美国国家公共电台 NPR Calif. Fire Victims Put Up Christmas Trees Where Homes Once Stood

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

A massive wildfire continues to burn in Southern California. The Thomas fire is now the largest in the state's history and still threatens homes and businesses in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. October wildfires in Northern California burned thousands of homes in Santa Rosa, destroyed most of an entire working class neighborhood. From member station KQED, April Dembosky reports that some residents are adapting their Christmas traditions to devastation¹.

APRIL DEMBOSKY, BYLINE²: What was once a crowded row of houses along Hopper Avenue in Santa Rosa is now a vast dirt plain. But in empty lot after empty lot, people have put up Christmas trees. Red ribbons and shimmering³ silver tinsel defy the landscape.

LOUIS PELL: Morbid⁴, bizarre.

LILLY PELL: Festive⁵.

LOUIS PELL: Lilly thinks it's festive.

DEMBOSKY: Louis Pell and his 8-year-old daughter Lilly are staking a 10-foot noble fir in the spot where their front door used to be.

LOUIS PELL: The spirit of Christmas isn't gone, even though, like, the rest of my neighborhood is gone. Like, everybody here is, like, the happiest they've been in months doing this.

DEMBOSKY: Pell and Lilly have been staying with friends since the fire. Their hosts put up a tree a couple of weeks ago.

LOUIS PELL: But this one will be ours, so - and she gets to decorate it, which is going to be the fun part.

Good job, Lilly.

DEMBOSKY: A local disaster response team has been handing out the trees and decorations for free. The group's director, Kadyn Schumann, says they've also hosted block parties and Santa visits and even hauled in a big pile of snow.

KADYN SCHUMANN: Kids were having snowball fights.

DEMBOSKY: It's been 15 years since it snowed in Santa Rosa.

SCHUMANN: You know, it was really - it was magical.

LILLY: Gives me happy feelings.

DEMBOSKY: Lilly Pell hangs one of the glittery blue Christmas balls on her tree.

LILLY: I feel like we're at the staircase again. This is where we usually would put our tree.

DEMBOSKY: She crawls under the tree and looks up through the branches.

LILLY: Makes me feel like our house is still standing⁶. It's not like we can't ever see our house again. It will always be there. You just can't see it. But I can feel it.

DEMBOSKY: Lilly's dad didn't have homeowner's insurance. And he says he can't afford to rebuild right now. He's not sure what they'll do for Christmas. But at some point, he says, they'll definitely stop by this lot to see their tree.

For NPR News, I'm April Dembosky in Santa Rosa.

1 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 shimmering   

v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The sea was shimmering in the sunlight. 阳光下海水波光闪烁。
• The colours are delicate and shimmering. 这些颜色柔和且闪烁微光。 来自辞典例句

4 morbid   

adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的

参考例句：

• Some people have a morbid fascination with crime.一些人对犯罪有一种病态的痴迷。
• It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like.不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。

5 festive   

adj.欢宴的，节日的

参考例句：

• It was Christmas and everyone was in festive mood.当时是圣诞节，每个人都沉浸在节日的欢乐中。
• We all wore festive costumes to the ball.我们都穿着节日的盛装前去参加舞会。

6 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。