VOA常速英语2007年-Red Cross Helps in Mexico's Flooded South

By Greg Flakus
Houston
07 November 2007

In Mexico, relief efforts continue in the flooded state of Tabasco and in nearby Chiapas state where a landslide¹ destroyed a village Sunday. Among the various disaster response teams in the flood zone in southern Mexico, one of the biggest is the Red Cross. VOA's Greg Flakus spoke² with one Red Cross worker from the United States who is now in Tabasco and filed this report.

Tens of thousands of people remain in government shelters in Tabasco and many more have left the state, seeking help with relatives and friends in nearby states. But relief from the floods is hard to find in neighboring Chiapas state, where heavy rains are producing similar problems. Some 200 homes were lost in one small town in Chiapas after a rain-drenched hillside collapsed³.

Relief teams went to the area from the operations center in Villahermosa, Tabasco, where Red Cross worker Winnie Romeril spoke to VOA by telephone.

"Initially⁴ they were reporting very large numbers of people who might have died or who were missing, but at this time we have a list of only 26 missing people," said Winnie Romeril. "What is going on now is that they have finished evacuating⁵ the people from that particular village and now they are continuing to try to contact isolated⁶ settlements that are in the same area and in danger of possible additional landslides⁷ because it continues to rain there."

Romeril says the weather has improved in much of Tabasco, but Chiapas is at a higher elevation⁸, so water from rains there flows down the Grijalva river into the already flooded lowlands of Tabasco.

Winnie Romeril is a US Red Cross worker who was sent down to Mexico to assist the Mexican Red Cross, known in Spanish as Cruz Roja, which she says has been doing a remarkable⁹ job. She has spent much of the past few days bringing relief supplies by helicopter to people left stranded¹⁰ by the flood waters.

"The communities that I visited have been really grateful for assistance," he said. "Sometimes the helicopters are not able to land. It is just an island community with people that run out to meet the helicopter. They know that we will be dropping the boxes and bottles of water out of the helicopter and they wade¹¹ out in the water to catch them. Other times we are able to find a little strip of land and we can put the helicopter down and we can offload and have a discussion with the people and see what other needs they have."

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has called the flooding in southern Mexico one of the worst disasters in his nation's modern history. He has sent more than seven thousand soldiers and federal police to Tabasco to assist in relief efforts and in maintaining order.

US Ambassador Tony Garza has provided $300,000 in immediate¹² disaster assistance to the stricken areas of Mexico. In a message, he said, "Americans know only too well the horrible impact of such natural disasters on the lives of individuals and communities." In 2005, Mexico sent around 200 unarmed soldiers and medical personnel to assist people in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina.

1 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

4 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

5 evacuating   

撤离，疏散( evacuate的现在分词 )； 排空（胃肠），排泄（粪便）； （从危险的地方）撤出，搬出，撤空

参考例句：

• The solution is degassed by alternately freezing, evacuating and thawing. 通过交替的冻结、抽空和溶化来使溶液除气。
• Are we evacuating these potential targets? 能够在这些目标地域内进行疏散吗？

6 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

7 landslides   

山崩( landslide的名词复数 )； （山坡、悬崖等的）崩塌； 滑坡； （竞选中）一方选票占压倒性多数

参考例句：

• Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
• The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。

8 elevation   

n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高

参考例句：

• The house is at an elevation of 2,000 metres.那幢房子位于海拔两千米的高处。
• His elevation to the position of General Manager was announced yesterday.昨天宣布他晋升总经理职位。

9 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

10 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。

11 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

12 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。