美国国家公共电台 NPR Florence Engulfs Hog Farms And Chicken Houses, Thrashing North Carolina Agriculture

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

In North Carolina, most of the rain has ended, but flooding continues. Much of the area where Florence dumped the most rainfall is covered with farms - chicken farms, sweet potato farms, hog¹ farms - and the damage to those farms is just starting to come into focus.

Joining us to talk more is NPR's Dan Charles. Welcome to the studio.

DAN CHARLES, BYLINE²: Good to be here.

CORNISH: So before Florence hit, you reported a lot about people who were worried about what would happen to the ponds that are on hog farms because they're filled with manure³. What have you learned so far?

CHARLES: Well, the numbers are just starting to come in reported from farmers. And they're coming to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. The latest numbers today are that four of those lagoons⁴ - the walls have failed. The contents have escaped into nearby rivers. Nine more were just flooded, inundated⁵ by rising floodwaters. Another dozen or so, they just got so much rain that they overflowed⁶.

Now, the North Carolina Pork Council - it's an industry group - they say this is not a widespread problem. They say this is isolated⁷. Numbers of lagoons and the majority are fine. But those numbers are still going to go up. They're double what they were yesterday. And a bunch of environmental groups have been flying overhead, looking down. And they say from what they see, that number certainly will grow.

CORNISH: What about the animals and livestock⁸?

CHARLES: There was an effort at least with the hogs⁹ to get them out of any low-lying houses. We have not yet heard what has happened to the hogs. Years ago, Hurricane Floyd - there were thousands of hogs that died in a flood like this. But on the other side, you know, there's not just hog farms. There's chicken farms. And a big poultry¹⁰ producer, Sanderson Farms - they reported last evening that 60 chicken houses were flooded. 1.7 million birds were killed. Another whole bunch of farms has been cut off by floodwaters, and so they can't get feed trucks into those houses. So, you know, that story's not yet over either.

CORNISH: In the meantime, what are people thinking that the long-term effects will be?

CHARLES: Well, obviously for the farmers whose land was flooded and whose buildings were destroyed this is, you know, a catastrophe¹¹. For a company like Sanderson Farms it's going to be a hit, but they will survive. I don't think consumers will see that much of an impact because it's a small part of, you know, the country's production. But think about sweet potatoes. North Carolina grows half of the country's sweet potatoes. Harvest was just beginning. They can't get back into the fields, but they need to because if sweet potatoes stay in a waterlogged field for too long, they could rot, and that might have an impact on your Thanksgiving dinner.

CORNISH: That's NPR's Dan Charles. Dan, thank you.

CHARLES: Thank you.

1 hog   

n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占

参考例句：

• He is greedy like a hog.他像猪一样贪婪。
• Drivers who hog the road leave no room for other cars.那些占着路面的驾驶员一点余地都不留给其他车辆。

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 manure   

n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥

参考例句：

• The farmers were distributing manure over the field.农民们正在田间施肥。
• The farmers used manure to keep up the fertility of their land.农夫们用粪保持其土质的肥沃。

4 lagoons   

n.污水池( lagoon的名词复数 )；潟湖；（大湖或江河附近的）小而浅的淡水湖；温泉形成的池塘

参考例句：

• The Islands are by shallow crystal clear lagoons enclosed by coral reefs. 该群岛包围由珊瑚礁封闭的浅水清澈泻湖。 来自互联网
• It is deposited in low-energy environments in lakes, estuaries and lagoons. 它沉淀于湖泊、河口和礁湖的低能量环境中，也可于沉淀于深海环境。 来自互联网

5 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 overflowed   

溢出的

参考例句：

• Plates overflowed with party food. 聚会上的食物碟满盘盈。
• A great throng packed out the theater and overflowed into the corridors. 一大群人坐满剧院并且还有人涌到了走廊上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

8 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

9 hogs   

n.（尤指喂肥供食用的）猪( hog的名词复数 )；（供食用的）阉公猪；彻底地做某事；自私的或贪婪的人

参考例句：

• 'sounds like -- like hogs grunting. “像——像是猪发出的声音。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• I hate the way he hogs down his food. 我讨厌他那副狼吞虎咽的吃相。 来自辞典例句

10 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

11 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。