VOA常速英语2008年-Subprime Mortgage Crisis Devastates Cleveland N

By Jeff Swicord
Cleveland, Ohio
18 March 2008
 

The subprime mortgage crisis has devastated¹ property values and the quality of life in cities across the United States.  In this, the second part of a three part series, VOA's Jeff Swicord takes a look at what the crisis has done to neighborhoods in inner city Cleveland, Ohio.

"Every red dot represents a foreclosure in Cleveland," says, Cuyahoga County Treasurer² Jim Rokakis. He says he is feeling the weight of the collapsing³ subprime mortgage market in Cleveland, Ohio. "As you can see, there are some neighborhoods that literally⁴ on every block, you don't have one foreclosure, you have got 20-30 per block," Rokakis said.

In the past five years, Rokakis has seen homeowner equity⁵ erased⁶, and entire neighborhoods destroyed, by more than 70,000 home foreclosures across the county. 

"What if you are that house in the middle there?" asks Rokakis. "You're not going to sell your house.  This is just between 2000 and mid-2007."

Now the county property tax base that pays for schools, roads and other community services is under assault.  In 2002, the Ohio cities of Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo passed local ordinances⁷ requiring financial counseling for people applying for subprime mortgages. Rokakis says that within two months, the banking⁸ industry convinced state lawmakers to approve legislation to override⁹ the ordinances.

Community activist¹⁰ Barbara Anderson knows first hand what housing foreclosures do to a neighborhood.  When a house is foreclosed and vacated in Cleveland, within days, sometimes hours, so called  "scrappers" start ripping the aluminum¹² siding off the house.  The price for scrap¹¹ metal in China and India is at an all time high.  Anything metal can be sold on the international market. She points out one house where posts were taken from the first floor of a porch, and the second floor fell in.

"This doesn't look like people officially moved out.  This looks like people just got up and left this house and left everything here, and then other people came and just destroyed it," Anderson said.

The scrappers break into the houses, break through the dry wall and rip out the water pipes.  Copper¹³ wiring and aluminum conduit are ripped out of the ceiling.  Metal sinks and appliances are hauled away and sold.  What was a foreclosed home in a depressed¹⁴ neighborhood now becomes an empty worthless shell with little to no value.

Rokakis says the real victims are the homeowners who are able to keep their home. "You know who the real victims are? I'll tell you who the real victims are.  The real victims are people in neighborhoods throughout Cleveland and the suburbs who played by the rules," he says.  "They paid their taxes, they maintained their property, and they woke up one day about six years ago and there was vacant property next to them.  And then they woke up a month later and there was one across the street.  And another month later, there was another one down the block.  Their properties, their entire life savings¹⁵ are tied up in their own home.  That is gone.  That equity is gone because the house can't be sold!"

For now, Anderson and her neighbors must live next to the aftermath. Jim Rokakis says it will take years if not decades to bring many of Cleveland's neighborhoods back to life. 

1 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

2 treasurer   

n.司库，财务主管

参考例句：

• Mr. Smith was succeeded by Mrs.Jones as treasurer.琼斯夫人继史密斯先生任会计。
• The treasurer was arrested for trying to manipulate the company's financial records.财务主管由于试图窜改公司财政帐目而被拘留。

3 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

6 erased   

v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除

参考例句：

• He erased the wrong answer and wrote in the right one. 他擦去了错误答案，写上了正确答案。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He removed the dogmatism from politics; he erased the party line. 他根除了政治中的教条主义，消除了政党界限。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 ordinances   

n.条例，法令( ordinance的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These points of view, however, had not been generally accepted in building ordinances. 然而，这些观点仍未普遍地为其他的建筑条例而接受。 来自辞典例句
• Great are Your mercies, O Lord; Revive me according to Your ordinances. 诗119:156耶和华阿、你的慈悲本为大．求你照你的典章将我救活。 来自互联网

8 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

9 override   

vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于

参考例句：

• The welfare of a child should always override the wishes of its parents.孩子的幸福安康应该永远比父母的愿望来得更重要。
• I'm applying in advance for the authority to override him.我提前申请当局对他进行否决。

10 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

11 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

12 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

13 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

14 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

15 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。