IN THE NEWS - In Southeastern U.S., Storm Leaves Many People

IN THE NEWS - In Southeastern U.S., Storm Leaves Many People Homeless, Helpless, Angry
By Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Saturday, September 03, 2005

I'm Steve Ember with IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

 
 
Building after building under water. Refugees¹ in shelters. Thousands of others unsure where to go. Appeals for help. Anarchy². Bodies in streets. This is what one of America's historic³ cities was reduced to this week by a powerful storm, Katrina.

Officials want everyone still left in New Orleans, Louisiana, to leave for now. The mayor of New Orleans says thousands may be dead. Hurricane Katrina also caused death and destruction in parts of Mississippi and Alabama along the Gulf⁴ of Mexico. Federal officials reported Friday that more than one million five hundred thousand homes and businesses remained without electric power.

New Orleans is famous for its wild Mardi Gras celebrations and night life in the French Quarter. Yet the city of nearly five hundred thousand people was built below sea level. New Orleans has depended on levees, dams made of earth, to control floods from the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain.

 
 
Katrina struck on Monday. New Orleans avoided a direct hit. But two of the levees failed the next day. Most of the city was flooded. Helicopters dropped huge sandbags to fill the breaks. But the water had no place to go. Pumping stations had no power.

America faces one of the worst natural events in its history. President Bush says the recovery will take years. Congress returned from a summer holiday to approve a request for ten thousand five hundred million dollars in emergency spending. The Bush administration is expected to ask for more in the weeks to come.

People were told to leave the path of the storm. But some would not or could not. Many of those worst affected⁵ by Katrina are poor and black. African-American leaders and others were angry that government aid did not arrive faster. President Bush visited some of the damaged areas on Friday. He said the way officials reacted to the crisis⁶ was unacceptable.

The economic effects of Katrina are being felt across the United States. About one-fourth of the oil produced nationwide comes from the Gulf of Mexico. New Orleans is also a major port for foreign oil and other shipping⁷ trade.

Energy officials say the storm has cut oil production by ninety percent and natural gas production by almost eighty percent. Some oil and gas operations have restarted in the Gulf. But the full amount of the damage has not yet been reported.

The president approved a release of oil from emergency supplies. But the storm also closed processing centers that make oil into fuel. The Energy Department says the nation has lost about ten percent of its gasoline supply. Some fuel stations have no more gasoline. American drivers have been urged to use less fuel.

Oil and gasoline prices were already high before the storm. Now many people are angry at what they see as attempts to profit from Katrina.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.

1 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

2 anarchy   

n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• There would be anarchy if we had no police.要是没有警察，社会就会无法无天。
• The country was thrown into a state of anarchy.这国家那时一下子陷入无政府状态。

3 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

4 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

5 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。

6 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

7 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。