NPR 09-14:The Strange Blessing That Brought Me Home飓风，奇妙地拉近了

After Hurricane Katrina, Robin¹ Baudier moved back to New Orleans to be with her family. She believes the experience of living in a FEMA trailer and helping² rebuild her parents' home is a blessing³.

From NPR News. This is weekend edition. I’m Liane Hansen.

I believe in mystery.
I believe in family.
I believe in being who I am.
I believe in the power of failure.
And I believe normal life is extraordinary.
This I Believe.

Today’s This I Believe essay began its life one year ago as a journal entry. Its writer Robin Baudier later sent it to us. Baudier is a 25-year-old graduate of Tulane University. She and her extended family live in New Orleans. Here’s our series curator, independent producer, Jay Allison.

When Robin Baudier wrote her essay last year, she was living in a FEMA trailer with her family. One night in September 2006 she began to write in the present tense, trying to capture her contradictory⁴ feelings and see if they added up to a belief. When we recorded her recently reading this essay, she said the feeling of that time came right back to her. And although her circumstances have changed somewhat, her belief hasn’t. Here is Robin Baudier with her essay for This I Believe.

I believe in strange blessings⁵. I’ve never been in such good shape. I’ve never spent so much time outside. I caught the last three sunsets in a row and unless I’m mistaken, I’ll catch the one tonight. I’ve never felt so close to my family. I’ve never felt so sure that I was doing everything right. I lived in a FEMA trailer with my parents, I've moved home from L.A February before last, quitting the job it had taken me almost a year of miserable⁶ internships to get, to make sure firsthand that my family was okey.

Now I work on my dad’s house on the weekends and at his dental laboratory during the week. Shutting the curtain on the bunk⁷ bed area doesn't always cut it for privacy, so I spend a lot of time outside exercising the dog, and just try to get away from people. I take her out on the levee and run to get rid of all my frustration⁸ with not being able to have a job that will allow me to afford rent. I run to get out when I have been stuck inside, reading to escape from life, not even able to sit up straight in my tiny bunk. I run to feel like I am doing something when I am overwhelmed by all the things I can’t do anything about.

The reason I caught the sunset yesterday is that we have been waiting for two weeks for FEMA to come to fix the leak in our plumbing⁹. I was so frustrated¹⁰ with running out in a towel to turn the water off then, mopping up the floor with their rotating assortment¹¹ of towels that we have hung outside the trailer that I decided¹² to put on my bathing suit and shampoo under the hose. But God, that was a beautiful sunset last night!

I know it might sound strange that I am indirectly¹³ describing Hurricane Katrina as a blessing since it took my family's home and the covering from it has taken over our lives. But I love my awful life so much right now that I find it hilarious¹⁴ when I am unable to convince anyone else of it

I make less than the people working at Popeye's. I repeatedly have to suffer the indignity¹⁵ of telling people that I live with my parents. But I have finally gotten rid of back pain that the doctors always told me was from stress. I occasionally have weekends when I realize that I am building a house with my dad, which I used to dream about when I was six and watching Bob Villa¹⁶ with him. And I am back where I belong. No longer kidding myself that there is anywhere else I want to be. I believe in strange blessings because taking away my house, brought me home.

Robin Baudier with her essay for This I Believe, originally written as a diary entry one year ago. Baudier’s family still lives in the FEMA trailer. She has found an apartment in New Orleans and continues to work as a dental technician for her father. The whole family is working together to rebuild their house in New Orleans hoping to be done by Christmas. Baudier says that by New Orleans' standards, she and her family are the lucky ones.

Everyone is invited to write for our series at npr.org/thisibelieve. You can find out more and read what thousands of others have written. For This I Believe. I’m Jay Allison.

Next week on npr.org, a This I Believe essay from listener T. Susan Chang of Leverett, Massachusetts, on her belief in the analog¹⁷ world. This I Believe is independently produced by Jay Allison, Dan Gediman, John Gregory and Viki Merrick. Support for This I Believe comes from Prudential Retirement¹⁸.

1 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

2 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。

3 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

4 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。

5 blessings   

n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福

参考例句：

• Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马，焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

7 bunk   

n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话

参考例句：

• He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
• Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。

8 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。

9 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 assortment   

n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集

参考例句：

• This shop has a good assortment of goods to choose from.该店各色货物俱全，任君选择。
• She was wearing an odd assortment of clothes.她穿着奇装异服。

12 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。

13 indirectly   

adv.间接地，不直接了当地

参考例句：

• I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
• They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。

14 hilarious   

adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed

参考例句：

• The party got quite hilarious after they brought more wine.在他们又拿来更多的酒之后，派对变得更加热闹起来。
• We stop laughing because the show was so hilarious.我们笑个不停，因为那个节目太搞笑了。

15 indignity   

n.侮辱，伤害尊严，轻蔑

参考例句：

• For more than a year we have suffered the indignity.在一年多的时间里,我们丢尽了丑。
• She was subjected to indignity and humiliation.她受到侮辱和羞辱。

16 villa   

n.别墅，城郊小屋

参考例句：

• We rented a villa in France for the summer holidays.我们在法国租了一幢别墅消夏。
• We are quartered in a beautiful villa.我们住在一栋漂亮的别墅里。

17 analog   

n.类似物，模拟

参考例句：

• The analog signal contains high-frequency video information,which helps make up the picture.模拟信号包括有助于构成图像的高频视频信息。
• The analog computer measures continuously,without proceeding step by step.模拟计算机不是一步一步地进行，而是连续地进行量度。

18 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。