发现对导语的长句分析有困难，也可以多找一些语法书读一读，比如我之前推荐过的《牛津英语语法》。

我们最近推出了“小词口语训练营”，在一个月时间内通过对英语常见表达的训练来提升口语流利度，社群明天开班，需要提升口语的同学欢迎参加：如何使用常见词提升口语水平？