Chinese defy natural calamities_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Chinese defy natural calamities

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.