美国国家公共电台 NPR Sprawling Homeless Camps — Modern 'Hoovervilles' — Vex Ca

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

Cities in the American West are trying to deal with homeless encampments that are getting bigger and more visible. They remind some people of Hoovervilles, where hundreds of thousands of Americans lived during the Great Depression. Now, California has the highest number of tent cities. NPR's Eric Westervelt went to one, and he brought us back this.

ERIC WESTERVELT, BYLINE¹: Santa Rosa's sprawling² tent and tarp village has frustrated³ and divided residents, sparked a recall effort and heated debates over poverty and inequality in Sonoma County's wine country.

CHARLES GIBSON: They call me Cowboy, but my name is Charles Gibson (ph). And I'm living on the trail here.

WESTERVELT: Wiry, frenzied⁴, with a few missing teeth, Gibson got his nickname, he says, because he always cowboys up for other people despite the hardships of life among broken pallets and soggy tents. This massive camp isn't hidden in the woods. It's right on a popular biking and jogging path. Gibson and some 200 others have been living for months in a grassy⁵ drainage ditch that straddles the path and Highway 12, a main commuter⁶ artery⁷ into the city. Gibson concedes the camp has serious problems with garbage and rats, inadequate⁸ toilets and some drug use. But he says it has a sense of community.

GIBSON: It's a struggle for anybody to keep warm and keep your heart and head light and strong. Doing the best I can. And, you know, it's very hard, you know?

(SOUNDBITE OF SHOPPING CART ROLLING)

WESTERVELT: Gibson pushes a shopping cart towards his tenuous⁹ patch of grass. At the tent next to his, an older woman pops her head out, shouting obscenities at no one in particular.

GIBSON: People need to open up their eyes and realize they could end up like this. A lot of people are one step away.

WESTERVELT: Homelessness is a nationwide problem, but it's particularly severe here in California. A new federal HUD report estimates the state has more than 150,000 homeless, including those in shelters. Overall, the state has more than half of all unsheltered homeless in the nation, meaning those living outdoors. Given the growing disaster, Governor Gavin Newsom has just proposed more than $1.4 billion in his new budget for state and local efforts on immediate¹⁰ housing and services. He's also ordered state agencies to do more to help find temporary sites, including decommissioned hospitals or unused land for the state's expanding homeless encampments.

LYNDA HOPKINS: I never thought that I would drive past a mile-long shantytown on my way to work. And yet that's the reality that we're facing right now in Sonoma County.

WESTERVELT: That's County Supervisor¹¹ Lynda Hopkins, whose district includes the homeless camp.

HOPKINS: There's just no room for error right now. There's no safety net. In my opinion, it just showcases the failure of government at all levels to meaningfully have a safety net for human beings.

WESTERVELT: The first-term politician is now facing blowback from those failures. A few angry constituents¹² are working to recall her. Their petition says she's failed to act and calls the homeless encampment a public cesspool that's ruining businesses and homes. In fact, Hopkins has helped lead efforts to find solutions, including emergency funds, to a complex problem that cuts across issues - addiction¹³ and mental health treatment, rising housing costs, stagnant¹⁴ wages and poverty. Complicating¹⁵ attempts to find a solution here include a local injunction and a federal court ruling. They hold that homeless people have a right to camp on public property if local governments can't provide adequate shelter beds and services, things Hopkins says the county can't afford on its own.

HOPKINS: So how can we provide alternatives when we don't have enough money from the state or federal government to actually provide adequate mental health services, to actually provide adequate housing and shelter for these human beings?

WESTERVELT: Hopkins and other politicians here are promising¹⁶ to relocate the camp, likely to a parking lot near the airport, within weeks while they design a more permanent housing strategy. That lasting¹⁷ fix could take two years or more. And a new group of concerned citizens here says that's unacceptable. They're asking, if we can all pull together for each other during a wildfire crisis, why not a homeless crisis?

MARCOS RAMIREZ: We know how to do this. We know how to take care of people. We've just seen it recently with the Kincade Fire.

WESTERVELT: Marcos Ramirez is a founder¹⁸ of the Squeaky Wheel Bicycle Coalition¹⁹. It's a volunteer group of regular folks - artists, designers, a beekeeper, an architect. They're trying to break the familiar pattern of outrage²⁰ hand-wringing and wrangling²¹.

RAMIREZ: If we can organize shelter support, huge amounts of response, emergency services and these kinds of things, there's no reason why we can't do this for our unhoused neighbors. It's the middle of winter, and things are only getting colder. There's no excuse for this.

WESTERVELT: The group has drawn²² up detailed²³ proposals. One is to retrofit an unused section of the county's fairgrounds into a more permanent camp with onsite support, counseling and job services. And they hope to inspire the formation of more squeaky wheel coalitions²⁴ in cities across California facing the same kind of homeless camp crisis. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, Santa Rosa.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 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。

2 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

3 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 frenzied   

a.激怒的；疯狂的

参考例句：

• Will this push him too far and lead to a frenzied attack? 这会不会逼他太甚，导致他进行疯狂的进攻？
• Two teenagers carried out a frenzied attack on a local shopkeeper. 两名十几岁的少年对当地的一个店主进行了疯狂的袭击。

5 grassy   

adj.盖满草的；长满草的

参考例句：

• They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
• Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。

6 commuter   

n.(尤指市郊之间)乘公交车辆上下班者

参考例句：

• Police cordoned off the road and diverted commuter traffic. 警察封锁了道路并分流交通。
• She accidentally stepped on his foot on a crowded commuter train. 她在拥挤的通勤列车上不小心踩到了他的脚。

7 artery   

n.干线，要道；动脉

参考例句：

• We couldn't feel the changes in the blood pressure within the artery.我们无法感觉到动脉血管内血压的变化。
• The aorta is the largest artery in the body.主动脉是人体中的最大动脉。

8 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

9 tenuous   

adj.细薄的，稀薄的，空洞的

参考例句：

• He has a rather tenuous grasp of reality.他对现实认识很肤浅。
• The air ten miles above the earth is very tenuous.距离地面十公里的空气十分稀薄。

10 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。

11 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

12 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

14 stagnant   

adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的

参考例句：

• Due to low investment,industrial output has remained stagnant.由于投资少，工业生产一直停滞不前。
• Their national economy is stagnant.他们的国家经济停滞不前。

15 complicating   

使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。
• In America these actions become executive puberty rites, complicating relationships that are already complicated enough. 在美国，这些行动成了行政青春期的惯例，使本来已经够复杂的关系变得更复杂了。

16 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

17 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。

18 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

19 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

20 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

21 wrangling   

v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The two sides have spent most of their time wrangling over procedural problems. 双方大部分时间都在围绕程序问题争论不休。 来自辞典例句
• The children were wrangling (with each other) over the new toy. 孩子为新玩具（互相）争吵。 来自辞典例句

22 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。

23 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

24 coalitions   

结合体，同盟( coalition的名词复数 )； （两党或多党）联合政府

参考例句：

• History testifies to the ineptitude of coalitions in waging war. 历史昭示我们，多数国家联合作战，其进行甚为困难。
• All the coalitions in history have disintegrated sooner or later. 历史上任何联盟迟早都垮台了。