2006年VOA标准英语-Hurricane Katrina Survivors Thank New York Volu

By Gini Sikes
New York
09 June 2006

 
Nolan Bell, left, and the Warren brothers BJ, center, and Michael, install a new metal roof in New Orleans
  
Countless¹ Americans have journeyed to the Gulf² Coast to help those devastated³ by Hurricane Katrina last year.  Among them are many New Yorkers who want to return the generosity⁴ they experienced in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.  Recently a group of Gulf Coast tourism leaders visited the city to reinvigorate interest in their region and pay thanks to these special New Yorkers.

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They rebuild flattened⁵ houses, walk abandoned pets, read books to schoolchildren or counsel the emotionally scarred. Volunteers in the areas hit by Hurricane Katrina are as diverse as the world itself. According to Stephen Richer, executive director of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau, they vary in everything from their skills to their politics to their religion.

"People are there from just about every faith you can imagine," he said.  "Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist⁶, the Mennonites, the Catholic Charities. People are staying in churches, either sleeping on the floor or in sleeping bags, or sleeping on pews in sleeping bags. It's been really interesting."

Thousands of these volunteers are from New York City.

"Many people have been there multiple times," he added.  "There's one young lady, she came early after the hurricane like in September, then she came back in November, December, then she came back in January. She was so personally enriched by helping⁷, at no compensation by the way, that she quit her job here in New York City, gave up her lease on her apartment and is in the Biloxi area until problems are resolved. Again at no compensation and she's not the only one."

New Yorker Virginia Pfeiffer volunteered for five days last May in Pearlington, Mississippi. The tiny hamlet of fewer than 1,700 residents, which has no mayor, only a fire department for local government, was in the eye of the hurricane. For ten days the community was virtually forgotten. A month later the New York Times newspaper compared the area to the primitive⁸ tent city Cité Soleil in Haiti. Before arriving in Pearlington with seven other women, Pfeiffer, 58, a retiree, was warned to get ready for some heavy lifting.

"One of my thoughts going down there was you go to the gym to try to build up your strength, so might as well do it by doing something useful," she said.  "I was carrying a lot of weight, and I had wondered whether I would be able to do as much but I was. I was very pleased with how successfully I was able to lift things and carry them. And I expected to be absolutely exhausted⁹ by the end of the day and I wasn't."

At night Pfeiffer and others slept in plastic tents without indoor toilets. Each day they received their assignment from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. One task involved emptying the entire contents of a house with no standing¹⁰ walls so that it could be cleaned of toxic¹¹ mold. Pfeiffer recalls how anxious the owner was about strangers moving her only belongings¹².

"At first she was very hesitant to have us do this," she recalled.  "I guess they'd been working with her several months to have her agree to do this. But as the time went by, she saw us being careful with her things and trying to organize them in a logical way. We basically put them all out on the driveway on tarps.  She was very social with us at the end. I think we somehow got her over the hump of this overwhelming thing - it looked overwhelming to us, too - of getting this stuff out of the house. She just seemed to connect with us."

Pfeiffer was most touched by the victims of Katrina who wanted to help the volunteer efforts. One woman, rescued from a tree with her neighbor and eight dogs, still had no home but delivered meals to her neighbors.

"There was this black church and the women of the church who had lost everything of their own had decided¹³ when all these volunteers started coming down that they would cook lunch everyday for the volunteers," she noted¹⁴.  "So they served at the Baptist church, there they served lunch to the volunteers everyday. That was just so heartwarming. These women who needed help were coming to help people who were helping."

A cultural exchange took place between the Southerners and their New York visitors.

"I think perhaps we were sort of surprised by how friendly everybody was because New Yorkers have, people think of us as being unfriendly, and it is more that people mind their own business," she explained.  "People are always shocked when they meet New Yorkers and find they are very friendly."

Pfeiffer says she looks forward to returning to visit new friends in the Gulf Coast.

"I would be willing to go back on another one of these trips, although it is the kind of thing where it was such a good experience you are sort of afraid to go because it might not be as good experience the next time," she said.  "But yeah I would definitely like to go back to Pearlington and see the progress and see how things are going."

This demonstration¹⁵ of good will between New York and the Gulf Coast shows no signs of ending any time soon.

1 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

2 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

3 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

4 generosity   

n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为

参考例句：

• We should match their generosity with our own.我们应该像他们一样慷慨大方。
• We adore them for their generosity.我们钦佩他们的慷慨。

5 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

6 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

9 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

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 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。

12 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

13 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。

14 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

15 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。