美国国家公共电台 NPR--Aid workers in Turkey are building new neighborhoods amid the wreckage of old ones

Aid workers in Turkey are building new neighborhoods amid the wreckage¹ of old ones

Transcript²

Nearly a month since the earthquakes that devastated³ parts of Turkey and Syria, thousands of displaced people are being moved into container housing - where they might be for a year or more.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

In the wreckage of cities in southern Turkey, new neighborhoods are going up.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Aid workers are setting up rows of portable homes, tiny houses that look a little like shipping⁴ containers. They're trying to supply everything else that residents may need to live for a year, if not more.

INSKEEP: And NPR's Fatma Tanis is in the Turkish city of Gaziantep. Welcome to the program.

FATMA TANIS, BYLINE⁵: Hi, Steve. Thank you.

INSKEEP: What did you see as you walked around?

TANIS: So I went to a camp in Nurdagi, a town here that's been badly hit. There were rows and rows of these portable homes. They've got little windows, a door. And inside, there's just a bunk⁶ bed and a couch that should comfortably fit three people. But you see many families with 6 to 7 people trying to squeeze in. And this camp is being built in the middle of the rubble⁷ of an old neighborhood that is still being cleared. So there's dust everywhere. And I met an elderly couple here who had lost all nine of their children and also all of their grandchildren in the earthquake. They said they haven't been able to sleep at night since it happened.

Now, the government's plan is to move everyone who needs housing into these camps for at least a year until new permanent housing is built. They've also put up day care, animal shelters. People can get haircuts. And mental health professionals are available as well. But these container camps are just getting set up. So most people are still living in tent camps or even looking for tents. And the conditions there are very difficult, with no easy access to toilets, running water and many concerns of illnesses spreading.

INSKEEP: I just want to be clear on something. You're telling me there are some people in these container cities. But you might walk a block over in the rubble and find people who have literally⁸ nowhere to sleep. They're just sleeping on the ground or whatever.

TANIS: Exactly, or in tents.

INSKEEP: OK. All of this happening, we should note, is in a democratic country that has become a lot less democratic in recent years. The president has a lot more power than the civilian⁹ leaders used to have. But now he faces a lot of criticism for this earthquake and the response to it. Is he in trouble?

TANIS: Well, many people here think so. There's lots of resentment¹⁰ at the government for its slow response in the first days after the earthquake and for allowing the buildings to go up that were clearly not up to code, and many of them crashed. Authorities have been arresting contractors¹¹ and managers who were involved. But the government is also on the defensive¹², with officials telling reporters that, you know, people are angry because the situation itself is bad and not because of government mismanagement. This week, Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, indicated that elections would be held on May 14 - less than three months left. For him, it's going to be his biggest challenge yet, and lots of questions about whether it'll be a fair one. The opposition¹³ has just announced they'll be naming a candidate next week.

INSKEEP: Well, now that some time has passed, is it possible to measure the scale of this disaster?

TANIS: You know, Steve, it's still a bit difficult to process what you see here. The damage remains¹⁴ vast. And everywhere you go - you know, I saw piles of crumbled¹⁵ concrete and all sorts of tilted-sideways, gravity-defying buildings that are still standing¹⁶ but extremely dangerous. And the loss to human life is large - 45,000 people dead in Turkey and roughly 6,000 people in Syria, bringing the total to more than 50,000 lives lost. And thousands are still missing. And more people are still dying from critical injuries.

INSKEEP: One-point-five million people homeless, some of them, I guess, getting into those container homes. Fatma, thanks so much.

TANIS: Thank you.

INSKEEP: That's NPR's Fatma Tanis in southern Turkey.

1 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

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 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

4 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。

5 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。

6 bunk   

n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话

参考例句：

• He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
• Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。

7 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

9 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

10 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

11 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

13 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

14 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

15 crumbled   

（把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏

参考例句：

• He crumbled the bread in his fingers. 他用手指把面包捻碎。
• Our hopes crumbled when the business went bankrupt. 商行破产了，我们的希望也破灭了。

16 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。