“倒金字塔结构”的新闻文体特点
为了说明“倒金字塔结构”的新闻文体特点，现举美联社2001年1月22日的
⑦
Emergency crews from the Red Cross and the civil defen forces were using heavy machinery to remove the thick mud spread over the site ．
⑧Complicating the recovery effort ，huge pools of water had
eped into the site from a river running up to the hillside —
ud by the miners to rin gold particles from dirt ．
⑨Survivors said the earth crashed down without warning on a group of about 200 people trying to scrape gold from the well-worn hill-side ．The workers were toiling with shovels and picks inside a deep hole they had carved into the hill.
10.The cavern had no structural supports ．Many workers managed to
scramble out of the way or crawl out from beneath the mud. Others were not so lucky ．
11.“We heard a very loud sound and the hill suddenly fell down upon us ，”said20-year-old Manuel Loaiza ．“I was trapped up to my knees but some of the others dragged me out ．”
12.Loaiza said he made less than ＄9 a day at the crude mine ．His 39-year-old uncle is still missing under the mud ．
13.According to Julian Arboleda ，an aide to Caldas State governor Luis Alfonso Arias, officials ordered the mine clod veral months ago ．But residents thrown out of work by Colombia's economic downturn took the risk of working there anyway, Arboleda said ．
14.Landslides triggered by rains are Colombia’s most common natural disaster ，killing dozens of people
annually.Thursday’saccident was the worst such tragedy in recent years ．
15.According to the government’s disaster reli ef agency ，nearly 200 people died in a poor neighborhood in the city of Medellin when a
1987 landslide buried their hous．Landslides buried 150 dam workers in 1983 and a rescue team nt on their behalf．
首先要注意消息报道导语（第一段）里的“电头”（dateline）“FILADELFIA，Colombia（AP）”即“美联社发自哥伦比亚费拉达菲亚的消息”。美联社新闻报道的时间通常置于消息的最前面（NOVEMBER 22，19：43EST），即美国的标准时11月22日19点43分。
第一段十分简单明了地告诉读者：星期四，哥伦比亚西部的一天金矿由于
大雨而发生坍塌，至少28人死亡，40人失踪。
第二段增加了新的新闻事实：金矿坍塌的遇难者是贫民，虽然政府告说由于侵蚀使采矿危险，但他们置若罔闻；金矿的坍塌可能是由于非法的开采以及近日的大雨造成的。这一段支持并扩展了导语。
第三段是背景材料。利用事故的生还者的所见所闻讲述当时的情景：
共发生了两次塌方，第二次的塌方将赶去救援的矿工也吞没。
第四、五、六、七以及第八段均是与主要新闻事实有关的次重要材料。
第四、五、七、八段讲述了来自红十字、民防组织以及各方救护人员的救援进展情况。第六段也是对导语的进一步扩展：官方宣布事故中有28人死亡，至少40人失踪；有32名矿工受伤被送往医院。
第九、十、十一和第十二段也是背景材料，利用目击者的所见所闻进一步描述了金矿坍塌时的情景。
第十三、十四和第十五段均是与新闻事实有关的次重要的材料：这个金矿几个月以前就关闭了，但由于经济衰退人们又重操旧业；山体滑坡是哥伦比亚最常见的自然灾害。
通过分析我们可以看出这篇新闻报道是典型的“倒金字塔”结构，导语是一段简单清楚的叙述。随后的数段对导语进行了解释、补
充和扩展，有利地支撑了导语。在导语中基本将“五个W，一个H”交代清楚。它所回答的问题分列如下：
Who—gold miners
What—were killed
When—Thursday（Nov．22）
Where—in western Colombia
Why—the walls of mine were softened by rain
How—（were killed）by crash
应该说明，记者即使采用“倒金字塔结构”，也不一定在导语中全部都包括五个W和一个H，或许只有三个或四个W，另外一个或两个W
出现在下面的段落里，这也是常见的。
