VOA常速英语2007-Evacuees from California Wildfires Find Shelter,

By Mike O'Sullivan
San Diego
25 October 2007

Wildfires have driven more than half a million people from their homes in California, and destroyed over 1,500 homes and businesses. Mike O'Sullivan reports from San Diego, California, some evacuees¹ have found refuge at a race track, where they are making the best of a difficult situation.

This facility in Del Mar², north of San Diego, in normal times is a fairgrounds and race track. Now it is temporary home to some 2,000 people, and even more evacuated³ dogs and horses. There are just as many volunteers, who collect and distribute donations of food and clothing.

Charlotte Leger of Fallbrook, California, is here for her fourth day. She fears her house is lost, like most in her neighborhood.

"I believe my house is completely gone. It was in Fallbrook. We lost nearly all the houses there. It jumped the freeway. But I'm looking forward to finding out for sure," she said. "We're still not allowed to go back into the area at all. Fallbrook's completely closed off, so we can't get in, but you just try to go on with your life and help others that are going through the same thing, and give it your best shot."

She is keeping her spirits up, with help from volunteers at this evacuation center.

"It has been very comfortable, although we would like to be home," she said. "Everyone has just had such an outpouring of camaraderie⁴ with each other. The army is here, the Red Cross is here. Everyone has just been excellent."

Vicky Harjo lives in a trailer, also in the community of Fallbrook. She also believes her home was lost to the fires. She says her religious faith is helping⁵ her cope with the crisis, and her two small dogs are helping. She brought them here at the invitation of shelter officials.

 "They said, bring some papers, or anything important," she said. "I grabbed my Chihuahuas, and I got some dog food, and that's all we brought."

Shiva Moradfar of Rancho Santa Fe believes her home escaped the fire. An immigrant from Iran, she has lived in the United States for 30 years. The California resident has seen her share of wildfires, but says none has come as close to her as this one.

Moradfar says that other evacuees are helping her keep her spirits up, and she is repaying them by serving as a volunteer herself.

"It's awesome⁶. I mean the people here, the evacuees, are really nice," she said. "The volunteers, the people who run the place, it's amazing."

These evacuees say that in addition to finding food and shelter, they are getting support from their neighbors, which is helping them get through this major disruption to the lives.

1 evacuees   

n.被疏散者( evacuee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Moreover, for multi-exits, evacuees select a exit based on game theory. 在有多个出口时，疏散人员根据对策论选择出口。 来自互联网
• Evacuees wade through flooded area following heavy monsoon rains in Peshawar on Saturday, July 31, 2010. 撤离灾区涉水通过后在白沙瓦沉重的季风降雨在周六，2010年7月31日。 来自互联网

2 mar   

vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟

参考例句：

• It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴。
• Such a marriage might mar your career.这样的婚姻说不定会毁了你的一生。

3 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。

4 camaraderie   

n.同志之爱，友情

参考例句：

• The camaraderie among fellow employees made the tedious work just bearable.同事之间的情谊使枯燥乏味的工作变得还能忍受。
• Some bosses are formal and have occasional interactions,while others prefer continual camaraderie.有些老板很刻板，偶尔才和下属互动一下；有些则喜欢和下属打成一片。

5 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。

6 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.