美国国家公共电台 NPR--East Palestine students put on a play while the city recovers from a train derailment

East Palestine students put on a play while the city recovers from a train derailment

Transcript¹

Students in East Palestine, Ohio put on the Spring play as residents work to recover from the February train derailment that disrupted² life in the small town.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

East Palestine, Ohio, is still recovering from a train derailment in February that resulted in a toxic³ chemical spill. WESA's Oliver Morrison brings us the story of a school play that's been a welcome diversion⁴ from recent problems in the small, rural town.

OLIVER MORRISON, BYLINE⁵: There's always lots of excitement for the spring play put on by students in East Palestine. This year, the middle and high school were joining together to put on "The Lion King." But on the morning of the dress rehearsal⁶, the show ran into some technical difficulties.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: It's got to be a cable issue. I mean, I've checked every freaking thing.

MORRISON: Senior Laredo Cienik, the lead hyena⁷ in this production, stopped by to investigate.

LAREDO CIENIK: Our sound system's not working. I'm like, day before the play, sound system's is not working - what are we going to do if the sound doesn't work at all?

MORRISON: This was just the latest of many setbacks. The school had tried to put on the play in 2020, when the COVID pandemic hit. After a long hiatus, the drama teachers decided⁸ to resurrect the play this year. Lia McTrustry was cast as Nala, the lead lioness, when she was in eighth grade in 2020. This year, she was cast in the same role as a junior. Lia says her voice has changed, and she's had to adapt.

LIA MCTRUSTRY: Some of the songs are very pretty, and I have a very jazz voice. One of the examples is from "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." I have to do a very pretty and (singing) if he feels the love tonight in the way I do.

MORRISON: Exactly six weeks before opening night, Laredo was hanging out with a friend, and they looked at his phone.

LAREDO: He sees this fire coming up from - like, on Snapchat and everything, everybody's like, our town's on fire. Our town's on fire. Oh, my God, this looks like the apocalypse.

MORRISON: Laredo began checking in on her friends. She realized that Lia hadn't been responding to messages.

LAREDO: And I was like, we got to get Lia out of her house because she's maybe three blocks from this derailment.

MORRISON: They left town and spent the night at a relative's house trying to keep their mind off of what was happening. Here's Lia.

LIA: Oh, I was terrified. It was horrible. I was away from my family.

MORRISON: When the decision was made to burn off five cars of vinyl chloride, a toxic chemical, many of the kids had to evacuate⁹. Keller Bupp was one of those kids. He plays the comic relief in the play. His main song, "Hakuna Matata," fits his personality, he says.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KELLER BUPP: (As Timon, singing) It means no worries for the rest of your days.

MORRISON: But the song hasn't quite had the same ring it once did. Keller's parents don't think it's safe for him in East Palestine anymore, so he's one of around 100 students who are learning online now.

KELLER: There's a song called "Shadowland."

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LIA: (As Nala, singing) This was our home.

KELLER: And it reminds me a lot of the town.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LIA: (As Nala, singing) The river's dry.

KELLER: Nala's singing about the ground being dry, and the water's gone, and it's just not, like, a very livable place anymore.

MORRISON: Lia, who sings that song, has a different take. The story is about a lion who is driven away from his home just like they were evacuated¹⁰. Then Lia says the character she plays, Nala, asks the lion to return home.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LIA: (As Nala) Everything's destroyed. There's no food, no water. If we go back together, we can do something about it.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (As Simba) I can't go back.

LIA: (As Nala) Why?

It's kind of like if I don't fight for it, who will?

MORRISON: If they want to bring the town back to the way it used to be, Lia is saying, they have to come back home and fight for it. And for many kids, that means moving forward, showing up at school, going to tennis practice and putting on the school play.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (As character, singing) From the day we arrive on the planet...

MORRISON: For NPR News, I'm Oliver Morrison in East Palestine.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 disrupted   

使混乱，扰乱( disrupt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• An accident has disrupted railway services into and out of the city. 一场事故使得进出该城市的铁路交通陷入混乱。
• A crowd of protesters disrupted the meeting. 一群抗议者扰乱了会议。

3 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

4 diversion   

n.转移，转向，消遣，娱乐，临时绕行路

参考例句：

• Golf is my father's favourite diversion.高尔夫球是我父亲最喜欢的娱乐。
• The magician's talk created a diversion of attention.魔术师的讲话分散了人们的注意力。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 rehearsal   

n.排练，排演；练习

参考例句：

• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
• You can sharpen your skills with rehearsal.排练可以让技巧更加纯熟。

7 hyena   

n.土狼，鬣狗

参考例句：

• African hyena noted for its distinctive howl.非洲鬣狗，以其特别的嚎叫而闻名。
• The hyena's public image is not aided by its ridiculous appearance.鬣狗滑稽的外表无助于改善它在公众心中的形象。

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 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

10 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。