VOA标准英语2010年-Haitian-American Media Play Important

The emotional aftershocks of the earthquake in Haiti that killed or wounded 100s of thousands of people and left millions homeless are still being felt in New York's thriving Haitian American community, nearly 2,500 kilometers and a world away. The Haitian-American media is getting readers and listeners in touch with loved ones and keeping them informed about developments in the homeland.

Adam Phillips | New York 24 January 2010

Radio Soleil marquee lights up a quiet street in the Brooklyn borough¹ of New York (File)

Radio Soleil d'Haiti is a community radio station that has been broadcasting from a storefront in the heart of Brooklyn's teeming² Haitian American community for 16 years. Normally, Radio Soleil has broadcast Haitian and Haitian-American news, public affairs, music and religious programming, mostly in Creole French.

But moments after the earthquake struck in Haiti on January 12, the station became a local community center as well as a vital communications link to the homeland through its hookup with Signal FM, the Haitian mega-station that was miraculously³ undamaged by the quake.

"The phone has been ringing non stop since then. They are trying to locate loved ones! And understand, they cannot all Haiti," said Ricot DuPuy of Radio Soleil.  "They call Haiti the communication system ahs broken down entirely⁴. They hear a devastating⁵ 7.0 quake, they are asking Radio Soleil 'yes we cannot get through, but can you get through? Do you have means to get through? Can you help us?' So they are calling us with the names of the people they are trying to locate. And we go on the air, we air those names, hoping that the loved ones they are trying to reach will somehow find a way to tell them 'I am still alive,'" he explained.

Station manager Ricot Dupuy talks to a caller at Radio Soleil, a radio station and internet broadcast that informs the Haitian community in the US and beyond, in the Brooklyn borough of New York (File)

Many relatives, both living and dead, have been located in this way. Meanwhile, Radio Soleil broadcasts other information, such as places throughout the city where Haiti bound donations of food, clothing and medicine can be dropped off. There have been talks by clergy⁶ offering spiritual guidance and comfort at this time, and interviews with U.S. immigration officials to clarify President Obama's order offering temporary protected status to Haitian nationals who were in the U.S. prior to January 12.

"As much documentation as someone has to be able to show that they were in the country as of January 12, that would serve as proof... the stronger your case becomes," said one expert.

DuPuy also notes that Radio Soleil has been one highly visible public face of the Haitian-American community to mainstream⁷ news organizations.

"CNN. Fox News. ABC, CBS. The Voice of America! This is where they come - Radio Soleil. The New York Times called us 'the heartbeat of the Haitian community,'" he said.

Does he feel gratified to realize he can be so useful?

"Of course it is gratifying in that sense," said DuPuy.  "And certainly out listeners will tell you that when they see me all over the media trying to articulate the urgency and encourage the world to give. There is no way this country could recover from this without the total dedication⁸ and support of the rest of the world."

Radio Soleil is not alone.. Radio Panou also serves the Haitian American community, as do at least four well respected newspapers. Leo Joseph, the editor and publisher of the Haiti Observateur weekly newspaper, has also been striving to offer news and information from abroad to Haitians themselves.

"The Haitians at home need to know that they are not forgotten," he said.  "And the United States government has said that they are not going to forget them. We run stories about how people are organizing in churches, how they are organizing in schools, how stores are organizing, banks are organized. I went to my bank to make a transaction, they asked me to make a contribution. Wherever you go! And this is the kind of stories we want to tell them."

Joseph continues to take his journalistic role as gadfly seriously. In its January 20 Haiti Observateur banner headline read "U.S. Marines install themselves in the [Presidential] Palace". It's an ambiguous message in a land that has been forcefully occupied by more than once by American troops. Joseph acknowledges the U.S. says it's there to help.

"But we don't know what this help consists of because… the government of Haiti does not operate in total transparency," he said. "And you don't know really what they did sign with the American government… They could have signed anything."

What is his position?

"Well, my position is that the government should come out and say what they did or didn't do," said Joseph. "The newspaper is a port and the community is a ship. Every ship needs a port. Whatever is happening in the community, we mirror it, and people depend on us for that. Good news, bad news, we are here!"

It's a role concerned people everywhere will continue to rely on in the coming weeks and months as Haiti begin to recover and attempts to rebuild.

 

1 borough   

n.享有自治权的市镇；(英)自治市镇

参考例句：

• He was slated for borough president.他被提名做自治区主席。
• That's what happened to Harry Barritt of London's Bromley borough.住在伦敦的布罗姆利自治市的哈里.巴里特就经历了此事。

2 teeming   

adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注

参考例句：

• The rain was teeming down. 大雨倾盆而下。
• the teeming streets of the city 熙熙攘攘的城市街道

3 miraculously   

ad.奇迹般地

参考例句：

• He had been miraculously saved from almost certain death. 他奇迹般地从死亡线上获救。
• A schoolboy miraculously survived a 25 000-volt electric shock. 一名男学生在遭受2.5 万伏的电击后奇迹般地活了下来。

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

6 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

7 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

8 dedication   

n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞

参考例句：

• We admire her courage,compassion and dedication.我们钦佩她的勇气、爱心和奉献精神。
• Her dedication to her work was admirable.她对工作的奉献精神可钦可佩。