美国国家公共电台 NPR Cleanup Crews Roll Through Baton Rouge After Louisiana Flooding

Cleanup Crews Roll Through Baton¹ Rouge² After Louisiana Flooding

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Enormous trucks from all over the country are rolling down highways toward Baton Rouge. When they get to town, their task is to clear neighborhoods where streets are lined with trash from the flooding that hit the area nearly two weeks ago. Our co-host Ari Shapiro went out with one of the cleanup crews this morning.

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE⁴: This is a waste disposal site on the outskirts⁵ of Baton Rouge, and there is this line of trucks twice as big as any ordinary dump truck with an equally big trailer behind them that is going to go down these residential⁶ streets and pick up the sofas, the rugs, the mattresses⁷ that are just lined for miles and miles and miles, the water-soaked remnants of people's lives that were washed away by the flood.

KURT THORMAHLEN: This is much worse than I think's being reported, honestly. It's pretty bad. And I think that as the water goes down in some other parishes, we'll see the destruction is higher than they anticipated for sure.

SHAPIRO: Kurt Thormahlen is with DRC Emergency Services, the company that's organizing this effort. Baton Rouge has contracted with the company to handle disaster response. So they started out rescuing people in boats. Now the boats are docked, and trucks are rolling in to handle the cleanup.

THORMAHLEN: They brought some from Houston, some from Alabama, some from Missouri, Arkansas.

SHAPIRO: Thormahlen says this is different from other disasters because nobody saw the storm coming. He was actually in Hawaii when he heard what was happening and hopped⁸ a flight back.

THORMAHLEN: We started here on Saturday of this week. I anticipate probably 90 - 60 to 90 days here in East Baton Rouge.

SHAPIRO: Of just debris⁹ removal.

THORMAHLEN: Just debris removal.

SHAPIRO: We walk over to the command center - an air-conditioned trailer where the team figures out the battle plan.

KAREN KHONSARI: This is a map of East Baton Rouge Parish, and it is divided up by ZIP code.

SHAPIRO: Karen Khonsari, the city's director of environmental services, is pointing at a big, laminated map laid out on a table.

KHONSARI: Our preliminary estimate was 321,000 cubic yards.

SHAPIRO: Wait. So you start out by saying actually how much stuff is there to remove before you even dive in.

KHONSARI: Yes...

SHAPIRO: Wow.

KHONSARI: ...Because it's such a huge number.

SHAPIRO: To give you a sense of how much trash that is, if you dumped 320,000 cubic yards of stuff onto a football field, Khonsari says it would create a pile 130 feet high.

Should we go out and see what you guys are all doing?

KHONSARI: Yes.

SHAPIRO: OK.

We pull out of the staging area and drive to the neighborhood of Park Forest. Each creek¹⁰ that we pass is gouged¹¹ out like a canyon¹². Tree roots hang off into the air. The creeks¹³ look tame now, but you can tell that just last week, they were monsters.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRASH REMOVAL MACHINERY)

SHAPIRO: That is a claw like a giant version of an arcade¹⁴ game hanging off a truck. Instead of picking up little door prizes, the arm grabs refrigerators, mattresses, a recliner chair where someone used to sit and watch TV and the television set along with it. Some of the trash is still dripping wet.

GLEN NELSON: We're going to work as hard as we can daylight to dark to get it done.

SHAPIRO: Glenn Nelson owns 10 of these trucks, and he lives not far from Baton Rouge.

NELSON: We have a lot of people that come out. They're upset. There's a lot of their personal belongings¹⁵. So we try to be as courteous¹⁶ as we can with everybody and sympathetic to their needs.

SHAPIRO: One pile of debris has a slinky and a girl's bracelets¹⁷. Another has an Xbox and a tricycle. And the thick air has a rotting, organic smell like dank, standing¹⁸ water. Even as the piles shrink, people keep adding more to them. Will Montgomery and his wife are helping¹⁹ their adult daughter gut²⁰ her ruined home.

At this moment, there is this huge truck in front of your house just picking up all of the stuff that you've put by the curb²¹. How does it feel to see this happening?

WILL MONTGOMERY: Oh, Man, that's heartbreaking, you know? But life has got to go on, you know? So we just do one day at a time.

SHAPIRO: He leads us inside the house to see what they've done so far.

MONTGOMERY: This is the kitchen area.

SHAPIRO: And you've ripped out everything all the way up to the cabinets.

MONTGOMERY: All the way up to the cabinets, and now I'm getting ready to get the microwave and all of this out.

SHAPIRO: The carpeting and hardwood floors are gone. The drywall is out. So is the insulation²². They're treating the wooden studs with an anti-mold spray. Their faces are covered in sweat.

MONTGOMERY: I'm real tired, Man (laughter).

SHAPIRO: I bet you never thought you'd be working this hard in your retirement²³.

MONTGOMERY: I've never worked this hard in my entire life.

SHAPIRO: He says they're going to keep at this as long as it takes until they can get back to normal. But it's going to be a different kind of normal than before.

SIEGEL: That's our co-host Ari Shapiro reporting from Baton Rouge, La.

1 baton   

n.乐队用指挥杖

参考例句：

• With the baton the conductor was beating time.乐队指挥用指挥棒打拍子。
• The conductor waved his baton,and the band started up.指挥挥动指挥棒，乐队开始演奏起来。

2 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

3 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

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 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

6 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

7 mattresses   

褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
• The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。

8 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

9 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。

10 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。

11 gouged   

v.凿( gouge的过去式和过去分词 )；乱要价；（在…中）抠出…；挖出…

参考例句：

• The lion's claws had gouged a wound in the horse's side. 狮爪在马身一侧抓了一道深口。
• The lovers gouged out their names on the tree. 情人们把他们的名字刻在树上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

13 creeks   

n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪

参考例句：

• The prospect lies between two creeks. 矿区位于两条溪流之间。 来自辞典例句
• There was the excitement of fishing in country creeks with my grandpa on cloudy days. 有在阴雨天和姥爷一起到乡村河湾钓鱼的喜悦。 来自辞典例句

14 arcade   

n.拱廊；(一侧或两侧有商店的)通道

参考例句：

• At this time of the morning,the arcade was almost empty.在早晨的这个时候，拱廊街上几乎空无一人。
• In our shopping arcade,you can find different kinds of souvenir.在我们的拱廊市场，你可以发现许多的纪念品。

15 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。

16 courteous   

adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的

参考例句：

• Although she often disagreed with me,she was always courteous.尽管她常常和我意见不一，但她总是很谦恭有礼。
• He was a kind and courteous man.他为人友善，而且彬彬有礼。

17 bracelets   

n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The lamplight struck a gleam from her bracelets. 她的手镯在灯光的照射下闪闪发亮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• On display are earrings, necklaces and bracelets made from jade, amber and amethyst. 展出的有用玉石、琥珀和紫水晶做的耳环、项链和手镯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 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。

19 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

20 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

21 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。

22 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。

23 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。