美国国家公共电台 NPR--After Kentucky's deadly floods, neighbors are stepping in to help one another

After Kentucky's deadly floods, neighbors are stepping in to help one another

Transcript¹

In eastern Kentucky, government assistance and recovery efforts following deadly flash floods have been uneven². People have started to band together to help each other.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

President Biden went to eastern Kentucky yesterday to see the damage from flash floods that raced through the mountains there and killed more than three dozen people. While visiting with families, Biden pledged federal help.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: It's going to take a while to get through this. But I promise you, we're not leaving. The federal government and all its resources, we're not leaving. As long as it takes, we're going to be here.

FADEL: Many people still don't have power or running water. Some say government assistance has been scarce so far. But Justin Hicks from the Ohio Valley Resource says neighbors are stepping in to help one another.

JUSTIN HICKS, BYLINE³: Over the past week, Havanna Thacker has transformed a historic high school in Carr Creek⁴, Ky., into a supply depot⁵. While her mother whips up trays of food in a tiny cafeteria, she stocks the gym with supplies that people bring in by the carload.

HAVANNA THACKER: Shoes go under. Men's clothes go on top. These are women's clothes.

HICKS: In the afternoons, she delivers it all up remote roads damaged by tiny streams that turned into raging rivers overnight.

THACKER: OK. Next, they walk over from the lot.

HICKS: People who stop into the old high school are surprised that Thacker has been managing this singlehandedly for days. There aren't state officials or FEMA representatives here.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Have you had many volunteers to help you?

THACKER: No, ma'am.

HICKS: This is the nature of getting help to east Kentuckians. While officials focused on finding the dead, it was up to the living to help the living. Many say they've never seen a natural disaster like this. But what they lack in experience, they make up for in the willingness to help each other.

(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE STARTING)

HICKS: Thacker hops⁶ into a large pickup⁷ and starts out on steep, rocky, one-way road. It's quickly apparent why any disaster relief might miss people in these places, where directions are told with family histories, not GPS coordinates⁸.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: As far as that one driveway...

THACKER: Where Uncle Lovell (ph) and Debbie (ph) used to be?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: No, the next one up. And then you're going to have to walk...

THACKER: So I was right. There are people living up there.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Yeah.

HICKS: Thacker's learned that sometimes you have to offer help two or three times before folks will accept it. It's not pride, but the belief that somehow, somewhere, someone else is probably worse off than you. Take Larry Combs, for instance. A day or two before, Combs told Thacker he was fine. But today, he invited her into his house. Until this point, he hadn't told her his living room wall had caved in from a mudslide last week. Sunlight, plants and soil pour in. And when Thacker learns Combs slept there the night before, she becomes stern.

THACKER: You're breathing in everything that's soaking up wet, everything that's coming in from outside inside.

LARRY COMBS: I know it's bad.

THACKER: There's no reason to be ashamed for any circumstance that you're in. And if we're not talking to each other and we're keeping everything to ourself, we're not going to get the help we need, OK? I love you.

COMBS: (Laughter).

THACKER: We're going to see how fine your other people up are in here, too.

HICKS: When we finally get back to the old high school, Thacker walks into the gym. And like a kid on Christmas morning, her tired eyes light up.

THACKER: Look at the food table. There's canned goods above and below. Hot dog.

HICKS: Just before shutting off the lights and heading home, Thacker takes a moment to reflect.

THACKER: It's been a long day. Strangers are becoming family and learning to be a strong foundation for each other when the roads and everything else is being washed out from underneath⁹ us.

HICKS: She'll be doing this for many more days to come.

For NPR News, I'm Justin Hicks in Hazard, Ky.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE ANTLERS SONG, "HOTEL")

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 uneven   

adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的

参考例句：

• The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
• The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。

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 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

5 depot   

n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站

参考例句：

• The depot is only a few blocks from here.公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
• They leased the building as a depot.他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。

6 hops   

跳上[下]( hop的第三人称单数 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• The sparrow crossed the lawn in a series of hops. 那麻雀一蹦一跳地穿过草坪。
• It is brewed from malt and hops. 它用麦精和蛇麻草酿成。

7 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

8 coordinates   

n.相配之衣物；坐标( coordinate的名词复数 )；（颜色协调的）配套服装；[复数]女套服；同等重要的人（或物）v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的第三人称单数 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• The town coordinates on this map are 695037. 该镇在这幅地图上的坐标是695037。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。