VOA慢速英语2020 日本西南部遭洪水和疫情两面夹击（在线收听）

Boxes of face coverings, bottles filled with anti-bacterial agents and a sign saying "Please wear a mask" mark the entrance to a recreation center in Yatsushiro city.

成盒的口罩、大量的瓶装抗菌剂，入口处张贴着“请戴口罩”指示牌，这就是日本八代市一个游憩中心的现状。

The building serves as shelter for people who have fled floodwaters in southwestern Japan this week.

这座建筑本周成了日本西南部逃离洪水的人们的避难所。

Inside the building, pieces of cardboard separate sleeping areas for over 200 men, women, and children. Another sign tells those staying there to take their temperature each morning.

在建筑内，一块块纸板隔出了男女老少的休息区域。另一个标志牌上写着，每天早上所有人都要测量体温。

Such measures show the difficulties Japan is facing as it deals with natural disasters in the time of coronavirus.

这些措施显示出日本在应对疫情同时又要处理自然灾害所面临的种种困难。

Japanese officials have been warning local leaders to include coronavirus measures in their disaster preparations. Residents have been urged to seek shelter with friends or family members, if possible, to avoid overcrowding in evacuation centers.

日本官方一直在警告地方领导人在防灾准备工作中要考虑到预防冠状病毒的措施。官方敦促居民尽可能前往亲友处求助，以避免疏散中心人满为患。

Aiko Ishimura, a 78-year-old retiree, learned from neighbors on Monday about evacuation orders. She lives alone and had planned to shelter at home. But she chose to flee with neighbors.

78岁的退休人员石村爱子周一从邻居们那里得知了疏散令。独居的她原本打算在家里避难，但最终选择了和邻居一起逃离家园。

For Ishimura, spread of the coronavirus is not a top concern.

对石村来说，冠状病毒的传播不是当务之急。

"We don't have many cases here in the first place. We don't really do the whole mask-wearing thing," she added. However, Ishimura said she keeps a mask in her pocket.

“首先，我们这里的病例不多。我们真的不怎么戴口罩。”不过，石村补充说，她的口袋里备着一只口罩。

Kumomoto prefecture, where she lives, has had only 49 of Japan's more than 20,000 cases of the disease COVID-19. Those numbers come from the Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

她居住的熊本县仅有49例新冠肺炎感染病例，整个日本有2万多感染病例。这些数字来自日本公共广播公司日本放送协会（NHK）。

That compares with close to 7,000 in Tokyo, where cases are on the rise again among its 14 million residents.

而有1400万居民的东京有近7000病例而且病例再次呈上升趋势。

Misa Matsuda, a 48-year-old medical worker, knows well about the yearly floods in the area. She also had planned to remain at home. But she got a big surprise Monday when she opened her door. She found river water flowing just a few meters from her home.

48岁的医务工作者松田美沙非常了解该地区每年的洪水情况。她也打算留在家里。但当周一她打开门时却仍然感到非常吃惊。她发现河水竟然漫到了她家仅几米远的地方。

"I thought, there's no way the water would come up here to our house, where it's a bit of a hill," she said.

她说：“我原来以为我们的房屋在山上，洪水不可能漫到这里来。”

Extreme weather disasters have become increasingly common in Japan recently. Last year, Typhoon Hagibis killed nearly 100 people. That storm struck a year after more than 200 died in western Japan in the worst flooding in many years.

近来，极端天气灾害在日本越来越常见。去年，台风海贝思造成近100人死亡。而一年前，日本西部刚刚经历了多年来最严重的造成200多人死亡的洪灾。

Matsuda said she was not too concerned about the new coronavirus because basic safety measures were being taken. But she did worry that residents would gather in the shelter to talk, creating the sort of crowded conditions officials say increase infection risk.

松田说，她不太担心新冠病毒，因为当地采取了基本的安全措施。但她确实担心居民会聚集在避难所里交谈，造成了官方说的那种拥挤的环境，从而增加感染的风险。

City official Takanobu Ono said the evacuation center was limited to 300 people. It can hold up to 500 people.

市政官员小野隆彦说，疏散中心虽然可容纳500人，但还是将人数限制在300人以内。

"Some of (the residents) have just been saved by the skin of their teeth," he said. "The reality is that coronavirus is less of a concern for them...So we're taking the measures we have to but we haven't been so strict about it."

他说：“一些（居民）刚刚幸免遇难。事实上，冠状病毒对他们来说不那么可怕……所以我们正在采取必要的措施，但我们对他们的要求并没有非常严格。”

Close to 60 people have died from floods and landslides caused by heavy rains across the area since Saturday.

自上周六以来，该地区已有近60人死于暴雨引发的洪水和山体滑坡。

I'm Ashley Thompson.

阿什利·汤普森为您播报。

Words in This Story

mask - n. a covering for your face or for part of your face

cardboard - n. a stiff and thick kind of paper that is used especially for making boxes

resident - n. someone who lives in a particular place

evacuation - n. the act of removing (someone) from a dangerous place

pocket - n. a usually small cloth bag that is sewn into a piece of clothing, a larger bag, etc., and that is open at the top or side so that you can put things into it

by the skin of one's teeth - idiomatic phrase. to barely c at doing something.