美国国家公共电台 NPR--Residents in an Alaska village try to outrun the effects of climate change

Residents in an Alaska village try to outrun the effects of climate change

Transcript¹

A storm that hit western Alaska last month severely² damaged the tiny Native village of Newtok. Prior to the storm, residents had already begun relocating the village to higher ground.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The storm that struck western Alaska last month severely damaged the tiny Native village of Newtok. Emily Schwing reports on the race for residents to outrun the effects of climate change.

EMILY SCHWING, BYLINE³: It's fall in western Alaska, and along the edge of a small pond where the grass is turning golden, local kids here in Newtok wade⁴ in the cold water.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHILDREN EXCLAIMING)

SCHWING: This village is sinking. Decades of melting permafrost and severe erosion have inundated⁵ the ground with water. Last month's typhoon swallowed 40 feet of land between the village itself and the Ningliq River.

NICK TOM: So the flood was all over...

SCHWING: Oh, my God.

TOM: ...This whole area.

SCHWING: Nick Tom, the manager at Newtok's local store, leads me across a stretch of waterlogged tundra⁶ and down a crooked⁷ boardwalk to the community's two giant fuel tanks.

TOM: Everything is so outdated⁸, and there's so much fuel. It's just unsafe.

SCHWING: The storm partially⁹ submerged the tanks. The smell of fuel fills the air. There's debris¹⁰ scattered¹¹ everywhere. Twenty years ago, Newtok residents decided¹² to move to higher ground. They picked Nelson Island, nine miles south on the other side of the river. But the move is slow going. It's complicated by local politics, funding gaps and geography. Nick Tom says the need is urgent.

TOM: It's essential because it's about safety. It's about our future. The island is the only safe place for our next generation to survive.

JANETTE STUART: My son is 2 years old, and my daughter's 1.

SCHWING: Not too far from the damaged fuel tanks, Janette Stuart hangs bright red and purple bedsheets on a clothesline. Her thin plywood house is about the size of a shipping¹³ container. Water from the storm flooded inside.

STUART: I worry about my babies getting cold, staying warm, especially living in this house. It's so moldy¹⁴. And I want them to live in a bigger house where they could run around.

SCHWING: She dreams of a better, safer house in the new village site, called Mertarvik. To get there, Newtok residents like Louie Andy have to take a half-hour boat ride across the river.

LOUIE ANDY: I hope we survive.

SCHWING: Oh, my gosh, Louie. Don't say that.

ANDY: (Laughter).

SCHWING: He jokes, but survival is the focus in Newtok. Extreme weather brought on by climate change makes low-lying areas like this increasingly uninhabitable. Only about a third of Newtok's residents have relocated to Mertarvik, on a tundra-covered, treeless hillside.

BERNICE JOHN: I love my house.

SCHWING: Bernice John's four-bedroom home is covered in red metal siding.

JOHN: It's way better than the old one I had back home.

SCHWING: Her grandson, Thom, runs wild around a spacious¹⁵ living room, as she talks about last month's storm.

JOHN: You know, it was sure very windy. It was the strongest winds we had. It shook my house here and there a little bit. Crashed my plants (laughter).

SCHWING: But the house survived. The difference is stark¹⁶. Unlike Newtok, Mertarvik stayed dry - no structural¹⁷ damage, no debris. There's not enough new housing in Mertarvik yet. So Nick Tom says roughly 200 people are stuck in Newtok.

TOM: More and more people move across here within the next five-year period, probably.

SCHWING: Do you think you have five years?

TOM: Not really.

SCHWING: Which is why Tom says it's so urgent to get all of Newtok's residents to higher ground.

For NPR News, I'm Emily Schwing in Newtok, Alaska.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

5 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 tundra   

n.苔原，冻土地带

参考例句：

• The arctic tundra is at the top of the world around the North Pole.北极冻原是指北极点周边的地区，是世界最高的地方。
• There is a large amount of methane gas under the Siberian tundra.西伯利亚的冻土地带之下有大量的甲烷气体。

7 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

8 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。

9 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

10 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

11 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

14 moldy   

adj.发霉的

参考例句：

• She chucked the moldy potatoes in the dustbin.她把发霉的土豆扔进垃圾箱。
• Oranges can be kept for a long time without going moldy.橙子可以存放很长时间而不腐烂。

15 spacious   

adj.广阔的，宽敞的

参考例句：

• Our yard is spacious enough for a swimming pool.我们的院子很宽敞，足够建一座游泳池。
• The room is bright and spacious.这房间很豁亮。

16 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

17 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。