美国国家公共电台 NPR--Eastern Kentucky delays the start of school as people rebuild after floods

Eastern Kentucky delays the start of school as people rebuild after floods

Transcript¹

Teachers and students in parts of Kentucky are reckoning with heavily damaged schools and a delayed start to the school year after deadly flash floods inundated² the region last month.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We've had a lot of flooding news this summer. Floods in the Southwest swept away a hiker in Zion National Park. In Dallas, rains drowned cars and prompted a disaster declaration. And in eastern Kentucky recently, where floods washed away entire communities, kids who were supposed to be back in school are still waiting. WFPL's Jess Clark reports.

JESS CLARK, BYLINE³: Hey, Rachael. Can you show me the camper?

Third-grader Rachael Parks is living in a camping trailer with her family outside their flood-damaged home in Buckhorn, Ky.

RACHAEL: This is the kitchen. Here's the bathroom.

CLARK: During the flood, Rachael spent a harrowing night in the car with her mom, dad and older brother. They parked on a hill and waited as the water rose over their whole neighborhood, terrified that the massive dam holding back Lake Buckhorn would burst.

RACHAEL: It was really sad, scary and overwhelming.

CLARK: Rachael says she gets scared now every time it rains. She's antsy for school to start so she can see her friends again and make sure they're OK. But because the area sustained so much damage, the district had to push the first date back several weeks.

(SOUNDBITE OF METAL CLANGING)

CLARK: At Letcher Elementary and Middle School, Sherry Brown is in the kitchen getting meals ready for the volunteers, who will arrive with trucks and ATVs.

SHERRY BROWN: We load them down with food. And we send them to the haulers.

CLARK: More than a thousand families in Letcher County alone lost their homes. Many buildings in the Letcher County school system were flooded. And the ones that weren't are serving as relief centers. Brown is the cafeteria manager at this mountain school. Now she and a few other staff and volunteers are pulling 16-hour days to cook enough for the entire area - students, families and their neighbors.

BROWN: We got to feed them babies. That's our goal, feed our babies.

CLARK: Meanwhile, the start of school in Letcher is on hold indefinitely. Recovery costs to school districts throughout the region will likely top $100 million.

BRENT HOOVER: We have, as you know, three schools impacted.

CLARK: Several miles away, in neighboring Knott County, School Superintendent⁴ Brent Hoover is taking call after call, trying to figure out how to get three flooded buildings repaired. But his mind is elsewhere.

HOOVER: I have - out there in my car now, I have eight obituary⁵ cards. I've attended eight funerals in six days.

CLARK: At least 39 people are confirmed dead as a result of the flooding, including several children. Hoover is anxious for students to be back in the classroom so the kids have some semblance⁶ of normalcy.

HOOVER: It is very important to me to get back in and have a normal school year.

CLARK: But first, school buildings have to be cleaned. Sewer⁷ systems have to be repaired. And buses have to be rerouted to avoid washed out roads.

UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER #1: I just mean it.

CLARK: At Emmalena Elementary, Kimberly Mosley and her fourth-grade daughter, Tinsley, are helping⁸ unload donations - this time, a brand-new mattress⁹, which Tinsley decides might be too heavy for her 9-year-old arms.

TINSLEY: Oh, I can't carry a mattress.

CLARK: Nearby, empty lots and foundations are all that's left of some students' homes. One of them belonged to second-grader Madison Noble, who died along with her three younger siblings¹⁰ when floodwater swept them from their parents' grasp. Mosley was Madison's teacher. She's coping by throwing herself into relief efforts.

KIMBERLY MOSLEY: Now, when school starts back, it's going to be another hit, when you start having empty seats in your classroom.

CLARK: This is it, Mosley, says. Tinsley props¹¹ open the door as volunteers debate how to get the mattress into the gym.

UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER #2: I guess we'd better go out there and help.

CLARK: She's looking forward to when she'll be back in this building with all of her classmates once school starts.

TINSLEY: I'm kind of sad I got pushed back. But I know why I had to be pushed back.

CLARK: She's got more than a month to wait.

For NPR News, I'm Jess Clark in Emmalena.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

5 obituary   

n.讣告，死亡公告；adj.死亡的

参考例句：

• The obituary records the whole life of the deceased.讣文记述了这位死者的生平。
• Five days after the letter came,he found Andersen s obituary in the morning paper.收到那封信五天后，他在早报上发现了安德森的讣告。

6 semblance   

n.外貌，外表

参考例句：

• Her semblance of anger frightened the children.她生气的样子使孩子们感到害怕。
• Those clouds have the semblance of a large head.那些云的形状像一个巨大的人头。

7 sewer   

n.排水沟，下水道

参考例句：

• They are tearing up the street to repair a sewer. 他们正挖开马路修下水道。
• The boy kicked a stone into the sewer. 那个男孩把一石子踢进了下水道。

8 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。

9 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。

10 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

11 props   

小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。