美国国家公共电台 NPR On Mother's Day In Puerto Rico, Hope To Visit A Mother's Grave Turns To Anguish

On Mother's Day In Puerto Rico, Hope To Visit A Mother's Grave Turns To Anguish¹

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The hurricane that wrecked² so many lives in Puerto Rico also disrupted efforts to honor the dead. NPR first reported last December on a cemetery³ that was still closed. The storm caused a landslide⁴ that affected⁵ nearly 1,800 graves in the mountain town of Lares. Yesterday, some - but not all - residents got a chance to return to that cemetery. NPR's Adrian Florido reports that it came on a poignant⁶ day.

ADRIAN FLORIDO, BYLINE⁷: The occasion was Mother's Day. And yesterday, a little before 8 a.m., the city official stood before the gates and reminded the crowd that only a part of the cemetery was reopening.

UNIDENTIFIED LARES CITY OFFICIAL: (Speaking Spanish).

FLORIDO: He said, "the rest was blocked off by a plastic fence. Please don't cross it."

(SOUNDBITE OF GATE OPENING)

UNIDENTIFIED LARES CITY OFFICIAL: (Speaking Spanish). OK?

FLORIDO: The crowd streamed in, and Orlando Gonzalez got to work scrubbing the filth⁸ off the marble slab⁹ covering his mother's tomb and engraved¹⁰ with her name. And he said he had a confession¹¹.

ORLANDO GONZALEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

FLORIDO: "I broke the rules last night," he said. At 9:30, he'd hopped¹² the cemetery fence and poured bleach¹³ all over the marble slab to loosen almost two years' worth of grime.

GONZALEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

FLORIDO: Now he was scrubbing it off proudly, he said, for his mother.

But people like Gonzalez, who actually got to see their mothers' tombs, were few yesterday. Many more were like Esther Perez, frustrated¹⁴ or disappointed or furious because, upon entering the cemetery, they realized their mothers' graves remain off-limits.

ESTHER PEREZ: (Speaking Spanish).

FLORIDO: "The mayor went on TV and everything and said it would be ready for Mother's Day," Perez said. "What's ready? A third - not even a third of the cemetery. This mayor is worthless," she said. The mayor, Roberto Pagan Centeno, stood nearby.

ROBERTO PAGAN CENTENO: (Speaking Spanish).

FLORIDO: "We came to an agreement with the health department," the mayor said, "because they are the ones who say how much access we can give. We can't break the law."

The crisis at the cemetery, he said, is the biggest he's faced during his 15 years in office. The mayor says every day, desperate residents show up at city hall and demand to know when the cemetery will open. This is a town where tradition and reverence¹⁵ for the dead run deep, he said. Carmen Roman said the 20 months since the storm had been a nightmare. Before the storm, she and her mother, Eligia Gonzalez, would visit her grandmother's grave not just on Mother's Day.

CARMEN ROMAN: (Speaking Spanish).

FLORIDO: They also came several times a week to clean her tomb, she said. They haven't been able to do that at all. On Sunday, mother and daughter arrived at the cemetery with flowers in hand, only to learn the grave was in the part of the cemetery that remained closed.

ROMAN: (Speaking Spanish).

FLORIDO: "We feel really hurt by this," Roman said. "God is shedding tears." The mayor, Roberto Pagan Centeno, said it'll be a long time before this town's ordeal¹⁶ is over. The plan is to exhume¹⁷ about 5,000 cadavers¹⁸ from the damaged section and move them to a new cemetery he is building nearby. Two weeks ago, the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved $2.3 million to begin the work. But the entire project, the mayor said, will cost 30 to 50 million, and it could take years to complete.

Adrian Florido, NPR News, Lares, Puerto Rico.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRISTEZA'S "RMS 2000")

1 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

2 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

3 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

4 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 poignant   

adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的

参考例句：

• His lyrics are as acerbic and poignant as they ever have been.他的歌词一如既往的犀利辛辣。
• It is especially poignant that he died on the day before his wedding.他在婚礼前一天去世了，这尤其令人悲恸。

7 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。

8 filth   

n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥

参考例句：

• I don't know how you can read such filth.我不明白你怎么会去读这种淫秽下流的东西。
• The dialogue was all filth and innuendo.这段对话全是下流的言辞和影射。

9 slab   

n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上

参考例句：

• This heavy slab of oak now stood between the bomb and Hitler.这时笨重的橡木厚板就横在炸弹和希特勒之间了。
• The monument consists of two vertical pillars supporting a horizontal slab.这座纪念碑由两根垂直的柱体构成，它们共同支撑着一块平板。

10 engraved   

v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• The silver cup was engraved with his name. 银杯上刻有他的名字。
• It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back. 此件雕刻精美，背面有花饰图案。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

12 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

13 bleach   

vt.使漂白；vi.变白；n.漂白剂

参考例句：

• These products don't bleach the hair.这些产品不会使头发变白。
• Did you bleach this tablecloth?你把这块桌布漂白了吗？

14 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》

15 reverence   

n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• We reverence tradition but will not be fettered by it.我们尊重传统，但不被传统所束缚。

16 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

17 exhume   

v.掘出，挖掘

参考例句：

• His remains have been exhumed from a cemetery in Queens,New York City.他的遗体被从纽约市皇后区的墓地里挖了出来。
• When the police exhume the corpse,they discover trace of poison in it.警方掘出尸体，发现有中毒的痕迹。

18 cadavers   

n.尸体( cadaver的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Human cadavers were the only known source of hGH, and demand was intense. 人类尸体是hGH已知的惟一来源，而且需求广泛。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 口蹄疫疯牛病
• Will there be enough cadavers for each group this term? 这个学期每一个组都有足够的尸体吗？ 来自电影对白