美国国家公共电台 NPR As Hurricane Irma Nears, Gasoline Is In Short Supply For Floridians

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

There's a gasoline shortage in Florida, and it's getting worse. As Hurricane Irma heads towards the state, a lot of people are on highways, trying to get away from the storm's path. Even those that are staying put are filling their gas tanks to be on the safe side. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE¹: All over Florida today, gasoline stations were shut down, their empty fuel tanks roped off or covered with plastic bags. Where gas was available, long lines of cars waited to fill up. Aaron Izquierdo brought his father's car to a Shell station in Doral today.

AARON IZQUIERDO: It's horrible, man. Just yesterday I was in line for about two hours to wait for gas. And then by the time we got to the pump, there was no gas.

ZARROLI: Irma is following close on the heels of Harvey, which hit Texas and Louisiana and shut down a quarter of the nation's refining capacity. But the problem in Florida isn't supply. It's demand. James Miller² of the Florida Retail³ Association says usually gasoline companies know where a hurricane is going to hit and can target supplies to that region.

JAMES MILLER: But unfortunately because everyone panicked due to the uncertainty⁴ and quite frankly⁵ the size of the storm, we ended up with shortages in multiple areas of the state.

ZARROLI: As a result, 40 percent of the filling stations in the Miami area were without fuel today. It was 60 percent in Gainesville. Even in Tampa, which is far from the expected landfall, more than a third of the stations had no gas. Patrick DeHaan is a senior analyst⁶ at the website GasBuddy.

PATRICK DEHAAN: The amount of motorists filling their tank is overwhelming the system. Trucks can't get to stations fast enough. And at the rack, or what some might call a fuel terminal, tanker⁷ trucks just can't be loaded as fast as motorists are filling their tanks.

ZARROLI: Officials are trying to keep supplies flowing. To keep fuel trucks coming in, they've waived⁸ restrictions⁹ on the number of hours that truck drivers can work and are even giving trucks police escorts. And the White House has lifted rules to allow foreign-flagged ships to bring in fuel. Still, it's dicey finding gas. Scott Alderman of Broward County went for a bike ride today.

SCOTT ALDERMAN: I happened by a gas station that did not have gas. But a tanker was pulling right in. And like the pied piper, there were, like, 15, 20 cars following him.

ZARROLI: Alderman has lived through hurricanes before, and he knows that if the electricity goes out during the storm, it may be days before gas is available again. So as soon as he saw the tanker coming, he took action.

ALDERMAN: I raced home on my bike to tell my wife, hey, you need to go fill up. And she had about an hour wait within five minutes of me getting home and telling her.

ZARROLI: Florida gets almost all of its gasoline through seaports¹⁰, and once they close tonight, it will be that much harder to get fuel. But people typically tend to stop driving as much in the aftermath of a big hurricane as they rebuild their lives, and supplies should gradually balance out again. Jim Zarroli, NPR News.

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1 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。

2 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

3 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

4 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

5 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

6 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

7 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

8 waived   

v.宣布放弃( waive的过去式和过去分词 )；搁置；推迟；放弃（权利、要求等）

参考例句：

• He has waived all claim to the money. 他放弃了索取这笔钱的权利。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I waived the discourse, and began to talk of my business. 我撇开了这个话题，开始讲我的事情。 来自辞典例句

9 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

10 seaports   

n.海港( seaport的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Airports have joined seaports as ports of entry for the visiting foreigner. 机场和海港一样成为来访的外国人的入境关口。 来自互联网
• Sanya has 16 seaports, 10 islands and 180km of coastline. 三亚有16个港口、10个海岛和180公里的海岸线。 来自互联网