VOA标准英语2010年-Haitians Near Quake Epicenter Still Ta

Coastal¹ town of Carrefour, 15 km west of capital, has received little assistance from foreign aid groups or the government

Barry Newhouse | Carrefour, Haiti 25 January 2010

A family in the destroyed town of Carrefour, Haiti sits amid the charred² rubble³ of their home, 25 Jan 2010

The Haitian town of Carrefour sits atop the epicenter of the earthquake that devastated⁴ the region nearly two weeks ago.  Survivors⁵ in one neighborhood have only each other to cope with their losses.

The coastal town of tightly packed neighborhoods is about 15 kilometers west of Port au Prince.  Despite its proximity⁶ to the capital city and the quake's epicenter, residents have received little assistance from foreign aid groups or the government.

In one neighborhood just off the main thoroughfare, about 5,000 residents have received two large tents.  Trucks bringing free water stopped here temporarily a few days ago but have not returned.

One man helping⁷ to dig out corpses⁸ still buried beneath the rubble introduces himself.

"I am so glad to see you this morning, because I have not seen anybody coming.  Some people say why are you breaking into this house?  And I say listen, there is a body under the house, I have to take it out.  I cannot just leave it like that," he said.

Ilosielar Josue is a Haitian-American living in Florida whose extended family is from this neighborhood.  After the quake, he spent several days traveling to check on family and friends.  He has been here for a week and offers to give a tour of the devastation⁹.

"You see those houses?  Those houses have maybe 30 people in them.  Most of them died.  This house over there, yeah, most of them died.  I have a cousin there with two kids," Josue said.

Like nearly everyone else here, Josue sleeps outside in the street on a bare mattress¹⁰ when he is not digging through rubble.  International aid groups have said getting more tents is a top priority for the hundreds of thousands of newly homeless.

A man in Carrefour, Haiti, near the quake's epicenter, attempts to dig out whatever possessions he can salvage¹¹ from his destroyed home, 25 Jan 2010

Some streets are nearly impassable because they are choked with wreckage¹² and makeshift camps.  As he passes several homes crushed by their roofs, Josue asks one neighbor about his situation.

"Two people dead and one in the hospital.  It is terrible.  No help," Josue said.

He says some of the survivors who have relatives living in less affected¹³ areas have already left.  But most people here continue to squat¹⁴ beside their ruined homes.  The streets are now filled with tarps, where people sleep when they are not salvaging¹⁵ their belongings¹⁶ from the wreckage.

"Listen, you can not leave your street and go to another street.  If you leave your property some people will come and steal everything you have," Josue said.

As he passes a home where only the door and two exterior¹⁷ walls are still standing¹⁸, he says the street in front of the house is now a graveyard¹⁹.

"Two little kids were living right here, but one died and they buried him right here," he said.

Josue points down to an unmarked spot in the unfinished road.  He says this is not how the family wanted to bury their son, but they did not know what else to do.

1 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。

2 charred   

v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦

参考例句：

• the charred remains of a burnt-out car 被烧焦的轿车残骸
• The intensity of the explosion is recorded on the charred tree trunks. 那些烧焦的树干表明爆炸的强烈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 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。

5 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

6 proximity   

n.接近，邻近

参考例句：

• Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
• Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

9 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 mattress   

n.床垫，床褥

参考例句：

• The straw mattress needs to be aired.草垫子该晾一晾了。
• The new mattress I bought sags in the middle.我买的新床垫中间陷了下去。

11 salvage   

v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救

参考例句：

• All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed.抢救失事船只的一切努力都失败了。
• The salvage was piled upon the pier.抢救出的财产被堆放在码头上。

12 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

13 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。

14 squat   

v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的

参考例句：

• For this exercise you need to get into a squat.在这次练习中你需要蹲下来。
• He is a squat man.他是一个矮胖的男人。

15 salvaging   

（从火灾、海难等中）抢救（某物）( salvage的现在分词 )； 回收利用（某物）

参考例句：

• A shipping company has made a claim for the cost of salvaging a sunken ship. 某轮船公司要求赔赏打捞沉船的费用。（make a claim 要求）
• It is not uncommon to hear that a shipping company has made a claim for the cost of salvaging a sunken ship. 航运公司为打捞沉船的费用而提出要求，这并非奇闻。

16 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

17 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。

18 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

19 graveyard   

n.坟场

参考例句：

• All the town was drifting toward the graveyard.全镇的人都象流水似地向那坟场涌过去。
• Living next to a graveyard would give me the creeps.居住在墓地旁边会使我毛骨悚然。