2006年VOA标准英语-Hurricane Rita Survivors Attempt to Move F

By Greg Flakus
Cameron, Louisiana
07 February 2006
 
watch Hurricane Survivor¹ report
 

Devastated² Cameron, Louisiana - 4 months later   
  
There were two major hurricanes that struck the Gulf³ coast last year, but because there has been so much attention focused on Hurricane Katrina and the havoc⁴ it caused in New Orleans, stories of Hurricane Rita are sometimes neglected. VOA's Greg Flakus went to southwestern Louisiana, to the devastated coastal⁵ town of Cameron.

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More than four months after Rita swept ashore⁶ here, Cameron remains⁷ in ruins.

This town once prided itself on being far away from most concerns of the modern world, a place for fishing and boating.

Now it is like a ghost town.

One of the mainstays of the local economy is still the oil business, which is coming back quickly. Oyster⁸ boats are also returning to the local port.

But few people can return to live here because their houses were all swept away by Rita's tidal wave.

Here to help are dozens of volunteers from around the country, including a group of 18 students from Ana Maria College in Massachusetts.

 
Harry⁹ Duchesne 
  
The group leader, Harry Duchesne, of Worcester, Massachusetts describes how he got started.

"A priest friend up there in Massachusetts has a contact down here and so we talked to them and had it all set up to help these people out."

Duchesne says victims of Hurricane Rita have been overshadowed by all the attention given to Katrina. He would like to see more people come to help in this area. "Cameron, Louisiana and Creole, this area needs your help. The mandatory¹⁰ evacuation has just ended and people are starting to come back. They need some help with cleanup. That is why we came and we encourage others to come."

Reporter: "Now, this area that we are in, was this a housing area?

Duchesne: "Yeah, a mixture of houses and small business and it is just all gone. This was a neighborhood and these folks knew one another, they knew their neighbors. The fact that they want to come back and they are supporting one another is inspiration to us."

Among those who have returned is this woman, who prefers not to give her name. 

She has found pieces of her house several kilometers inland from this slab¹¹ where it once stood.  Now, the family lives in a mobile home they purchased with money from their savings¹². Extra items go into this tent pitched outside.

She says she and her husband bought this property eight years ago and worked hard to make their home here.

"We built up our hill here. We started from scratch, built up our yard and tried to make something here, so there was about five years that we were actually living here."

 
Hurrican Rita survivors¹³ have decided¹⁴ to live temporarily near the site of original homes
  
Now, it is all gone, but rather than move somewhere else, this family has decided to build here again.

She adds, "Even though we have had turmoil¹⁵ like this, it is going to take a lot more than this to get us down, to bring down our spirits. Sometimes day-to-day it is hard, but I have my family and we are all in good health, we have clothes on our backs and we have food on the table. All the rest is material."

Each day more people come back to Cameron, many on the ferry that crosses the Calcasieu shipping¹⁶ channel near the coast.

They hope to make Cameron the good place to live that it was before the ravages¹⁷ of Rita.

1 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

2 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

3 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。

4 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

5 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

6 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

7 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。

8 oyster   

n.牡蛎；沉默寡言的人

参考例句：

• I enjoy eating oyster; it's really delicious.我喜欢吃牡蛎，它味道真美。
• I find I fairly like eating when he finally persuades me to taste the oyster.当他最后说服我尝尝牡蛎时，我发现我相当喜欢吃。

9 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

10 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

11 slab   

n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上

参考例句：

• This heavy slab of oak now stood between the bomb and Hitler.这时笨重的橡木厚板就横在炸弹和希特勒之间了。
• The monument consists of two vertical pillars supporting a horizontal slab.这座纪念碑由两根垂直的柱体构成，它们共同支撑着一块平板。

12 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

13 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

15 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

16 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。

17 ravages   

劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹

参考例句：

• the ravages of war 战争造成的灾难
• It is hard for anyone to escape from the ravages of time. 任何人都很难逃避时间的摧残。