VOA标准英语2009年-In Dakar, Flood Victims Move to Dry Ground

By Fid Thompson
Medina Gounass, Senegal
23 September 2009

 
Horse cart drivers transport goods and passengers through deep flood waters in Sicap Mbao, a neighborhood on the outskirts¹ of Dakar, Senegal, 12 Sep 2009
For the past two weeks, torrential downpours across West Africa have caused widespread flooding, especially in cities. In Senegal's capital, Dakar, flooding is an annual occurence in the city's crowded suburbs² where unplanned settlements block water run-off.

After weeks of rainfall, many streets in Dakar's suburbs are not passable. Roads have become rivers and entire neighborhoods are cut off from transport.

In the Medina Gounass 阿, a deep pool of water sits where a neighborhood once stood.

The Sarr family moved here 40 years ago. Demba Sarr lives here with 17 other family members. "For 10 years we have been living in terrible conditions," Sarr says, "living under water. It was really awful."

When the home was built, the area was dry. Now every time it rains, the house sits in a foot of water.

So family members are packing up and moving to dry land. They have been allocated³ a new house in the cite⁴ Jaxaay, a government-built city 25 kilometers east of Dakar.

Neat rows of two-bedroom houses accommodate⁵ almost 2,000 families relocated because of the floods. The air is clean and children play in the wide streets. There is electricity in most homes. Running water and sanitation⁶ are in place.

Cheikh Mbow is a researcher at Dakar University's Institute for Environmental Sciences. He studies urban flooding.

"There is some space a little bit out of Dakar where we can develop small cities to relocate people," Mbow explains. "But at the same time you need to put education there, you need to put health care there, you need to develop roads for people to have access to their jobs."

The task is enormous⁷, and progress is slow. Four years after beginning the new cite, just half the planned houses are built while hundreds of thousands of people remain in flood zones.

"We should be thinking in the long term," Mbow adds. "We should take it piece by piece and invest⁸ in very important relocation areas. It is costly⁹ but that is the price to pay to solve this problem."

As they see their new house for the first time, the Sarrs are overjoyed. Though there are only two bedrooms for 18 family members, the relief at living on dry land is palpable.

Demba Sarr's sister is pleased she says, "It's pretty and nice. The house is wonderful!"

Storm clouds rumble¹⁰ in the distance, but Demba Sarr smiles. He says he no longer worries about the rain.

But for hundreds of thousands still living in floodwaters, like this woman, every new rain is another disaster.

1 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

2 suburbs   

n.郊区，城郊( suburb的名词复数 )；四乡；隧；四郊

参考例句：

• The poor suburbs traditionally formed the bedrock of the party's support. 贫穷的郊区在传统上构成了支持该党的牢固基础。
• The new college will be located in the suburbs. 这所新建的学院将设在郊区。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 allocated   

adj. 分配的 动词allocate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The Ford Foundation allocated millions of dollars for cancer research. 福特基金会拨款数百万美元用于癌症研究。
• More funds will now be allocated to charitable organizations. 现在会拨更多的资金给慈善组织。

4 cite   

vt.引用，引证，举例

参考例句：

• It would be an endless task to cite such living examples.这样的实例举不胜举。
• I'll just cite some figures for comparison.我要引用一些数字作比较。

5 accommodate   

vt.容纳，向...提供住处，使适应，顺应

参考例句：

• You should soon accommodate yourself to the new circumstance.你应尽快适应新环境。
• Are there enough shelves to accommodate all our books?有足够的书架容纳我们所有的书吗？

6 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

7 enormous   

adj.巨大的；庞大的

参考例句：

• An enormous sum of money is injected each year into teaching.每年都有大量资金投入到教学中。
• They wield enormous political power.他们行使巨大的政治权力。

8 invest   

v.投资；投入(时间等)；授予，赋予

参考例句：

• I have decided to invest in a new car.我已经决定买一辆新汽车。
• The best time to invest is now.现在是投资的最佳时机。

9 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

10 rumble   

n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说

参考例句：

• I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
• We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定，天要下雨了。