美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Completely Catastrophic': Flooding And Tariffs Causing Chaos For Farmers

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

In this country, the forecast calls for more rain in Oklahoma and Arkansas this week; that's not what people were hoping for in states already facing flooding. What's the flooding mean for farmers? NPR's Nathan Rott takes a trip across their underwater landscape.

NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE²: Robert Stobaugh steps out of his mud-spattered red Chevy pickup³ and gives a nod.

ROBERT STOBAUGH: Feel comfortable riding across the water?

ROTT: What's that?

STOBAUGH: Feel comfortable riding with us across this water?

ROTT: Yeah.

STOBAUGH: Lock up and hop¹ in.

ROTT: Yeah.

Stobaugh has been driving around his fields, normally planted with soybeans, rice and corn. Now they're flooded, as are the narrow dirt roads through his fields.

STOBAUGH: We'll watch this and see how deep it gets. I don't have good numbers on this because I've never seen it before.

ROTT: Stobaugh's land sits near the Arkansas River in the central part of the state. But right now it's in the Arkansas River. Jonathan Trafford, the director of the Conway County Office of Emergency Services, is sitting in the front seat.

JONATHAN TRAFFORD: You know, it looks like, basically, the water in the river right now. It's got that - it's got a more reddish tint⁴ to it. You know what I mean?

(SOUNDBITE OF ALARM)

ROTT: That alarm going off is because the water is now up to the truck's wheel wells.

STOBAUGH: Yeah, I just don't feel any comfortable going any further.

ROTT: Stobaugh puts the truck in reverse and backs out to a dry section of road. Outside, he gestures to a flooded field as an osprey soars overhead.

STOBAUGH: This is just one little spot right here that we're looking at. East of here, it's thousands - tens of thousands of acres are underwater.

ROTT: Up and down the Arkansas River, the Missouri River, the Mississippi and their tributaries⁵, many, many fields are flooded like this. Worse, the weeks of rain have prevented many farmers from even planting. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that at this point last year, 90% of the corn crop was planted in the Corn Belt; this year, it's just over half. Add to that the ongoing⁶ trade dispute with China and now the potential for a new one with Mexico, and Stobaugh says the situation is grim.

STOBAUGH: We have a very slim chance of eking⁷ out anything that resembles what we typically, you know, are blessed to do.

ROTT: Jarrod Hardke, an agronomist⁸ with the University of Arkansas' Division of Agriculture, says it's not just happening here.

JARROD HARDKE: I think everybody's had a pretty rough go. But basically, from Ohio to the West, everyone's in a pretty good state of alarm as to where we go from here.

ROTT: The Trump⁹ administration announced a $16-billion package to try to help farmers affected¹⁰ by the trade dispute with China. But a new squabble with Mexico over immigration could hurt farmers more, says Scott Irwin, an agricultural economist¹¹ at the University of Illinois.

SCOTT IRWIN: Mexico is a very important buyer, one of our most important buyers of agricultural products that are produced here in the Midwest.

ROTT: But, Irwin says, there could also be some good news here for growers. Prices for corn and other crops have been low because of surpluses and other factors. With the weather and flooding, those prices could go up.

IRWIN: Mother Nature has basically provided the clearing of the decks of our surplus supplies that we needed to get higher prices.

ROTT: That doesn't take away the sting of the moment, though, Irwin says. Farmers want to farm, and many have already lost money in their flooded-out fields and now-waterlogged equipment. Back in Central Arkansas, Robert Stobaugh can't help but point out the irony¹² of a big irrigation system sitting in the middle of one of his flooded fields.

STOBAUGH: Tears of joy and tears of sadness are the same color, so if you don't laugh a little bit along with this stuff, you can just about go crazy.

ROTT: So for now, he'll try to keep cracking jokes.

Nathan Rott, NPR News, Atkins, Ark.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRACE BUNDY'S "URBAN CHALLENGE")

1 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

2 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。

3 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

4 tint   

n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色

参考例句：

• You can't get up that naturalness and artless rosy tint in after days.你今后不再会有这种自然和朴实无华的红润脸色。
• She gave me instructions on how to apply the tint.她告诉我如何使用染发剂。

5 tributaries   

n. 支流

参考例句：

• In such areas small tributaries or gullies will not show. 在这些地区，小的支流和冲沟显示不出来。
• These tributaries are subsequent streams which erode strike valley. 这些支流系即为蚀出走向谷的次生河。

6 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

7 eking   

v.（靠节省用量）使…的供应持久( eke的现在分词 )；节约使用；竭力维持生计；勉强度日

参考例句：

• He was eking out an existence on a few francs a day. 他每天就靠几法郎勉强度日。 来自辞典例句
• She is eking out her income by working in the evenings. 她在晚上工作以增加收入。 来自辞典例句

8 agronomist   

n.农学家

参考例句：

• The agronomist suggested growing rice on the dried river bed.那位农学家建议在干涸的河床上种水稻。
• She has elected to become an agronomist.她决心做一个农学家。

9 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。

10 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。

11 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

12 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。