密歇根新闻广播 在雪犁里旅行

 

This story is a part of Mornings In Michigan, our series about the sounds of morning rituals and routines in our state.

The rumbles¹ and scrapes of passing snowplows are familiar winter sounds for Michiganders, but what's it like to be inside one? To find out, Michigan Radio's Lauren Talley tagged along with the Washtenaw County Road Commission during one of this season's biggest snowstorms.

It was already snowing heavily when I arrived at the commission headquarters in Scio Township just west of Ann Arbor⁴. Day-shift plow³ drivers typically roll out at 4 a.m. and trucks were already passing between the garage and storage buildings.

Across the county, about 50 plows² went out during the storm. They covered nearly 1,700 miles of county roads plus 94, US-23, and other state highways.

Jim Harmon is the commission's director of operations. He spends a lot of time thinking about sand and salt. That's why his nickname is "The Salt Czar."

"I brought some sandwich baggies of material just for show and tell," he said, spreading bags of rock salt, sand, and gravel⁵ out on the table in a conference room.

In a typical year, the county uses about 18,000 tons of salt. This year they've already used 25,000. They keep a lot of it out behind the offices.

"Here at the main yard we have a salt dome," Harom said. "[It] can hold approximately when full 12,000 tons of material."

The salt barn is about 50 feet high. It's made of concrete and resembles a Cold War-era bunker. There's one giant pile of salt, but unlike table salt, it's bright blue. It kind of glows a bit.

"It's coated with an anti-caking agent," said Harmon. "It's an inert⁶ material, but it helps keep the rock salt flowing, so it doesn't clump⁷ up and then bind⁸ up in the back of our dump trucks."

But enough about the salt. I wanted to get out on the road.

During a snow storm, Tim Hackbarth starts a 16-hour shift at 4 a.m. His route includes U.S. Route 23 along the Flex⁹ Route.

I hitched¹⁰ a ride with plow driver Tim Hackbarth in one of the commission's massive orange trucks. Hackbarth likes the early mornings. It's easier to plow when there isn't much traffic. The plows go about 45 miles an hour. That's frustrating¹¹ for some commuters, but he says passing him is a bad idea.

"The safest road is what's behind me," he said. "If you drive behind us, we pretty much have it cleared off. Most of the time we're putting material down, which, if nothing else, will give you traction¹² as a grit¹³."

Hackbarth followed another driver and the blowing snow from that plow made it nearly impossible for us to see. One commission employee told me plowing¹⁴ is like a life-size video game, but it seemed more like being inside an enormous square snow globe, just scarier. The drivers keep in touch by radio. Hackbarth says when he can't see, he goes by feel and memory.

The day shift lasts 16 hours. Hackbarth passes the time with music. "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" by electronic dance music superstar Skrillex.

"My biggest thing is techno, dub¹⁵ step and stuff like that," Hackbarth said. "The beat keeps me awake and just keeps me focused for the most part."

Once the temperature warmed up a bit, Hackbarth started putting down salt. It's meant to melt ice and snow, but drivers aren't the only ones who benefit.

"There's turkeys all the time on the shoulders of the roads. They're trying to eat the salt that we're laying down. That's their way of getting their minerals for the winter," he said with a chuckle¹⁶.

When I got back to road commission headquarters, I sat down with foreman Paul Schneider. The storm that day turned out to be a big one. It dumped just over 8 inches of snow in Washtenaw County.

"It can be very stressful at times," Schneider said. "You have to kind of look out for yourself, look out for your fellow crew members and in a way, kind of drive for the public. Sometimes they don't seem to drive well for themselves."

A plow driver usually clears around 400 miles of road, but foreman Dave Kint says it doesn't always look like it.

"Hopefully at the end of your shift it looks better than what it did before you started, but sometimes that's not always the case," he said. "Sometimes it looks worse. Pretty discouraging at times."

Spring is coming, though, and the road commission will be back out there ... patching up all the potholes¹⁷ after a long winter.

Doug Tribou contributed to this story. It was edited by Sarah Hulett.

1 rumbles   

隆隆声，辘辘声( rumble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• If I hear any rumbles I'll let you know. 我要是听到什么风声就告诉你。
• Three blocks away train rumbles by. 三个街区以外，火车隆隆驶过。

2 plows   

n.犁( plow的名词复数 )；犁型铲雪机v.耕( plow的第三人称单数 )；犁耕；费力穿过

参考例句：

• Alex and Tony were turning awkward hands to plows and hoe handles. 亚历克斯和托尼在犁耙等农活方面都几乎变成新手了。
• Plows are still pulled by oxen in some countries. 在一些国家犁头仍由牛拖拉。

3 plow   

n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough

参考例句：

• At this time of the year farmers plow their fields.每年这个时候农民们都在耕地。
• We will plow the field soon after the last frost.最后一场霜过后，我们将马上耕田。

4 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

5 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

6 inert   

adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的

参考例句：

• Inert gas studies are providing valuable information about other planets,too.对惰性气体的研究，也提供了有关其它行星的有价值的资料。
• Elemental nitrogen is a very unreactive and inert material.元素氮是一个十分不活跃的惰性物质。

7 clump   

n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走

参考例句：

• A stream meandered gently through a clump of trees.一条小溪从树丛中蜿蜒穿过。
• It was as if he had hacked with his thick boots at a clump of bluebells.仿佛他用自己的厚靴子无情地践踏了一丛野风信子。

8 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

9 flex   

n.皮线，花线；vt.弯曲或伸展

参考例句：

• We wound off a couple of yards of wire for a new lamp flex.我们解开几码电线作为新的电灯花线。
• He gave his biceps a flex to impress the ladies.他收缩他的肱二头肌以吸引那些女士们的目光。

10 hitched   

（免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上

参考例句：

• They hitched a ride in a truck. 他们搭乘了一辆路过的货车。
• We hitched a ride in a truck yesterday. 我们昨天顺便搭乘了一辆卡车。

11 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。

13 grit   

n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关

参考例句：

• The soldiers showed that they had plenty of grit. 士兵们表现得很有勇气。
• I've got some grit in my shoe.我的鞋子里弄进了一些砂子。

14 plowing   

v.耕( plow的现在分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过

参考例句：

• "There are things more important now than plowing, Sugar. "如今有比耕种更重要的事情要做呀，宝贝儿。 来自飘（部分）
• Since his wife's death, he has been plowing a lonely furrow. 从他妻子死后，他一直过着孤独的生活。 来自辞典例句

15 dub   

vt.（以某种称号）授予，给...起绰号，复制

参考例句：

• I intend to use simultaneous recording to dub this film.我打算采用同期录音的方法为这部影片配音。
• It was dubbed into Spanish for Mexican audiences.它被译制成西班牙语以方便墨西哥观众观看。

16 chuckle   

vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑

参考例句：

• He shook his head with a soft chuckle.他轻轻地笑着摇了摇头。
• I couldn't suppress a soft chuckle at the thought of it.想到这个，我忍不住轻轻地笑起来。

17 potholes   

n.壶穴( pothole的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Potholes are also home to tiny desert animals. 洞穴也是弱小动物的家。 来自互联网
• If you're going to enjoy the good times, you've certainly got to deal with some potholes. 如果要享受甜美的胜利果实，当然要应付这些战绩不佳的指责压力。 来自互联网