美国国家公共电台 NPR--Biden tours devastation from Hurricane Ian and promises Florida federal help

Biden tours devastation¹ from Hurricane Ian and promises Florida federal help

Transcript²

A week after Hurricane Ian hit North Port, Fla., the floodwaters have just begun to recede³. Residents are starting to pick up the pieces to see what's left.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

President Biden is promising⁴ swift federal help for people in the path of Hurricane Ian.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Today we have one job and only one job, and that's to make sure the people of Florida get everything that they need to fully⁵, thoroughly⁶ recover.

MARTINEZ: After a tour of ravaged⁷ neighborhoods, Biden acknowledged that a comeback will probably take not months but years. That reality is coming into focus for residents of the southwest Florida town of North Port. Here's NPR's Debbie Elliott.

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE⁸: Days after they were rescued by canoe, Alva Sulaty and George Perez tried to get back to their home. The water was still too high to get into their North Port neighborhood.

Really?

ALVA SULATY: We boated back in.

GEORGE PEREZ: I boated it.

SULATY: We boated back in to see the house...

PEREZ: I found a boat, actually.

SULATY: ...To check on the house.

PEREZ: I'm walking in. And nobody could give me a ride. And she - I told her, let me go check on the house and I'll come back. And I got halfway⁹. And I seen a boat in somebody's front yard. I knocked on the door and nobody answered. So I grabbed it and pulled it. I said, come on, honey. Jump in. Let's go (laughter).

ELLIOTT: An overwhelming mess is what they found.

PEREZ: You see that waterline? That's how high the water was.

ELLIOTT: It's about two feet high. And their house isn't even in a flood zone. Ruined furniture is piled at the curb¹⁰ as they sort through drenched¹¹ belongings¹², the sound of distant chainsaws buzzing in the neighborhood.

SULATY: So you clean one mess up. And then, as you start looking, you find another one. And you find another one. And you find another one.

ELLIOTT: They're contending with damage from both mucky floodwaters and rain that blew in because of wind damage. Several windows are blown out. And a bedroom ceiling collapsed¹³. Sulaty's daughter, Tina Krasinski, is working to remove soaked baseboards and drywall to the waterline.

TINA KRASINSKI: Pulling out the wet insulation¹⁴. And then we're getting out a dehumidifier and a mold detector¹⁵ in here because there's a lot of mold. And we're going to try to - until insurance comes through, I guess, just try to make it as livable as possible.

ELLIOTT: Krasinski lives in Sarasota and has been bringing supplies donated by friends to her mom's neighborhood in North Port ever since the storm. In the immediate¹⁶ aftermath, she used a canoe to help rescue stranded¹⁷ residents, including her family. She says people are almost in a daze¹⁸ as they confront the task ahead.

(SOUNDBITE OF HAMMER BANGING)

ELLIOTT: All over North Port, people are nailing blue tarps to damaged roofs and keeping soaked belongings and downed trees at the curb. Michelle King has a pile of twisted, white metal roofing in the yard of her duplex. It's what's left of the carport blown away by Hurricane Ian. She's been home two days, cleaning up debris¹⁹ that blew into her home through a broken window.

MICHELLE KING: Well, inside the house, it's, like, normal. When I step outside, it's like a war zone. I just want to cry.

ELLIOTT: King has been through a lot. Before the storm, she evacuated²⁰ with her 6-year-old son, Hunter, and her husband to her son's school that was the region's medical needs shelter. Ian ripped the roof off the school cafeteria. And the shelter flooded.

KING: Power started going off with a generator²¹. My husband almost died twice there because he's on oxygen. So there was no toilets, no food, no water, no medicine, no roof, no patience.

ELLIOTT: She says nerves were so frazzled that an elderly woman threatened to punch her when Hunter got rowdy. Once Hurricane Ian passed, King says the family was evacuated by bus in rising floodwaters to a shelter in Sarasota, where they stayed for five days. She doesn't know when Hunter, a kindergartner, will be able to return to his school because it was so damaged. The toilets had backed up into the hallways. Hunter spent Wednesday morning with his great-aunt, June Farris (ph), who lives next door. They were arranging plastic tombstones and toy skeletons in front of her house.

JUNE FARRIS: Well, we're trying to put some Halloween decorations up for my nephew, my 6-year-old nephew, get a little normal back in the neighborhood after the bad storm.

ELLIOTT: Hunter likes the ones that make creepy sounds.

HUNTER: The skeleton dog and the skeleton cat.

(SOUNDBITE OF AUTOMATED²² VOICE HOWLING)

ELLIOTT: The family hopes the spooky scene in the front yard can help Hunter forget the scare of Hurricane Ian. His mom, Michelle King, says she won't be forgetting anytime soon.

KING: It's really hard. It's like I'm in, like, a movie. But I can't snap out of it. I can't press stop or pause and be like, OK, I'm back to normal.

ELLIOTT: But, she says, she knows it's going to be a long while before things are back to normal.

Debbie Elliott, NPR News, North Port, Fla.

1 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 recede   

vi.退(去)，渐渐远去；向后倾斜，缩进

参考例句：

• The colleges would recede in importance.大学的重要性会降低。
• He saw that the dirty water had begun to recede.他发现那污浊的水开始往下退了。

4 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

7 ravaged   

毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫

参考例句：

• a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
• The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。

8 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。

9 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

10 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

11 drenched   

adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体）

参考例句：

• We were caught in the storm and got drenched to the skin. 我们遇上了暴雨，淋得浑身透湿。
• The rain drenched us. 雨把我们淋得湿透。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

13 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

14 insulation   

n.隔离；绝缘；隔热

参考例句：

• Please examine the insulation of the electric wires in my house.请检查一下我屋子里电线的绝缘情况。
• It is always difficult to assure good insulation between the electric leads.要保证两个电触头之间有良好的绝缘总是很困难的。

15 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。

16 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

17 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

18 daze   

v.(使)茫然，(使)发昏

参考例句：

• The blow on the head dazed him for a moment.他头上受了一击后就昏眩了片刻。
• I like dazing to sit in the cafe by myself on Sunday.星期日爱独坐人少的咖啡室发呆。

19 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。

20 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

21 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

22 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。