US Coastal Residents Weather Irene

 　　Hurricane Irene is paying a visit to much of the U.S. East Coast, inspiring worry, fear, frustration¹, and - in some cases - a little bit of excitement.

　　Irene is a big storm, and it is expected to move up the eastern coast of the United States to New York City and Long Island, N.Y. It's the first hurricane that area has seen in years. Will Safer lives on Long Island with his wife and daughter. Safer has been tracking the storm carefully and expects the eye of the hurricane to pass right over them or very close. Safer says that worries him, especially because he has a young child.

　　"She's 16 months old... and I can tell you that my anxiety level is much, much higher than it's ever been," he said.

　　Preparing in Virginia Beach

　　Farther south in Virginia Beach, the family of Shannon Hendrix is staying put. She says her family of six has prepared for a power outage and loss of water service. She also admits some of the locals find weathering the storm a bit of a thrill.

　　"There's a bit of excitement from the people here who are staying. There's a lot of hurricane parties at bars and at people's houses, and people are stocking up on libations," said Hendrix.

　　Going even farther south - to the area where Irene made landfall early Saturday - Jill Reuter and her husband and son are staying at a bed-and-breakfast about 50 kilometers from North Carolina's Outer Banks. They were on a beach vacation when the storm started to threaten, so they drove inland and are waiting out the hurricane in Edenton, North Carolina.

　　"We're going to hole up and we're going to read. And it looks like a chess board here, it looks like there are some things available here to amuse ourselves, and that's what we'll do," she said.

　　But, she admits, the weather has her a little rattled². "This is an old house with a tin roof; it's been an interesting night."

　　Assessing damage in North Carolina

　　In Wilmington, North Carolina, the worst of the storm has passed already. Radio host Bob Workmon spent a sleepless³ night preparing local news reports on the hurricane, along with several co-workers. They had power from a backup generator⁴, but most of Wilmington was in the dark.

　　"At this very moment I'm looking at a Progress Energy outage map and it's showing more than 61,000 people without power. That's more than half the population in this county alone," he said.

　　Weathering the storm in the dark is especially eerie⁵, he said, because without electricity, you can't really see what is going on outside, and there were some funnel⁶ [storm] clouds reported. But the worst part of the storm is over for Wilmington, and Workmon is headed home to bed.

　　Catching⁷ it at both ends

　　And you could say Russ Bissell caught both ends of Hurricane Irene: he lives on Long Island, New York, but traveled south earlier this week to secure a sailboat he keeps off the coast in Oriental⁸, North Carolina, very near where the hurricane made landfall Saturday. The boat is on dry land now and Bissell is back in Long Island awaiting the storm. He's pretty good-humored about it.

　　"It struck me funny, I have to deal with this hurricane twice."

　　But he said his concern lies less with his Long Island home or his sailboat than with the people living in North Carolina's flood-prone "low country," who risk losing houses, crops, and livestock⁹. He says no one who has been through a hurricane before will take this one lightly.

1 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

2 rattled   

慌乱的，恼火的

参考例句：

• The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
• Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled. 每逢公共汽车经过这里，窗户都格格作响。

3 sleepless   

adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的

参考例句：

• The situation gave her many sleepless nights.这种情况害她一连好多天睡不好觉。
• One evening I heard a tale that rendered me sleepless for nights.一天晚上，我听说了一个传闻，把我搞得一连几夜都不能入睡。

4 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

5 eerie   

adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的

参考例句：

• It's eerie to walk through a dark wood at night.夜晚在漆黑的森林中行走很是恐怖。
• I walked down the eerie dark path.我走在那条漆黑恐怖的小路上。

6 funnel   

n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集

参考例句：

• He poured the petrol into the car through a funnel.他用一个漏斗把汽油灌入汽车。
• I like the ship with a yellow funnel.我喜欢那条有黄烟囱的船。

7 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

8 oriental   

adj.东方的，东方人的，东方文化的

参考例句：

• China is an oriental country with a long history.中国是一个有着悠久历史的东方国家。
• They maintain a very powerful fleet in Oriental waters.他们在远东海域保持着一支非常强大的舰队。

9 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。