VOA标准英语2009年-Study Probes Racial Tension Between Hurric

Four years ago a flood caused by Hurricane Katrina devastated¹ much of New Orleans. Thousands of evacuees² took up residence in other cities, most notably³ Houston, Texas. While the city was praised for its efforts to host the evacuees, not all went smoothly⁴. A new study shows that many Houstonians resented the newcomers.
　
Two breeches in the Florida Street levee, looking toward the Mississippi River, are shown Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005, in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina moved through the area.

When Jason Shelton came to Houston from Ohio a year after Hurricane Katrina, he was surprised by some of the things he heard from fellow African Americans when referring to the mostly black 150,000 evacuees from New Orleans who had sought refuge in Houston.

While in Ohio black people expressed solidarity⁵ with the evacuees and their plight⁶ and applauded Houston's efforts to help them, Shelton found many African-American Houstonians expressed hostility⁷ towards the newcomers.

"These people are coming here and they are messing up our way of life," said Jason Shelton. "The gettings are good here in Houston and they are bringing things down here and they are making us look bad.' And I found that really fascinating."

Shelton had come to Houston to do Sociology research at Rice University, so he decided⁸ to focus on the evacuees and their acceptance or non-acceptance by the community at large and by various racial groups in particular.

After two years of conducting surveys and analyzing⁹ data, Shelton, who is now at the University of Texas in Arlington, has published a report, along with co-author M. Nicole Coleman, titled "After the Storm: How Race, Class, and Immigration Concerns Influenced Beliefs about the Katrina Evacuees."

What the study shows is that hostility towards the hurricane evacuees remained strong for about a year and then started to subside¹⁰ in the African-American community, largely because of efforts by black leaders to foster a more charitable attitude towards the "brothers and sisters from New Orleans." But Shelton says ill will towards the evacuees remained strong among Whites.

Shelton found that much of the antipathy¹¹ towards evacuees was based on the idea that they were "outsiders," people who had come to take advantage of either government assistance or job opportunities to the detriment¹² of people already in Houston.

He says White attitudes tracked closely with views on immigration. Those who expressed concerns about the city being flooded by immigrants also expressed dismay over the influx¹³ of evacuees, even though they were mostly natural-born U.S. citizens.

Jason Shelton says such reactions to outsiders are based on how people identify themselves in a community, group, class, religion or race and the threat they see posed by people from outside. He cites the example of tensions that have flared¹⁴ in some parts of the country between blacks and Hispanics, which are often based on competition for employment.

"African Americans, maybe not all of us, but some us, look at Latinos and say, 'Hey, if they would not take lower wages maybe we would have those jobs," he said.

As for the Katrina evacuees who remain in Houston, Shelton says there is evidence that they are now losing their image as outsiders and finding their own place in the community.

"For the folks who are there now, the evacuees who have stayed, they have probably taken on some sense of identity about being a Houstonian, which is probably the reason why they are still there," said Shelton. "They are probably working in the city, they are probably part of the life of the city and they are beginning to blend in. That is the community element."

Shelton says the age-old human problem of in-group and out-group hostility is likely to continue, but he still thinks people are capable of seeing beyond their divisions and finding ways to accept one another.

"I do not know how we solve this dilemma¹⁵ beyond just letting life continue to naturally unfold and we get into a deeper sense of community where we do begin to realize that we are all in this together," he said. "We do have to coexist and we are all Americans at the end of the day."

Jason Shelton and M. Nicole Coleman's study of the Katrina evacuees in Houston appears in the September issue of Social Science Quarterly.

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 evacuees   

n.被疏散者( evacuee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Moreover, for multi-exits, evacuees select a exit based on game theory. 在有多个出口时，疏散人员根据对策论选择出口。 来自互联网
• Evacuees wade through flooded area following heavy monsoon rains in Peshawar on Saturday, July 31, 2010. 撤离灾区涉水通过后在白沙瓦沉重的季风降雨在周六，2010年7月31日。 来自互联网

3 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

4 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

5 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

6 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

7 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 analyzing   

v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析

参考例句：

• Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
• He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句

10 subside   

vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降

参考例句：

• The emotional reaction which results from a serious accident takes time to subside.严重事故所引起的情绪化的反应需要时间来平息。
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon.围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。

11 antipathy   

n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物

参考例句：

• I feel an antipathy against their behaviour.我对他们的行为很反感。
• Some people have an antipathy to cats.有的人讨厌猫。

12 detriment   

n.损害；损害物，造成损害的根源

参考例句：

• Smoking is a detriment to one's health.吸烟危害健康。
• His lack of education is a serious detriment to his career.他的未受教育对他的事业是一种严重的妨碍。

13 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

14 Flared   

adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The match flared and went out. 火柴闪亮了一下就熄了。
• The fire flared up when we thought it was out. 我们以为火已经熄灭，但它突然又燃烧起来。

15 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。