美国国家公共电台 NPR Floodwaters From Florence Hit Elderly Hard

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Thousands of homes in North Carolina have been destroyed by Hurricane Florence and the flooding that followed. For the elderly, who are often living on fixed¹ incomes and can't afford repairs, a flood can quickly become an eviction² notice. After water saturates³ their homes, they don't really have another option except to leave. NPR's Jason Beaubien has been reporting from Kinston, N.C., where the Neuse River flooded at near-record levels last week.

JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE⁴: In the days after a flood recedes⁵, there's a scene that plays out repeatedly. You'll drive down a street, and it appears that house after house has gotten violently ill and vomited⁶ all of its waterlogged possessions out onto the lawn.

JERRY GRAY: Yeah. That's a bunch of stuff, isn't it?

BEAUBIEN: Seventy-five-year-old Jerry Gray (ph) is sitting in his front yard amidst what used to be his worldly goods on the south side of Kinston. Wet mattresses⁷, broken furniture and soggy clothes are strewn behind him.

GRAY: I've been here 16 years. It's just heartbreaking, you know?

BEAUBIEN: Gray's small brick ranch⁸ is one of four houses next to a busy road leading out of Kinston. All of them are being gutted⁹.

GRAY: There's all these people that just - the houses are all ruined. They're not coming back. And it's probably what I'll do because the inside is just - it's all full of water, mold, everything else you'd have to - I don't know.

BEAUBIEN: This was his wife, Hilda's (ph), house. They'd met 16 years ago on a blind date, and then in his words, shacked¹⁰ up.

GRAY: She always joked with me because she was 10 years older than me. And she always called herself the cougar¹¹. She was (laughter) - she was a good woman.

BEAUBIEN: Hilda died three years ago. Gray has kept this house as a shrine¹² to the years that they'd had together. The puzzles Hilda did when she got cancer still hang on the wall. The roll top desk they found at a thrift¹³ shop is out on the lawn. Her car is in the driveway. Their fluffy¹⁴ brown poodle, Zoe (ph), chases him into the house.

GRAY: And you can feel...

BEAUBIEN: Yeah.

GRAY: ...And see the water just as you step on that carpet. Zoe, come here.

BEAUBIEN: In the kitchen, a giant pickle¹⁵ jar still full of murky¹⁶ floodwater sits on the floor.

GRAY: My wife and I used to save pennies in a jar. (Laughter).

BEAUBIEN: After they both retired¹⁷, he and Hilda repainted the house together. Hilda is everywhere in this house, and now Gray has to leave it. He didn't have flood insurance, and says there's no way he can fix this place.

GRAY: I never thought that I'd be, like, basically homeless, if you want to come down to it. But I never thought, never thought I'd be in this situation. And the book of life doesn't teach you how to handle this.

BEAUBIEN: It's tough to get into your mid-70s, Gray says, and no longer have your partner to lean on for help. He's sleeping temporarily at his stepson's house. He says at least he's still got their dog, Zoe, and, he adds, his faith in God. And Gray is not alone. At a subsidized senior housing building in Kinston, several residents say that it was Hurricane Matthew two years ago that drove them from their homes. Lawanda Warren (ph) grew up in Kinston.

LAWANDA WARREN: They have to go into senior citizen homes and rest homes and these assisted living homes, places where they didn't want to go.

BEAUBIEN: Warren works now for the state government, but she came home to Kinston this weekend with her food truck to feed people affected¹⁸ by the floods. She was giving away funnel¹⁹ cakes and hot dogs and popcorn²⁰ to people in her old neighborhood by the Neuse River. Her family left just before Hurricane Fran hit in 1996.

WARREN: You know, the house that we lived in, no one ever lived in it after we lived there 'cause it got flooded out after we moved. So we were blessed to avoid it.

BEAUBIEN: But she says flooding from successive hurricanes, from Fran, to Floyd, to Matthew and now Florence, have forced older people out of this area.

WARREN: You know, they won't live out their days being able to hang clothes out on the line or sit on their front porch.

BEAUBIEN: These storms cause immediate²¹ physical damage, but she says they also have deep, lasting²² impacts on communities. Jason Beaubien, NPR News, Kinston, N.C.

1 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

2 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。

3 saturates   

浸湿，浸透( saturate的第三人称单数 )； 使…大量吸收或充满某物

参考例句：

• The Port of Yangon, the principal trading centre of Myanmar, saturates in the nested area. 仰光港作为缅甸主要的贸易中心，位于嵌套区域。
• A model asphalt had been separated into four components: asphaltenes, saturates, aromatics and resins. 用四组分法将沥青分为饱和分、芳香分、胶质、沥青质。

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 recedes   

v.逐渐远离( recede的第三人称单数 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题

参考例句：

• For this reason the near point gradually recedes as one grows older. 由于这个原因，随着人渐渐变老，近点便逐渐后退。 来自辞典例句
• Silent, mournful, abandoned, broken, Czechoslovakia recedes into the darkness. 缄默的、悲哀的、被抛弃的、支离破碎的捷克斯洛伐克，已在黑暗之中。 来自辞典例句

6 vomited   

参考例句：

• Corbett leaned against the wall and promptly vomited. 科比特倚在墙边，马上呕吐了起来。
• She leant forward and vomited copiously on the floor. 她向前一俯，哇的一声吐了一地。 来自英汉文学

7 mattresses   

褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
• The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。

8 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

9 gutted   

adj.容易消化的v.毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的过去式和过去分词 )；取出…的内脏

参考例句：

• Disappointed? I was gutted! 失望？我是伤心透了！
• The invaders gutted the historic building. 侵略者们将那幢历史上有名的建筑洗劫一空。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 shacked   

vi.未婚而同居（shack的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He's shacked up with some girl he met in Berlin. 他跟一个在柏林结识的女子同居了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They have shacked up together. 他们同居了。 来自互联网

11 cougar   

n.美洲狮；美洲豹

参考例句：

• I saw a cougar slinking toward its prey.我看到一只美洲狮正在潜随猎物。
• I have never seen a cougar.我从未见过美洲豹。

12 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。

13 thrift   

adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约

参考例句：

• He has the virtues of thrift and hard work.他具备节俭和勤奋的美德。
• His thrift and industry speak well for his future.他的节俭和勤勉预示着他美好的未来。

14 fluffy   

adj.有绒毛的，空洞的

参考例句：

• Newly hatched chicks are like fluffy balls.刚孵出的小鸡像绒毛球。
• The steamed bread is very fluffy.馒头很暄。

15 pickle   

n.腌汁，泡菜；v.腌，泡

参考例句：

• Mother used to pickle onions.妈妈过去常腌制洋葱。
• Meat can be preserved in pickle.肉可以保存在卤水里。

16 murky   

adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗

参考例句：

• She threw it into the river's murky depths.她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
• She had a decidedly murky past.她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。

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 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

19 funnel   

n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集

参考例句：

• He poured the petrol into the car through a funnel.他用一个漏斗把汽油灌入汽车。
• I like the ship with a yellow funnel.我喜欢那条有黄烟囱的船。

20 popcorn   

n.爆米花

参考例句：

• I like to eat popcorn when I am watching TV play at home.当我在家观看电视剧时，喜欢吃爆米花。
• He still stood behind his cash register stuffing his mouth with popcorn.他仍站在收银机后，嘴里塞满了爆米花。

21 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

22 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。