美国国家公共电台 NPR California Wildfires Reignite Old Trauma For Survivors Of Last Year's Blazes

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

As wildfires rage across California, President Donald Trump¹ has declared a major disaster in the state, opening up federal funds to help with the recovery. Several blazes are less than an hour away from one community affected² badly by fires less than a year ago - Sonoma County. They destroyed thousands of homes and killed 44 people. KQED's Lesley McClurg reports that the new blazes are a terrifying reality for people still recovering.

LESLEY MCCLURG, BYLINE³: The view from Danielle Bryant's bedroom window in Santa Rosa is unsettling.

DANIELLE BRYANT: The orange-tint sky is just enough for me to set off my anxiety and feelings of fear.

MCCLURG: Last year, on October 8, Bryant awoke to howling winds. The air was hot. They could feel the flames. She and her husband jumped in their car and fled with just the clothes on their backs.

BRYANT: I feared for our life. We were running for our life. At that point it was starting to sink in that we were running for our lives.

MCCLURG: When they returned the next day, the street was desolate⁴. The air reeked⁵ of chemicals.

BRYANT: Nothing can ever prepare you for what we saw. I was speechless. I couldn't even cry.

MCCLURG: For the past year, Bryant has struggled with symptoms of trauma⁶ - sleeplessness⁷, nightmares, irritability⁸, loss of appetite.

BRYANT: These last 10 months have been one of the hardest times. It is the hardest time of my life because what you have to do after an event like this is you have to go on living.

MCCLURG: For almost a year, psychologist Francis Fuchs has counseled fire victims in Santa Rosa.

FRANCIS FUCHS: It might not seem very rational to be having a trauma response this late, but it's quite normal.

MCCLURG: She says the smell of smoke or emergency sounds can trigger flashbacks or panic attacks.

FUCHS: Like airplanes, helicopters, news flashes and the sound of the alert system going off on your phone.

MCCLURG: If people feel a flood of anxiety, Fuchs recommends stopping and taking a deep breath.

FUCHS: Saying, OK, this is the way I'm feeling but I know that it's not close. I'm paying attention. But often just connecting with someone and not trying to do it alone.

(SOUNDBITE OF CAR DOOR CLOSING)

MCCLURG: Danielle Bryant and her husband are now living in a temporary apartment. It's not far from their old house. She takes me over to see the ruins. As she backs out of her narrow parking spot, she pauses.

BRYANT: This, just seeing the smoke off to the East, I get this sense of dread⁹. Just immediately I go, ugh, oh no, not again.

MCCLURG: Her old neighborhood is about a mile away. She's made the trip almost weekly for the last year.

BRYANT: It was like visiting like a grave site. So it was a place to just come and be and to cry.

MCCLURG: As we drive down her old street we pass the skeleton of a burned-out car.

BRYANT: You can still see some of the trees that are still standing¹⁰. Their trunks are burnt.

MCCLURG: But the suburb is also coming back to life. Construction crews are framing new homes.

BRYANT: Let me see if I can kind of snake into Hemlock¹¹ Street.

MCCLURG: Bryant's lot is overgrown with weeds.

BRYANT: You can see our street sign.

MCCLURG: She treads through some bushes.

BRYANT: See this outline, this box? That was it. That was our home.

MCCLURG: Next door, a crane drops a pile of plywood beams and green sprouts¹² are pushing through the ground.

BRYANT: This green is hopeful to me. This is just a sign that nature comes back and is forgiving and that we can live on. We can come back.

MCCLURG: And is there any part of you that's questioning living in the same place?

BRYANT: Yes. That was something that we had - it was very mixed because it is going back to the place of trauma, but it's also going back to our home.

MCCLURG: They hope to move back in in about a year. For NPR News, I'm Lesley McClurg in Santa Rosa.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 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。

4 desolate   

adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂

参考例句：

• The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
• We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后，我们都觉得万分孤寂。

5 reeked   

v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的过去式和过去分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象）

参考例句：

• His breath reeked of tobacco. 他满嘴烟臭味。
• His breath reeked of tobacco. 他满嘴烟臭味。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

7 sleeplessness   

n.失眠，警觉

参考例句：

• Modern pharmacy has solved the problem of sleeplessness. 现代制药学已经解决了失眠问题。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The doctors were puzzled by this strange continuous sleeplessness. 医生们对他的奇异的不眠感到疑惑。 来自英语晨读30分（高三）

8 irritability   

n.易怒

参考例句：

• It was the almost furtive restlessness and irritability that had possessed him. 那是一种一直纠缠着他的隐秘的不安和烦恼。
• All organisms have irritability while alive. 所有生物体活着时都有应激性。

9 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

11 hemlock   

n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉

参考例句：

• He was condemned to drink a cup of hemlock.判处他喝一杯毒汁。
• Here is a beech by the side of a hemlock,with three pines at hand.这儿有株山毛榉和一株铁杉长在一起，旁边还有三株松树。

12 sprouts   

n.新芽，嫩枝( sprout的名词复数 )v.发芽( sprout的第三人称单数 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• The wheat sprouts grew perceptibly after the rain. 下了一场雨，麦苗立刻见长。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The sprouts have pushed up the earth. 嫩芽把土顶起来了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》