VOA标准英语2009年-Earthquake Victims in Indonesian Villages

By Brian Padden
Padang
04 October 2009

The full extent of the damage caused by the earthquake that struck the Indonesian Island of Sumatra is still being assessed. In the city of Padang the collapse¹ of a number of tall buildings caused a large number of casualties but many other buildings were still intact. This VOA correspondent traveled to some small villages to the North where few people were killed but damage to houses was massive.

 
A woman amid the rubble² of her house which was badly damaged by an earthquake in isolated³ Limo Koto Timur village, Padang Pariaman, West Sumatra, Indonesia, 04 Oct 2009
Earthquake victims throughout the affected⁴ areas of Southwest Sumatra are sorting through the collapsed⁵ remains⁶ of their homes and their lives, and wondering what to do next.

The taller buildings that collapsed in the city of Padang will almost certainly be rebuilt. Large businesses and public organizations have the resources, the labor⁷ force or overriding⁸ social need to make reconstruction⁹ a priority.

For the poor, the future is not so certain.

In some farming villages in the nearby district of Pariaman hundreds died when landslides¹⁰ caused by the quake buried the houses and those within. 
 
In other villages few have died or have been severely¹¹ injured. At an emergency medical tent set up to care for earthquake victims, Dr. David Joba has treated a number of people for shock but nothing serious.

He says about five or six people have mild coughs. 

But the homes in these villages have sustained massive damage from the quake. House after house has either collapsed or has severe structural¹² damage. Some houses were a pile of rubble. Others were teetering, the walls ruptured¹³, the roofs full of holes. Broken glass and piles of bricks covered the ground.

Families are now living in makeshift tents. They are reacting to their loss in a variety of ways.

One family in the village of Lansano lost the small store they operated, the school they ran and their home. When asked what they will do, the mother responds with determination that life go on.

She says they will wake up again!

In the village of Barung, Iza Wati's home is in ruins and she is distraught.

She says what will happen she does not know. What can I do? she asks.
 
Adi Kato runs a small radio station that is affiliated¹⁴ with VOA in Padang, but his family's home is in Barung. He was born in the house in 1944. Now the ceiling has fallen, and the brick and mortar¹⁵ exterior¹⁶ has crumbled¹⁷. His mother's picture still hangs on the inside wall. He says he and other poor people hurt by the earthquake need help from foreign countries, like the United States to rebuild.

"But we have no money," said Kato. "We hope US aid can help me."

His plea was echoed by many villagers. They want to rebuild their lives but they cannot do it by themselves.

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 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。

6 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。

7 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

8 overriding   

a.最主要的

参考例句：

• Development is of overriding importance. 发展是硬道理
• My overriding concern is to raise the standards of state education. 我最关心的是提高国民教育水平。

9 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

10 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。

11 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

12 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

13 ruptured   

v.（使）破裂( rupture的过去式和过去分词 )；（使体内组织等）断裂；使（友好关系）破裂；使绝交

参考例句：

• They reported that the pipeline had ruptured. 他们报告说管道已经破裂了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wall through Berlin was finally ruptured, prefiguring the reunification of Germany. 柏林墙终于倒塌了，预示着德国的重新统一。 来自辞典例句

14 affiliated   

adj. 附属的, 有关连的

参考例句：

• The hospital is affiliated with the local university. 这家医院附属于当地大学。
• All affiliated members can vote. 所有隶属成员都有投票权。

15 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

16 exterior   

adj.外部的，外在的；表面的

参考例句：

• The seed has a hard exterior covering.这种子外壳很硬。
• We are painting the exterior wall of the house.我们正在给房子的外墙涂漆。

17 crumbled   

（把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏

参考例句：

• He crumbled the bread in his fingers. 他用手指把面包捻碎。
• Our hopes crumbled when the business went bankrupt. 商行破产了，我们的希望也破灭了。