VOA常速英语2013--台风肆虐菲律宾,受灾邻里互相埋葬

 

Neighbors Burying Neighbors in Philippines Community Destroyed by Typhoon 台风肆虐菲律宾,受灾邻里互相埋葬

PALO, PHILIPPINES — Bodies continue to be discovered in the central Philippines two weeks after an unprecedented¹, devastating² typhoon. At a damaged church in Palo, just south of the city of Tacloban, bodies are being placed in a mass grave.

菲律宾帕罗-菲律宾中部经历了一场前所未有的超强台风过后的两星期内，仍有尸体不断的被挖掘出来。在塔克洛班南部帕罗的一家受灾教堂里，尸体被安放在一个巨大的坟墓里。

The body of 12-year-old Jayvee Venuya is lowered into a hastily dug grave in front of the San Joaquin Parish church. Hours earlier, the girl’s neighbors - returning to their destroyed home - could not ignore the overwhelming stench leading to the decaying remains³ of the sixth grade student.

在圣华金教堂的门前，一名叫杰微·维努亚的12岁少女的尸体被放在一个匆忙挖出的长坑里。数小时前，女孩的邻居，刚刚返回他们被破坏的家里，无法忽略尸体腐烂散发出来的臭味。

The community’s lay minister, Alex Balano Bardilla, said every day an awful odor reveals the fate of additional congregants. “You can detect that there are dead bodies because of the smell. It smells worse. The smell of the deceased animals is different from the deceased people.

教区的信徒传道师艾利克斯·巴拉诺·巴迪拉说，每天一种刺鼻的气味宣告了生死。“通过气味就可以辨别尸体。很难闻，人类的尸臭和动物截然不同”。

"There already are 250 bodies here, and more are being buried every day. Despite the hardships for the living, every effort is being made to give some respect and dignity to the dead,” said Bardilla.

巴迪拉说：“这里已经安放了250具尸体，每天埋葬的人数越来越多。尽管很困难，生者正在尽全力给予死者尊重和尊严。”

All 2,000 families of the San Joaquin neighborhood have been severely⁴ affected⁵ by the typhoon. Only about one-fourth of the families remain. The rest have fled or are dead.

圣华金教区的2000户居民都受到台风的的破坏。只有500家没事，其他家不是逃散了就是死了。

In this spot in the makeshift church cemetery⁶, 17 members of one family have been laid to rest together.

在临时搭建的墓地现场，一家十七口长眠于此。

Visiting the survivors⁷ here every day is Jennifer Hardy⁸ of Catholic Relief Services. She always tries to cheer up the children, who have become homeless, hungry and heartbroken.

每天探望幸存者是天主教救济会会员詹妮弗·哈迪的工作，她一直尝试帮助那些无家可归、饥肠辘辘、伤心欲绝的孩子们振奋精神。

“We are at the site of a mass grave. So I think the reality of the situation has sunk in to some extent, but what is still to be determined⁹ is how long this recovery effort will take. And that is what I think people, as they go through day by day, they will be wondering why are not things better yet,” said Hardy.

“我们就在大坟墓这里。现实已经够糟糕的，但灾后重建工作将需要多久，仍有待确定。我认为，经历了这么多苦难的灾民会想，为什么事情还没有好转起来。”哈迪说。

Most of the San Joaquin adults were well on the way to a better life, relatively¹⁰ prosperous by Philippine standards - employed as teachers or government workers. Their government has not responded, however, as they might have expected. There are no search-and-rescue teams here, no forensic¹¹ specialists, not even a mortician.

过去大部分圣华金居民对生活都有个美好的憧憬。住在比较繁华的社区，都是教师或公务员。然而，灾后政府并没有做到他们预期的应对。这里没有搜索和救援小组，没有法医专家，甚至没有一个殡仪业者。

The authorities have supplied just one critical item  - body bags. 

当局提供的仅有物件-尸袋。

1 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 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。

6 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

7 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

8 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

9 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

10 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

11 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。