美国国家公共电台 NPR A Rural Colorado Coal County Was Struggling. Then A Tech Company Brought New Jobs

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Let's head a thousand miles or so inland. What are rural Americans thinking as the election approaches? Some rural areas may feel poor or left out, but many people who live in rural areas say they are content with their lives and optimistic about their economic futures¹. That's what we found out in a new poll on rural life conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. NPR's Kirk Siegler visited Delta² County on the western slope of the Colorado Rockies.

KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE³: To explain why folks in rural Delta County are feeling a lot less anxious than they were a couple years ago, meet Johnny Olivas.

JOHNNY OLIVAS: Tuesday, we put in almost 700 feet.

SIEGLER: He's a driller for a local telecom company called Lightworks, installing badly needed broadband to this remote valley of deserts and aspen-cloaked mesas.

(SOUNDBITE OF HEAVY MACHINERY⁴ RUNNING)

SIEGLER: He's digging a line down a steep dirt driveway, where he'll lay new fiber⁵ optic cable into a home.

OLIVAS: I didn't know anything about fiber optic, but you catch on pretty quick. I mean, it's a hell of a lot easier than coal mining, for sure.

SIEGLER: Like a lot of his family and old high school buddies⁶, Olivas used to be a coal miner, but he doesn't miss it.

OLIVAS: Because it's kind of like the oil fields, it's so up and down, you know. And I don't want to go through that experience again where I get laid off and trying to figure out what I'm going to do next.

SIEGLER: And what's happening right here in this driveway is the cap of a remarkable⁷ tale of transformation⁸ that began with a shock in 2015 and '16. Two of the county's remaining three coal mines shut down. Olivas and some 800 other miners lost their jobs. These tight-knit little towns with folksy names - Cedaredge, Paonia, Hotchkiss - faced the prospect⁹ of shuttered businesses and consolidating¹⁰ schools.

TERESA NEAL: When we heard they were laying off, we were like, we've got to do something. There's got to be something we can do.

SIEGLER: Teresa Neal and her husband saw an opportunity. The local electric company was looking for contracts to expand broadband to thousands of homes and businesses. And their then-fledgling company, Lightworks Fiber & Consulting - won some of those contracts. Now, coal was going away, and broadband was key. How does a small town compete in today's economy without good Internet?

NEAL: We took our barn, and we turned it into a training facility one weekend and just started teaching these guys about fiber - what it was, how it worked, how to splice¹¹ it.

SIEGLER: And they've retrained and hired on close to a hundred former miners so far. All of this was personal.

NEAL: I didn't want my girlfriends leaving, you know? I didn't want them moving away. My kids didn't want their friends to leave.

SIEGLER: That was a common theme in the NPR poll. One of the things people value most about small towns is having their close friends and family nearby. You know your neighbors. You don't lock your doors at night. And people want their kids to be able to stay and not have to move away for better opportunities. Maybe the new fiber optic jobs in Delta County don't pay as well as those old coal jobs, but there still are good jobs. Families are lining¹² Main Street in Hotchkiss one recent Friday for the high school homecoming parade.

(SOUNDBITE OF BRASS¹³ BAND PLAYING)

SIEGLER: Locals told me they were thrilled to see this crowd so much bigger than it's been. For the first time in years, Delta County's population isn't declining. People are moving in from cities, drawn¹⁴ by the small-town lifestyle. And they can work remotely now that the Internet is getting better. Stacey Voigt moved here from the Denver area last year.

STACEY VOIGT: I think there is the opportunity for people to try new things. There's a little bit more room to take risk in a rural community.

SIEGLER: For one, it's cheaper. Voigt runs a local business development nonprofit that is trying to learn more entrepreneurs here like Lightworks. They're also promoting the county's burgeoning¹⁵ organic farm and food industries. Voigt's husband is a wine seller, and they're even thinking about starting up a vineyard.

VOIGT: People are excited to talk about what's next. It's the moving on and being successful not because the coal mines closed but in spite of them closing.

SIEGLER: You hear this a lot in Delta County, which, make no mistake, is still solidly conservative. Folks are proud of their natural resource heritage. But you also see a big disconnect between what politicians are saying nationally about bringing coal jobs back to rural America and what's actually happening out here on the ground. People have known for a while that coal is probably not coming back to Delta County. All the easy and cheap stuff has been mined.

SIEGLER: Right up that valley, worked there for almost 30 years.

ROB CLEMENTS: One drizzly¹⁶ morning, retired¹⁷ miner Rob Clements stood with his daughter on the back porch at their place outside Hotchkiss. There's a stunning¹⁸ view being at the doorstep of the mountains. You can see how this would definitely be a selling point too for Delta County. Other rural areas aren't as lucky.

CLEMENTS: For the local people, like the miners and their kids, the fiber optics has pretty much saved the valley.

SIEGLER: Clements' 28-year-old daughter, Michelle, had been living in Salt Lake City, a five-hour drive from here. She had to move there to keep a job working in HR for a coal company. But this past spring, she landed a similar job at Lightworks. They are both thrilled she could move home.

MICHELLE: I think I have a lot of pride in where I grew up and the valley that I grew up in. And when I start a family, I want my family to have that same experience, too. I love it here. It's an awesome¹⁹ place to grow up.

SIEGLER: And her company has 40 more open positions right now. And there are for-hire signs around town. The Clements say that hasn't happened in years. Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Hotchkiss, Colo.

1 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

2 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

3 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。

4 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

5 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

6 buddies   

n.密友( buddy的名词复数 )；同伴；弟兄；（用于称呼男子，常带怒气）家伙v.（如密友、战友、伙伴、弟兄般）交往( buddy的第三人称单数 )；做朋友；亲近（…）；伴护艾滋病人

参考例句：

• We became great buddies. 我们成了非常好的朋友。 来自辞典例句
• The two of them have become great buddies. 他们俩成了要好的朋友。 来自辞典例句

7 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

8 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

9 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

10 consolidating   

v.（使）巩固， （使）加强( consolidate的现在分词 )；（使）合并

参考例句：

• These measures are meant for consolidating the system of basic medical care. 这些举措旨在夯实基层医疗体系，让老百姓看大病不必出远门。 来自互联网
• We are consolidating the Chinese and English versions of our homepage. 我们将为您提供中英文版本一起的主页。 来自互联网

11 splice   

v.接合，衔接；n.胶接处，粘接处

参考例句：

• He taught me to edit and splice film.他教我剪辑和粘接胶片。
• The film will be spliced with footage of Cypress Hill to be filmed in America.这部电影要和将在美国拍摄的柏树山乐队的音乐片段粘接在一起。

12 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

13 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

14 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

15 burgeoning   

adj.迅速成长的，迅速发展的v.发芽，抽枝( burgeon的现在分词 )；迅速发展；发（芽），抽（枝）

参考例句：

• Our company's business is burgeoning now. 我们公司的业务现在发展很迅速。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These efforts were insufficient to contain the burgeoning crisis. 这些努力不足以抑制迅速扩散的危机。 来自辞典例句

16 drizzly   

a.毛毛雨的(a drizzly day)

参考例句：

• This section of the country is drizzly in the winter. 该国的这一地区在冬天经常细雨蒙蒙。
• That region is drizzly in winter. 那个地区冬天常下小雨。

17 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

18 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

19 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.