VOA慢速英语2015 两家石油公司支付尼日利亚漏油污染赔偿

AS IT IS 2015-03-09 Oil Company Pays for Pollution in Nigeria 两家石油公司支付尼日利亚漏油污染赔偿

Two oil spills -- one in 2008 and another in 2009 -- polluted waters near the town of Bodo, in southern Nigeria. A legal settlement provided money to townspeople. The Shell oil company and the affected¹ community successfully negotiated the agreement in January. But the payments did not undo² the environmental damage to the area around Bodo. And people in the town are worried about their future.

The oil spills polluted the waterways of this community with thousands of barrels of crude oil. The townspeople in Bodo depend heavily on fishing for the money they earn. The town said a Shell-owned business operating in Nigeria was responsible for the pollution. Bodo took legal action against the company in Britain. Earlier this year, Shell agreed to pay about $3,000 to each of the more than 15,000 people in the town.

Sylvester Kogbara is the high chief of the community. He says money cannot make up for a way of life that he says was destroyed.

“It is not enough, and it can never be enough. I have mentioned it here. They can’t pay enough.”

Giadon Aagbara Timothy is a local fisherman. He is using his money from the settlement to build a brick house to replace the mud home his family now lives in. But he says there is still a lot of oil in the waters around Bodo, and the fish are either dead or too polluted to eat. He is worried about the future.

“We now live with no choice than being in that abject³ poverty. That, where we cannot go fishing, we cannot go anywhere to get anything to help ourselves.” 

People can still buy fish at the market in Bodo. But the fish were not caught locally. They are imported from places where the water is cleaner.

Some townspeople are still fishing. Marvelous Bonny bought a new fishing boat with the settlement money. He now travels far from Bodo to catch the croaker and salt-water fish that remain popular in its markets.

“Because I have my boat, my engine and my boys. You can see now, this is one of the boats I just cut (made) newly, this very one, and I bought an engine -- 15 horsepower -- for the business. And this is my fiber⁴. I used to do business, transporting people to the other community. And the money is not enough to empower me enough to do such business.”

Words in This Story

spill – n. an accidental release of liquid or fluid

abject – adj. extremely bad or severe

townspeople – n. people living in a town or small community

Shell has agreed to help clean up the oil that spilled around Bodo. Townspeople say their lives will return to normal only when the community’s waters are clean.

1 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。

2 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

3 abject   

adj.极可怜的，卑屈的

参考例句：

• This policy has turned out to be an abject failure.这一政策最后以惨败而告终。
• He had been obliged to offer an abject apology to Mr.Alleyne for his impertinence.他不得不低声下气，为他的无礼举动向艾莱恩先生请罪。

4 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。