海啸后汉班托塔的重建

Rebuilding Hambantota After the Tsunami¹

海啸后汉班托塔的重建

 

Where once there was a bustling² seaside community, little remains³. Located on Sri Lanka's southern coast, Hambantota was a fishing village and home to roughly 12,000 people. Thirteen hundred of them died when the tsunami struck -- nearly 7,000 more were injured. Most of the survivors⁴ have nothing -- but the desire to return to the lives they once had.

 

Forty-year-old Nias Deen began work as a fisherman as a teenager. Despite losing nine members of his extended family to the waves, he wants to go back to sea.

 

Nias Deen: That day, there were around 250 boats. Fifty boats are still here, but I don't think we can use them to work -- they're too damaged.

 

Deen just wants a little hope.

 

Nias Deen: The government said they would give us boats and fishing equipment. So far we haven't got anything. If they did it by tomorrow, we'd be ready to go to the sea and do our normal work.

 

The return to normality may be elusive⁵. The government says the tsunami proves it's too dangerous to rebuild where Hambantota once stood. It's launched an ambitious plan to rebuild the city a few kilometers away - complete with a residential⁶ complex designed to get people out of temporary housing and refugee camps and into real homes.

 

Volunteer Mansur Hassan is among those who are skeptical⁷ about the government's plan.

 

Mansur Hassan: They have lived all their lives like this. They do not know how to live in flats and look after boats in flats and bring their gear here. See, they're not rich people. If they were rich they could transport it in their own vehicles and take it back. But they're extremely poor and they live day by day. So they need to be able to have access to the shore.

 

Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga attended the groundbreaking ceremony where the new town is to be built. Hambantota, a poor area -- home to some of Sri Lanka's Muslim minority -- is to be a showcase for her administration.

 

But for some, like schoolteacher M.W. Sahardeen, the emptiness holds memories.

 

M.W. Sahardeen: There were two rooms... my wife and three children... all destroyed.

 

Still, Sahardeen says, he doesn't want to move away.

 

M.W. Sahardeen: Even though I lost my whole family, I want to live here, in the same area. You never know, maybe a tsunami won't strike again, but there could be another disaster, like a cyclone⁸, or an earthquake or something. People can't save their lives, it's up to God. So I want to live here in the same place.

 

The people in Hambantota may have next to nothing. But for many, it's too much to leave behind.

 

Patricia Nunan, VOA news, Hambantota.

 

注释：

bustling [5bQslIN] adj. 熙熙攘攘的，忙乱的

elusive [i5lju:siv] adj. 难懂的，难捉摸的，易忘的

ambitious [Am5biFEs] adj. 有雄心的，野心勃勃的

temporary [5tempErEri] adj. 暂时的，临时的，临时性

gear [^iE] n. 齿轮，传动装置

groundbreaking ceremony （建）破土动工仪式

emptiness [5emptinis] n. 空虚，空洞

1 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

2 bustling   

adj.喧闹的

参考例句：

• The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。
• This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

5 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

6 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

7 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

8 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。