Named TOPOFF 3, the $16 million, weeklong exercise is meant to find weak spots in the nation's emergency planning.

　　"I want to make it clear that we are going to push our plans and our systems to the very limit," U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. "So we expect failure because we're actually going to be seeking to push to failure, and that is, in our judgment, the best way to get a 'lessons learned' from what we do here."

　　Although no real weapons or bio-agents are used, state and local officials responded as if it were the real thing, sending ambulances to hospitals and flooding the area with investigators and emergency workers in hazardous materials suits.

　　Mock在此表示“模拟的，假的”，例如：a mock trial（模拟裁判）；a mock battle（模拟的战斗）；mocks（模拟考试）。
『无忧教育网http://www.51education.net』
此外mock还有“嘲笑，嘲弄，骗，挫败”等含义，例如：He went to church only to mock.（他到教堂去只是为了嘲弄宗教。）They mocked at the idea.（他们嘲笑这个主意。）

　　据悉，演习在美国东部的新泽西州和东北部的康涅狄格州同时举行，来自美国、加拿大和英国的１万多人参加，按照处理真实的生化袭击事件进行操作应对。按照计划，从5日开始将有大批“病人”出现类似感冒的症状前往医院检查，而且人数持续增加。组织者说，演习的目的就是要让警察、消防和医院等应急部门面临的压力达到极限，从而发现应急系统存在的不足和漏洞。

　　（中国日报网站编）实践证明经常访问无忧英语教育网 www.51education.net ,能迅速提高你的英语学习能力!积沙成塔,不断提高! 本站所提供的所有信息仅供学校课堂教学及英语学习者学习研究之用，其著作权归原作者及媒体所有。