2006年VOA标准英语-The Changing Face of New Orleans

By Kathie Scarrah
Washington, DC
25 January 2006
 
watch New Orleans report

Before Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Louisiana city of New Orleans last August, 60 percent of the city's nearly half a million residents were African-American.   Five months after Katrina, it appears the face of the "Big Easy" may be changing. 

------------------------------------------

When Hurricane Katrina forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands from metropolitan¹ New Orleans, many of those who left were low-income African-American residents.  City officials estimate that half of those residents will never return.  It is a situation that recently got New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin in trouble when he expressed his hopes that people would come back.      

 

 
Mayor Ray Nagin
  

"This city will be chocolate at the end of the day. This city will be a majority African American city, it's the way God wants it to be," said the mayor.

Although he later apologized, the mayor's comments angered many who believed his words could incite² racial tensions between African-American residents who have returned to the city, and large numbers of immigrant Hispanic construction workers who came to New Orleans looking for jobs.  

Duane Gardner  
  
Duane Gardner, an African-American carpenter, says Hispanic workers are willing to accept lower wages and are taking jobs that used to go to the city's largely African-American workforce³.

"I see a lot of Hispanics eating the jobs up.  I mean, hell, you’ve got to be a blind man not to see that."

Gannon Web owns a demolition⁴ business in New Orleans.  When he was looking for workers in October, he would have preferred to hire local, mostly African-American workers, but they had not yet returned.  

Gannon Web  
  
"It's whoever wants to make money right now,” said Mr. Web. “If they want to come back in here they can make money, but as you see a lot of Mexicans are coming in here right now."

Looking at the labor⁵ force in New Orleans as a race issue isn't all that bad says Audrey Singer, an immigration expert with the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution. 

"Even though this was a natural disaster, the social aspect of what's happened after Katrina, the way that race relations are now talked about in public forums⁶, in politics, in every day life.  I think that's one effect of the storm.  And I think it's actually good for America," she says.

Ms. Singer says New Orleans is a city that has thrived with its ethnic⁷ communities.  

Amy Singer, Brookings Institution  
  
"The culture there is about mixture, acceptance and change, basically.  So I think that New Orleans does have this in its history.  And this is going to be a deep marker in its history, but I think New Orleans can adapt and still be New Orleans even though it's going to change a lot. "

The number of African-Americans who return to New Orleans will also affect how the city is rebuilt.  Under a city plan, 50 percent of former residents have to come back to a neighborhood.  If they do not return, the city may decide not to rebuild that part of New Orleans.

1 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

2 incite   

v.引起，激动，煽动

参考例句：

• I wanted to point out he was a very good speaker, and could incite a crowd.我想说明他曾是一个非常出色的演讲家，非常会调动群众的情绪。
• Just a few words will incite him into action.他只需几句话一将，就会干。

3 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

4 demolition   

n.破坏,毁坏,毁坏之遗迹

参考例句：

• The church has been threatened with demolition for years. 这座教堂多年来一直面临拆毀的威胁。
• The project required the total demolition of the old bridge. 该项目要求将老桥完全拆毁。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 forums   

讨论会； 座谈会； 广播专题讲话节目； 集会的公共场所( forum的名词复数 )； 论坛，讨论会，专题讨论节目； 法庭

参考例句：

• A few of the forums were being closely monitored by the administrators. 有些论坛被管理员严密监控。
• It can cast a dark cloud over these forums. 它将是的论坛上空布满乌云。

7 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。