VOA标准英语2008年-Texas Begins Arduous Recovery From Hurricane Ik

On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and other federal officials toured Galveston, Houston and other areas of Texas ravaged¹ by Hurricane Ike when it made landfall Saturday. Chertoff says the first priority is to help people stranded² by the storm and others in dire³ need of assistance. But as VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Houston, officials are requesting federal help to get the local economy back up and running.
　
Boats and debris⁴ from hurricane Ike litter I-45 leading onto the island of Galveston, Texas, 14 Sep 2008

Galveston Island and other coastal⁵ areas took the brunt of Hurricane Ike and many areas look like war zones, with collapsed⁶ houses and buildings, flooded neighborhoods, and downed trees and power lines. As bad as it was, however, many officials say it could have been far worse had the storm stalled over the region or grown stronger than a Category 2 hurricane.

Texas Governor Rick Perry says people in the Houston-Galveston area responded well to the disaster.

"Hurricane Ike threw us a hard punch, but it did not dent⁷ our spirit," he said.

Still, the governor is clearly worried about the road ahead. He says refineries⁸ and other important energy infrastructure⁹ came through the storm. But the shutdown of many facilities and oil platforms in the Gulf¹⁰ of Mexico is already having an effect on fuel prices nationwide.

The hurricane's high winds buffeted¹¹ a huge area hundreds-of-kilometers inland.

The storm blew out windows in tall office buildings in downtown Houston and left millions of people across the region without electrical power.

There are long lines at the gas stations that have fuel and generators¹² to power the pumps. Most people are seeking gasoline for their own portable generators, which they are using to run refrigerators and lights. But if businesses and offices remain closed, the economic impact of Ike will rise dramatically.

Texas Governor Rick Perry says the federal government needs to do everything possible to help because this is not just a problem for his state.

"Here is what I want the people of America to understand - Texas has one of the, if not the most vibrant¹³ economy in America today. And at the heart of that was southeast Texas with Houston at the epicenter of that," he said. "So it is abundantly important that Americans give every support that they can to this reconstruction¹⁴ effort, to this recovery effort, because the future of America depends on a state like Texas and a city like Houston to get back on its feet as fast as we can."

Governor Perry hailed the pre-storm evacuation process in which hundreds-of-thousands of people left Galveston and other coastal areas in an orderly fashion days before the storm. As for the few thousand people who insisted on staying behind, he called them "hard-headed".

One of those who remained was Jacqueline Harris, who spoke¹⁵ to local television station KHOU.

"We must have been out of our ever-loving minds to stay for it. But it takes a certain type of person to live on the island [ Galveston] and this is our home," she said. "If nothing else, the people who stayed behind can help people rebuild, to help others who have nothing. We are sharing water, we are sharing our toiletries, we are sharing coffee."

The U.S. Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and many local government entities¹⁶ are engaged in search and rescue operations in the worst effected areas and are providing ice, drinking water and food to people in need.

Thousands of people with special needs or damaged homes have gone to shelters. But most are staying in their homes, waiting for essential services to be restored - something that may take several weeks in some areas.

 

1 ravaged   

毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫

参考例句：

• a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
• The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。

2 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

3 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

4 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

5 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

6 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

7 dent   

n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展

参考例句：

• I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事，但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
• That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大，用不着把它锤平。

8 refineries   

精炼厂( refinery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
• Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。

9 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

10 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

11 buffeted   

反复敲打( buffet的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续猛击； 打来打去； 推来搡去

参考例句：

• to be buffeted by the wind 被风吹得左右摇摆
• We were buffeted by the wind and the rain. 我们遭到风雨的袭击。

12 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

14 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

15 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

16 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。