美国国家公共电台 NPR Chef José Andrés Has Served Nearly 1.5 Million Meals To Hungry Puerto Ricans

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Another story now. The Coliseo is the biggest concert hall in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Now, since Hurricane Maria devastated¹ the island a month ago, the hall has become the center of a massive² effort to feed tens of thousands of people left hungry by the storm. NPR's Christina Cala spoke³ to the man behind the effort, Jose Andres, who owns some of Washington, D.C.'s, best-known restaurants.

CHRISTINA CALA, BYLINE⁴: Yamil Lopez is stirring one of the largest paella pans you'll ever see. It's 5 feet in diameter. This one alone holds enough to feed 850 people.

YAMIL LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

CALA: This batch⁵ has rice, pork, sausage, black beans, red beans, carrots - 12 ingredients in all but no seafood⁶.

LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

CALA: "We call this Paella Maria, like the hurricane," Lopez says, "because we're using the ingredients we have on hand." In addition to paella, a few hundred volunteers prepare stews⁷ and sandwiches - 60,000 a day.

JOSE ANDRES: We are about to reach the million and a half served, vast majority of them hot meals.

CALA: This is Jose Andres. He's known for his upscale restaurants and for canceling his plans to open one in Donald Trump's D.C. hotel. Here, he's overseeing a large effort to feed as many people as he can.

ANDRES: Inside, you have one of the most effective sandwich lines made by volunteers in the history. I'm so proud of them.

CALA: Boxes of apples and stacks of canned Goya beans line the rounded hallways. Open areas are set up with long tables covered in sandwich-making supplies - bread, ham, cheese, mayonnaise. A volunteer writes the totals on a piece of poster board hanging on the wall. By the end of the day, they'll have made almost 25,000 sandwiches.

ANDRES: We have the food trucks that they reach any area - sometimes have difficult access, so we use one house here, one house there.

CALA: Food is also available for pickup⁸.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Speaking Spanish).

CALA: Zelides Enid and friends were waiting in line for 300 meals to take to their neighborhood in Canovanas two cities over.

ZELIDES ENID: (Speaking Spanish).

CALA: "We haven't gotten much help in our community and still haven't received anything from FEMA," she says. "That's why we came here."

ANDRES: I didn't see a plan. And instead of planning and meeting, I began cooking. And we began feeding.

CALA: Jose Andres arrived a few days after Maria. Soon after, FEMA gave his nonprofit World Central Kitchen enough money to prepare 20,000 meals over seven days. That's on top of the 50,000 people a day he was already feeding. Jose Andres asked FEMA to increase its funding, but the agency told him that would take longer because of their contracting rules.

ANDRES: Maybe it was not perfect. Maybe it was not organized by the rules or regulations of the federal government. But I can tell you that if you go to ask every one of those men and women that receive those meals, probably they will tell you that for them, the plan was good enough.

CALA: Remember those three women from Canovanas? Six hours after arriving, they were still waiting for their 300 meals.

JUANA DE LA CRUZ: (Speaking Spanish).

CALA: "It'll still be a while," Juana de la Cruz says. Despite the wait, she is very grateful. This will be her only meal today. Christina Cala, NPR News, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

1 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。

2 massive   

adj.巨大的，大规模的，大量的，大范围的

参考例句：

• A massive sea search has failed to find any survivors.经过大规模的海上搜救仍未找到幸存者。
• He drank a massive amount of alcohol.他喝了大量的烈酒。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

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 batch   

n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量

参考例句：

• The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
• I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。

6 seafood   

n.海产食品，海味，海鲜

参考例句：

• There's an excellent seafood restaurant near here.离这儿不远有家非常不错的海鲜馆。
• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood.小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。

7 stews   

n.炖煮的菜肴( stew的名词复数 )；烦恼，焦虑v.炖( stew的第三人称单数 )；煨；思考；担忧

参考例句：

• Corn starch is used as a thickener in stews. 玉米淀粉在炖煮菜肴中被用作增稠剂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most stews contain meat and vegetables. 炖的食物大多是肉类和蔬菜。 来自辞典例句

8 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。