万花筒 2008-09-05&09-06 避免重蹈“卡特里娜”覆辙

The question on everyone’s mind as they evacuated¹ inland, I think, was is history about to repeat?

We want help!  We want help!

Gustav hasn't hit yet, but inevitably² people will compare the response to this storm to the Katrina response three years ago.

Three years ago, the poorest and most vulnerable were left to fend³ for themselves. The hastily improvised⁴ shelter at the Superdome was a disaster. People were living on highway bridges for days. Some of the sick died in hospital beds and in nursing homes, and the director of FEMA was completely unaware⁵ of the situation, the president merely flew over in his airplane.

This time, there has been mass exodus⁶. The poorest and most vulnerable had buses and trains at the ready.

This time the Superdome is a staging area for the National Guard. This time the sick and infirm are long gone.

This time the director of FEMA was here days ago. 

And on this day, the president was at FEMA headquarters. He’ll be in Texas tomorrow in New Orleans when conditions permit.

We’ll face this emergency together. 

Everyone is saying here for God’s sakes, not another Katrina. We’ll learn in the next couple of days if government learned from its mistakes. 

Starting this Monday, it's the Republicans' turn to make history and all eyes again turn to Charlie Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos for the Republican convention starting Monday on ABC presented with limited commercial by Verizon Wireless⁷.

 

1 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。

2 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

3 fend   

v.照料（自己），（自己）谋生，挡开，避开

参考例句：

• I've had to fend for myself since I was 14.我从十四岁时起就不得不照料自己。
• He raised his arm up to fend branches from his eyes.他举手将树枝从他眼前挡开。

4 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

5 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

6 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。

7 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。