美国国家公共电台 NPR--Floodwaters in the San Joaquin Valley threaten homes and residents' incomes

Floodwaters in the San Joaquin Valley threaten homes and residents' incomes

Transcript¹

Residents in California's San Joaquin Valley are assessing damage and what's next for them following a series of strong storms that flooded farms and homes, threatening crops and jobs.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The latest storm to hit California whipped up 80-mile-an-hour gusts². It knocked out power. It downed trees that derailed an Amtrak train and killed a motorist. And it dropped more rain on places already drenched³ by storm after storm. And one of those places is the San Joaquin Valley, where Jasmine Garsd checked in on the damage.

JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE⁴: Johnny Dykstra is a farmer in Tulare, Calif. He's mainly a dairy farmer, but also grows almond, pistachio, wheat and corn. He gets emotional as he talks about his family.

JOHNNY DYKSTRA: I'm a fourth-generation dairy farmer, and my great-grandpa started in 1938. So we've been going at it for 85 years now, and hopefully we can make it through this and keep going more than that.

GARSD: When Dykstra talks about water, it's as if it was a creature, one he spent years hoping would return. But now it's back and swallowing the land whole.

DYKSTRA: I call it, like, our Alamo. It's - kind of our last stand is doing everything we can to make sure that the cows stay dry and stay safe. So, I mean, we'll keep - continue fighting. We're just at the mercy of what the water wants to do.

GARSD: The West has been experiencing extreme drought for years. In California's San Joaquin Valley, water is an obsession⁵. Drive through and you'll see billboards⁶ that read, pray for rain. This year was different. A series of storms dumped buckets of rain which flooded the area. On top of that, the Sierra Nevada, the mountain range that flanks the valley, received record snow, which is starting to melt.

(SOUNDBITE OF WATER RUSHING)

GARSD: This is the sound of the Tule River raging down from the Sierra. Dykstra's farm is now an island. It can't be reached. In just one week, they got over six inches of water, covering a thousand acres of their land. He says he has little hope that his crops will survive. And he's running out of dry land for his cows. Dykstra, who says he's already reeling from loans he took out during the pandemic, is unsure about the future. A lot of folks here are. So far in this county, 11,000 people are under evacuation orders.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)

UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Singing in Spanish).

FIDELINO SIGNERO VALDES: (Speaking Spanish).

GARSD: Sitting in his backyard, Fidelino Signero Valdes (ph) says his neighbors were evacuated⁷ a few days ago. He was spared, but he's not sure how he'll fare with the next storm. Valdes says in the 30 or so years since he came from Mexico, he's picked every kind of crop - oranges, lemons, olives, grapes. His daughter also works in the fields. This is the story of many workers here - grandparents, parents and children picking side by side. It's overwhelmingly Mexican immigrants who are paid by how much they pick. Valdes says a day without work is difficult. Weeks on end - disastrous⁸.

VALDES: (Speaking Spanish).

GARSD: "People here," he says, "are from the land and live off the land. If there's no work, the money runs out. But the bills keep getting higher." Unfortunately, so do the water levels.

FRANCES LLOYD: We prayed for rain, and we got it.

GARSD: That's Frances Lloyd (ph). She lives in the nearby town of Lindsay, known for its olive groves⁹. Many of those groves have now become small lakes. The water also seeped¹⁰ into Lloyd's garage and basement.

(SOUNDBITE OF SWEEPING¹¹)

GARSD: This morning, she's sweeping it out before the next storm hits and throwing out damaged furniture. Just a few miles away, Lewis Creek¹² is raging. A few days ago, with a previous storm, it breached¹³.

HIPOLITO ANGEL CERROS: I'm young, and I'm frustrated¹⁴. You know, I'm young, and I'm tired of seeing this.

GARSD: At age 24, the mayor of Lindsay, Hipolito Angel Cerros, is the youngest mayor in California, but he's already seen his town suffer year after year of drought and now flooding.

CERROS: If this doesn't mean that we need to take action, I don't know what else we need to go through.

GARSD: He's the only official we speak to around here who says the words climate change.

CERROS: You know, I think, regardless of political affiliation¹⁵, climate change impacts us all.

GARSD: But he says it affects workers especially hard. He knows. His mother works in the fields.

CERROS: And she couldn't even go to work because of the - the streets were flooded. You know, a lot of these people, they're, unfortunately, living paycheck to paycheck, you know, barely given a livable wage, you know? And so they can't just sit at home and wait until the weather passes. They have to bring some bread to the table.

GARSD: Cerros says it's time to stop acting¹⁶ like these catastrophic weather events are a rarity and prepare for them being the norm.

Jasmine Garsd, NPR News, in the San Joaquin Valley, Calif.

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 gusts   

一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作

参考例句：

• Her profuse skirt bosomed out with the gusts. 她的宽大的裙子被风吹得鼓鼓的。
• Turbulence is defined as a series of irregular gusts. 紊流定义为一组无规则的突风。

3 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》

4 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。

5 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

6 billboards   

n.广告牌( billboard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Large billboards have disfigured the scenery. 大型告示板已破坏了景色。 来自辞典例句
• Then, put the logo in magazines and on billboards without telling anyone what it means. 接着我们把这个商标刊在杂志和广告看板上，却不跟任何人透漏它的涵意。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年4月号

7 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。

8 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

9 groves   

树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The early sun shone serenely on embrowned groves and still green fields. 朝阳宁静地照耀着已经发黄的树丛和还是一片绿色的田地。
• The trees grew more and more in groves and dotted with old yews. 那里的树木越来越多地长成了一簇簇的小丛林，还点缀着几棵老紫杉树。

10 seeped   

v.（液体）渗( seep的过去式和过去分词 )；渗透；渗出；漏出

参考例句：

• The rain seeped through the roof. 雨水透过房顶渗透。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Icy air seeped in through the paper and the room became cold. 寒气透过了糊窗纸。屋里骤然冷起来。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

11 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

12 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。

13 breached   

攻破( breach的现在分词 )； 破坏，违反

参考例句：

• These commitments have already been breached. 这些承诺已遭背弃。
• Our tanks have breached the enemy defences. 我方坦克车突破了敌人的防线。

14 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 affiliation   

n.联系，联合

参考例句：

• There is no affiliation between our organization and theirs,even though our names are similar.尽管两个组织的名称相似，但我们之间并没有关系。
• The kidnappers had no affiliation with any militant group.这些绑架者与任何军事组织都没有紧密联系。

16 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。