美国国家公共电台 NPR 'The Dark Side Of The Railroad': A Locomotive Engineer's Fraught Legacy With The Rails

 

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It's time now for StoryCorps. Today, a story about the railroad. It comes to us from Barnie Botone in Bismarck, N.D. In 1875, his ancestor, along with dozens of other Native American leaders, was taken by train and imprisoned¹ by the U.S. Army. More than a century later, Boton went to work on the railroad. At StoryCorps, he remembers the day he told his grandmother about getting the job.

BARNIE BOTONE: I was so excited. I said, Grandma, I'm a locomotive engineer on the railroad. And she said, my great-grandfather - he was a chief, and the government took him off in a livestock² car. And now my grandson comes and tells me he's on the railroad. She cried with a moan because the irony³ - it was too much to bear. And that's when I told her that I would be the very best I possibly could be.

My first paid trip, I walked into the shanty⁴. And there's a roomful of white guys, and everybody's looking at me. And I had long braids. And this guy says to me, take a drink, Indian. And he puts this jug⁵ right in my face. And I thought, man, this ain't right. I knew it was going to be hard, and I knew I'd be different. But I knew I could compete with any of them.

So I would work eight to 12 hours a day, seven days a week. I could handle long trains, short trains, fat trains, big trains. It didn't matter. And this is where I seen elk⁶ and bears, coyotes. And when the snow comes, it's just beautiful. There's nobody looking over your shoulder. There's nobody there to be your boss.

But there was the dark side of the railroad. And I remember, I was working with this guy. We called him Wickie (ph). He was tying a brake on. He didn't know there was a car down further in the track, and it ran in and cut off his legs. Here, this man's laying unconscious, his legs in the middle of the track. So right away, I got under the car with him. And when I put the tourniquet⁷ on him, he woke up. And he was suffering. He said to me, you think I'm going to die? And I said, no, you're not going to die. Well, I coached him pretty good because he made it. But the very next day, I grabbed my hair like this, and it just came out in my hands - in a bundle.

It was the most horrendous⁸ thing that ever happened to me. But I went back to work because - you know, I grew up with a tough bunch. Whenever we got bucked⁹ off a horse, we'd have to get back on. That's the people I come from. And that's not something that is insignificant¹⁰, especially in these days.

(SOUNDBITE OF BLUE DOT SESSIONS' "PERIODICALS")

MARTIN: That was Barnie Botone, who spent 34 years working on the railroad. He spoke¹¹ with his friend, Gordon Williams, at StoryCorps in Bismarck, N.D. Their interview will be archived at the Library of Congress.

(SOUNDBITE OF BLUE DOT SESSIONS' "PERIODICALS")

1 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

2 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。

3 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

4 shanty   

n.小屋，棚屋；船工号子

参考例句：

• His childhood was spent in a shanty.他的童年是在一个简陋小屋里度过的。
• I want to quit this shanty.我想离开这烂房子。

5 jug   

n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂

参考例句：

• He walked along with a jug poised on his head.他头上顶着一个水罐，保持着平衡往前走。
• She filled the jug with fresh water.她将水壶注满了清水。

6 elk   

n.麋鹿

参考例句：

• I was close enough to the elk to hear its labored breathing.我离那头麋鹿非常近，能听见它吃力的呼吸声。
• The refuge contains the largest wintering population of elk in the world.这座庇护所有着世界上数量最大的冬季麋鹿群。

7 tourniquet   

n.止血器，绞压器，驱血带

参考例句：

• Twist the tourniquet tighter.把止血带扎紧点。
• The tourniquet should occlude venous and lymphatic return.止血带应阻断静脉及淋巴回流。

8 horrendous   

adj.可怕的，令人惊惧的

参考例句：

• He described it as the most horrendous experience of his life.他形容这是自己一生中最可怕的经历。
• The mining industry in China has a horrendous safety record.中国的煤矿工业具有令人不安的安全记录。

9 bucked   

adj.快v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的过去式和过去分词 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• When he tried to ride the horse, it bucked wildly. 当他试图骑上这匹马时，它突然狂暴地跃了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The plane bucked a strong head wind. 飞机顶着强烈的逆风飞行。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 insignificant   

adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的

参考例句：

• In winter the effect was found to be insignificant.在冬季，这种作用是不明显的。
• This problem was insignificant compared to others she faced.这一问题与她面临的其他问题比较起来算不得什么。

11 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。