美国国家公共电台 NPR Search For The Missing In California Wildfires Continues

 

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

More than two weeks after the nation's deadliest fire in a century erupted in Northern California, crews are still trying to find hundreds of people. The Camp Fire has killed at least 85. It's now fully¹ contained. But dozens of disaster workers from across the country are coming to the town of Paradise to help with the search mission. NPR's Bobby Allyn is there and followed a team of searchers as they scoured² the incinerated city.

BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE³: There's about two dozen search-and-rescue personnel in white jumpsuits and hardhats wearing respirators. You can see the remnants of some metal furniture, looks like a fireplace that is still standing⁴. And the whole search crew is just waiting to see if the cadaver⁵ dog finds any human remains⁶.

Chuck Williams is the cadaver dog handler. He came up from the Orange County Sheriff's Department. The dog, a black lab named Cinder⁷, has been trained to sit if she detects any remains. But rain over the last three days here has turned mounds⁸ of ash into a muddy muck.

CHUCK WILLIAMS: What we're hunting for is so minute. Now, if there's more remnants, the dogs can absolutely function. But the water has not helped the dogs.

ALLYN: This process could take months. The burn scar of the Camp Fire is immense - 240 square miles across what was once rolling vineyards, apple orchards⁹ and rows of evergreen¹⁰ trees. Williams has spent his career responding to disasters. And still, this scene takes him aback.

WILLIAMS: The magnitude - it's like being in a war zone. And it's like watching a war movie, unfortunately.

ALLYN: When remains are found, they are sent to a mortuary in Sacramento where forensics experts try to identify them. Then they'll be returned to loved ones. As Williams searched street after street of Paradise, another thing quickly jumped out at him. The remnants of this fire were unlike anything he's seen before, and he's visited countless¹¹ fire scenes. Williams says this fire was exceptionally hot.

WILLIAMS: Just by the level of ash - there was literally¹² nothing left. It had just almost been, like, through a cremation¹³ process.

ALLYN: Meanwhile, for Paradise residents who evacuated¹⁴, keeping tabs on the missing list is being juggled¹⁵ with several other dire¹⁶ concerns, like finding a home, sometimes finding a job and, for many of them, joining a new community. Bob Grimm lived in Paradise for 40 years. He and his wife left for a dentist appointment right before the fire broke out, and he hasn't been back since. When Grimm first looked at the missing list, he saw the name of his friend, who he knew made it out.

BOB GRIMM: So we got a hold of his son, and his son said, yeah, dad's OK. And I said, well, you call your dad and tell him get his name off that list. Give him a big hug for me. And then also let him know that even in the bad days, today's a good day because you're alive.

ALLYN: Many others have been removed from the unaccounted list in the same way. Grimm says he's confident his friend won't be the last.

GRIMM: All I have is hope. That's all I have is hope.

ALLYN: Butte County officials have been equally as optimistic, but they also acknowledge, because of the magnitude of this catastrophe¹⁷, some people will be forever lost. Bobby Allyn, NPR News, Paradise, Calif.

1 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

2 scoured   

走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮

参考例句：

• We scoured the area for somewhere to pitch our tent. 我们四处查看，想找一个搭帐篷的地方。
• The torrents scoured out a channel down the hill side. 急流沿着山腰冲刷出一条水沟。

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 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。

5 cadaver   

n.尸体

参考例句：

• Examination of a cadaver is to determine the cause of death.尸体解剖是为了确认死亡原因。
• He looked down again at the gaping mouth of the cadaver.他的眼光不由自主地又落到了死人张大的嘴上。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 cinder   

n.余烬，矿渣

参考例句：

• The new technology for the preparation of superfine ferric oxide from pyrite cinder is studied.研究了用硫铁矿烧渣为原料，制取超细氧化铁红的新工艺。
• The cinder contains useful iron,down from producing sulphuric acid by contact process.接触法制硫酸的矿渣中含有铁矿。

8 mounds   

土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆

参考例句：

• We had mounds of tasteless rice. 我们有成堆成堆的淡而无味的米饭。
• Ah! and there's the cemetery' - cemetery, he must have meant. 'You see the mounds? 啊，这就是同墓，”——我想他要说的一定是公墓，“看到那些土墩了吗？

9 orchards   

（通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They turned the hills into orchards and plains into granaries. 他们把山坡变成了果园，把平地变成了粮仓。
• Some of the new planted apple orchards have also begun to bear. 有些新开的苹果园也开始结苹果了。

10 evergreen   

n.常青树；adj.四季常青的

参考例句：

• Some trees are evergreen;they are called evergreen.有的树是常青的，被叫做常青树。
• There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。

11 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

12 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

13 cremation   

n.火葬，火化

参考例句：

• Cremation is more common than burial in some countries. 在一些国家，火葬比土葬普遍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Garbage cremation can greatly reduce the occupancy of land. 垃圾焚烧可以大大减少占用土地。 来自互联网

14 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

15 juggled   

v.歪曲( juggle的过去式和过去分词 )；耍弄；有效地组织；尽力同时应付（两个或两个以上的重要工作或活动）

参考例句：

• He juggled the company's accounts to show a profit. 为了表明公司赢利，他篡改了公司的账目。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The juggler juggled three bottles. 这个玩杂耍的人可同时抛接3个瓶子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

17 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。