VOA标准英语2010年-Outside Port-au-Prince Quake Victims R

After more than a week of reporting on the earthquake from Port-au-Prince, a team of VOA journalists traveled south of the capital to see how people in other parts of Haiti are surviving.  Jeff Swicord reports along the road to Jacmel, a beach town south of Port-au-Prince.

We head south from Port-au-Prince. At about 35 kilometers outside the city the landscape changes from collapsed¹ buildings into banana and sugar cane² plantations³.

On the horizon, helicopters make their way to a landing zone set up by U.S. Marines.  Rural Haiti has received little assistance since the January 12 earthquake.

Here, the Marines were unloading boxes of meals ready-to-eat (MREs) and trucking them to villages that dot the countryside. "We've learned that there are a lot of villages, people have lost everything, just fully⁴ destroyed, just camping out some of them under the stars.  No one is giving aid to them. So our focus for the next five or six days is going to be working on the outlying areas," said Pat Brady, with the organization Crisis Aid.

The mountains around Port-au-Prince were once covered with thick forests. For years, Haiti has had severe deforestation. Many of the trees have been cut down to make charcoal⁵, the preferred cooking fuel. 

The powerful quake created landslides⁶ along the hills. With no trees to stop the slide, the road was buried in places. Local residents have been working to clear a path. 

In the hills, we stopped in the village of Tombe Gateau. These men were selling lottery⁷ tickets. And they set up a roulette wheel to make some money.

This woman had a food stall up and running.  But only a few people had enough money to buy.  Local resident Pierre Hyppolite confirmed what we heard in the valley below: help has been slow to reach remote areas.

"So far we have gotten no food or water," he told us.  "Actually we are thirsty and we want some food.  We also would like to have some tents," said Hyppolite.

Under a tree we met worshippers from the Philadelphia church, dressed in their Sunday best.  During the quake, the church collapsed with 70 people inside.  Seventeen were killed.

"We come here to pray, to help those who are suffering," said Justene Saint Cloux, one of the survivors⁸.

 Heading down from the mountains toward the Caribbean Sea, we see the beach town of Jacmel in the distance.  

Along the way, another reminder⁹ of how powerful the quake was.

Jacmel, much smaller than Port-au-Prince, is known for its artists.  Its old colonial style buildings sustained heavy damage.

"There were six people dead in that house over there.  And three people in that house," said one person.

This man normally sells his art to tourists.  But there are none here since the quake. In desperation, he quickly made some pieces hoping someone would come along and buy them. "You know, I have three children. Now I don't have any help, you know. I am trying to finish some of them.  Because I think if I got them in my hand I could find someone to buy some of them," the artist said.

Finally we reach the Caribbean. A U.S. Navy ship steams away.  After 10 days of reporting on the horrific tragedy, listening to the waves washing up on the shore was peaceful and soothing¹⁰.

1 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。

2 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

3 plantations   

n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园，使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后，那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 charcoal   

n.炭，木炭，生物炭

参考例句：

• We need to get some more charcoal for the barbecue.我们烧烤需要更多的碳。
• Charcoal is used to filter water.木炭是用来过滤水的。

6 landslides   

山崩( landslide的名词复数 )； （山坡、悬崖等的）崩塌； 滑坡； （竞选中）一方选票占压倒性多数

参考例句：

• Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
• The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。

7 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

8 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

9 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

10 soothing   

adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的

参考例句：

• Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
• His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。