VOA标准英语2011--Many Residents from Japan Flee to US

The nuclear crisis in Japan are causing many Japanese and Americans living there to seek a safe haven¹ with their family and friends in the U.S. Some of them say they are not returning to their homeland until it is safe to do so. Elizabeth Lee spoke² to some of them when they got off the plane at the airport in Los Angeles.
At one of the busiest airports in the world, it is more than the joy of seeing family for the travelers from Japan.
"I hate to say the word grateful but I'm grateful. It's with a heavy heart that I say that," said Lidnsay Sakamoto. She, her husband and their friends live near Tokyo. They did not want to come to Los Angeles and leave their relatives behind. But the nuclear crisis there was too close to home.
"We finally made the ultimate decision that it was time to go. And it's very heart breaking because all our spouses³ are Japanese and they don't want to necessarily leave their families and leave their country but to be safe and to protect us they all came," she said.
With a two year old son, Kai Odagiri also decided⁴ to seek safety in the U.S. with her sister. "Things getting worst that's why we have to leave - for him," she said.
Even though there is a sense of relief for many of these travelers when they finally land in the U.S. the terror of the earthquake still haunts them.
"I was so scared. It [shook, a] very big shake," said Odagiri.
Lyle Carr has lived through earthquakes before. But this one was different. "Earthquakes are normally enough in Japan that if you're in a coffee shop and one hits and I'm talking like this its oh we have an earthquake then you go back to talking like nothing's like it's something that happened all the time. This one didn't stop," he said.
"I jumped on my bed and tried to take cover because it was the safest area in our particular but things started falling on me so I left really fast and I went outside and stood on the ground while things rocked," said Sakamoto.
Many of these travelers say they are glad to have friends and family to stay with in the U.S. but they look forward to the day when they can safely go home again.

1 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

2 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。

3 spouses   

n.配偶，夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jobs are available for spouses on campus and in the community. 校园里和社区里有配偶可做的工作。 来自辞典例句
• An astonishing number of spouses-most particularly in the upper-income brackets-have no close notion of their husbands'paychecks. 相当大一部分妇女——特别在高收入阶层——并不很了解他们丈夫的薪金。 来自辞典例句

4 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。