2006年VOA标准英语-New Orleans Struggles to Attract Former Residen

By Greg Flakus
New Orleans, Louisiana
28 August 2006
 
watch New Orleans report

Tuesday is the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall on the U.S. Gulf¹ Coast. The storm devastated² large areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. It produced a surge of water that breached⁴ levees protecting low areas in New Orleans and flooded 80 percent of that city. Thousands of people were stranded⁵ for several days. One year later, the city has less than half its pre-Katrina population and is still struggling to recover.

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Many businesses in New Orleans need more tourists and residents to come back so they can survive   
  
New Orleans is using a new $7 million advertising⁶ campaign to draw tourists back to the city once known as "The Big Easy."  Tourism revenues are less than half of what they were before Hurricane Katrina. Many businesses are struggling to survive.

Even some lifelong residents who returned and found good jobs here say the current scene is depressing. This hotel worker calls herself Miss Jones. "The pictures cannot describe what is really here. Trust me. You have to come see for yourself -- boarded up buildings and businesses. People who never came back. I mean, you see mildew⁷ growing outside people's houses."

 
Some jobs can be found, but housing is a big concern for workers, such as Ms. Jones, a hotel employee 
  
Miss Jones says her rent has doubled since Katrina and her neighborhood is crime-infested.  She now questions her decision to return.

"If I had a choice, I would take it all back and would not be here right now," she told us. "I really would not. I would have relocated me and my kids somewhere else."

Small business owners are also worried. Many wonder how long they can sustain losses as they wait for things to get better.

 
Karen Rowley
  
Karen Rowley, of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, has written a report on Gulf Coast recovery. She shares their concern. "It is a little frightening because you wonder how long are they going to be able to hold out. When will people start coming back? Will they come back in time for these people to stay afloat? Yeah, it is a worry."

Tourism officials say there are signs of hope. Many conventions have been scheduled for the coming months.

But New Orleans also faces a housing shortage that prevents skilled workers from returning.

Public Affairs Research Council president Jim Brandt says other Gulf Coast communities have addressed such problems with clear, comprehensive plans -- something New Orleans has failed to do.

"Unless people know -- and there is a hunger out there for information -- they want to know what the situation will be before they invest, before they rebuild.  Will they get insurance? Will they have city services? And that, unfortunately, has not been forthcoming."

Damaged homes and rubble⁸ along the streets are still common sites in some neighborhoods  
  
One of the most contentious⁹ areas of the city is the Lower Ninth Ward¹⁰. It is just a few kilometers east of downtown in a low area devastated by flooding. The U.S. Army Corps¹¹ of Engineers closed the breach³ in the levee here. Officials say the new wall is stronger than what existed before.

But as workers tear down some of the most badly damaged homes, people who had long-standing ties to the area clamor to return.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin stepped back from the recommendations of his own recovery commission, refusing to abandon any neighborhood. Many experts think rebuilding in such low-lying areas makes no sense. But some urban planners disagree.

 
Mukesh Kumar  
  
Mukesh Kumar is an urban planning professor at Jackson State University in Mississippi. He says, "Can we really argue that New Orleans should never have existed at all because it was built in a swampy¹² area, lying below sea level? I don't think so. I don't have a clear answer, but it is a collective decision. It should not be experts' decision, for sure. It should be the decision of the people."

But one year after the flood, most of the city's people still reside elsewhere. Many say they will not return.

Boston College political science professor Mark Landy says people from both ends of the economic scale need reasons to come back.

"In a funny way, the incentive¹³ for very poor people to move back may not be that great and then the incentive for the most mobile and the most professionally successful is not necessarily that great either. I read a statistic¹⁴ -- that I cannot corroborate¹⁵ -- but it was that something like 95 percent of the psychiatrists¹⁷ from New Orleans are not here anymore. Why? Because a psychiatrist¹⁶ is a pretty mobile person. You can shrink heads in New Orleans or you can shrink heads in Memphis. This is a terrible risk to the fabric¹⁸ of the city."

One year after the flood, New Orleans shows signs of progress. But it is still a long way from full recovery.

1 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。

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 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

4 breached   

攻破( breach的现在分词 )； 破坏，违反

参考例句：

• These commitments have already been breached. 这些承诺已遭背弃。
• Our tanks have breached the enemy defences. 我方坦克车突破了敌人的防线。

5 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

6 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

7 mildew   

n.发霉；v.（使）发霉

参考例句：

• The interior was dark and smelled of mildew.里面光线很暗，霉味扑鼻。
• Mildew may form in this weather.这种天气有可能发霉。

8 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

9 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

10 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

11 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

12 swampy   

adj.沼泽的，湿地的

参考例句：

• Malaria is still rampant in some swampy regions.疟疾在一些沼泽地区仍很猖獗。
• An ox as grazing in a swampy meadow.一头牛在一块泥泞的草地上吃草。

13 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

14 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

15 corroborate   

v.支持，证实，确定

参考例句：

• He looked at me anxiously,as if he hoped I'd corroborate this.他神色不安地看着我，仿佛他希望我证实地的话。
• It appeared that what he said went to corroborate my account.看来他所说的和我叙述的相符。

16 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

17 psychiatrists   

n.精神病专家，精神病医生( psychiatrist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They are psychiatrists in good standing. 他们是合格的精神病医生。 来自辞典例句
• Some psychiatrists have patients who grow almost alarmed at how congenial they suddenly feel. 有些精神分析学家发现，他们的某些病人在突然感到惬意的时候几乎会兴奋起来。 来自名作英译部分

18 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。