美国国家公共电台 NPR--In a busy Turkish port city, a huge number of people are searching for homes

In a busy Turkish port city, a huge number of people are searching for homes

Transcript¹

A visit to one Turkish town near the area devastated² by this month's earthquakes finds hundreds of thousands of people who were evacuated³ and are now scrambling⁴ to find places to live.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Earthquake survivors⁵ in Turkey and Syria are still facing huge questions about their future like, where will they live? Three weeks after the quakes brought near total destruction to many towns and neighborhoods, NPR's Peter Kenyon visited Mersin, Turkey. It's a busy port city where a huge population is now searching for homes.

PETER KENYON, BYLINE⁶: In a small office in Mersin, real estate agent Samet Celik (ph) says the influx⁷ of people needing housing has been overwhelming.

SAMET CELIK: (Through interpreter) Yes, since the first earthquake, they say most of the people evacuated have ended up here, maybe as many as 400,000 people.

KENYON: That number came from Mersin's mayor, Vahap Secer. But what's getting attention at the moment is how some of the city's landlords have responded. Celik says the influx has spurred many landlords to jack⁸ up rent prices far above what's allowed by law. Sometimes, he says, the rent doubles or triples during the course of a single day. His colleague, Kubra Kabakli (ph), says this is coming on top of a previous housing crisis in Mersin sparked by earlier floods of migrants who wound up here after fleeing conflict at home.

KUBRA KABAKLI: (Through interpreter) Before, we had a housing crisis, with migrants coming here from Afghanistan, Syria and other places. So there was a lot of density⁹ in the population already. Now, with the earthquake victims, it's gotten much worse. It's impossible to accommodate everyone.

KENYON: A couple of blocks from the real estate office, I ran into the Dogan (ph) family, 53-year-old Kasim (ph), his wife, Ozden (ph), and two sons. They're from Malatya, a city that suffered huge damage in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and the major aftershocks that followed. Kasim Dogan says their state-built house was still standing¹⁰ after the first earthquake did heavy damage to their city nearby. But they immediately decided¹¹ to come to Mersin, where there's less damage and fewer aftershocks. When asked how long he thinks they might be away, he says he's not sure. He makes a living repairing balconies. But he would feel embarrassed to charge people right now.

KASIM DOGAN: (Through interpreter) We don't know what we're going to do because even if I go back to my house, my job is to repair balconies. What am I going to do, ask money from people to fix their balconies? I don't know if the business is going to continue. But if living here means starting from scratch, I don't know if we can do that either.

KENYON: But Dogan's son, Umutcan (ph), a 27-year-old civil engineer, seems to have no doubts about the future.

UMUTCAN DOGAN: (Through interpreter) We are going to build again. Of course, we are going to build it again.

KENYON: How the reconstruction¹² is done, of course, is likely to be closely scrutinized¹³. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has been under fire over allegations that contractors¹⁵ were allowed to skip important safety measures designed to help buildings in earthquake-prone areas resist the shock of a quake. Kasim Dogan says the controversy¹⁶ reminds him of a job he once had working on construction of a new building.

K DOGAN: (Through interpreter) I was working on a new building, but the quality of the materials wasn't very good. And then this guy drives up in a new BMW. I asked the owners of the building, who's that guy? And they said, oh, that's our contractor¹⁴.

KENYON: At an aid storage area, a volunteer takes us to a warehouse¹⁷ crammed¹⁸ with donations, mattresses¹⁹ stacked against one wall, boxes of food and other supplies piled high against another. He says it feels like he's in constant motion.

UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER: (Through interpreter) They're organizing by supply and demand. Baby food, baby clothes are important. Most needed now are hygiene²⁰ products, laundry soap, food and baby products.

KENYON: The warehouse usually empties out every three days as aid gets sent to the earthquake zone. And then it fills right back up again with more donations as Turkey responds to its worst earthquake disaster in more than a century.

Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Mersin, Turkey.

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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 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。

3 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

4 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 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。

7 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

8 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

9 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

10 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。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

13 scrutinized   

v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The jeweler scrutinized the diamond for flaws. 宝石商人仔细察看钻石有无瑕庇 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Together we scrutinized the twelve lemon cakes from the delicatessen shop. 我们一起把甜食店里买来的十二块柠檬蛋糕细细打量了一番。 来自英汉文学 - 盖茨比

14 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

15 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

17 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

18 crammed   

adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)

参考例句：

• He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
• All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。

19 mattresses   

褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
• The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。

20 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。