美国国家公共电台 NPR--Volunteers are getting water to Jackson, Mississippi recipients who can't drive

Volunteers are getting water to Jackson, Mississippi recipients¹ who can't drive

Transcript²

Volunteers in Jackson, Mississippi are organizing deliveries of bottled water to people who cannot reach distribution sites.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

After Jackson, Miss.'s water system failed last week, drive-through sites for free bottled water were set up across the city. But what about the people who cannot drive? Stephen Bisaha of the Gulf³ States Newsroom reports that the city is relying on nonprofits to get the water out.

STEPHAN BISAHA, BYLINE⁴: People in Jackson haven't just been waiting a week for clean water. For many, it's been over a month.

LAKENYA MOORE: Keep in mind, the city of Jackson has been under a boil water notice since July 29.

BISAHA: Lakenya Moore is the chief financial officer for Mississippi Industries for the Blind, which employs people who are blind or visually impaired⁵ in Jackson.

MOORE: We've been working on this a month now to get water - actually to deliver it or deliver it to our employees' addresses.

BISAHA: City agencies like the fire department have been passing names of neighborhoods and places that needed deliveries to the aid group. Manager Joe Spicer is happy to get the water, and after 10 years of living in Jackson, he's fallen for the city.

JOE SPICER: You know, it's a great place. We just got to kind of get the things together that we need to get together to make it somewhere where you can bring your family.

BISAHA: One of the things he'd like to see change is for the city to make more of an effort helping⁶ visually impaired people like himself. While there are free drive-through water sites across the city, he can't use any of them.

SPICER: Because all of our distribution sites are set up for people that are sighted who can go to pick it up with their car. You know, it's frustrating⁷, but it's been a battle for people that are visually impaired or people that can't get around for a long time.

BISAHA: And it's not just people who are visually impaired who can't make it to the water sites. Aisha Nyandoro's charity Springboard to Opportunities works with five affordable⁸ housing communities in Jackson.

AISHA NYANDORO: A lot of the families here don't have access to transportation or access to child care to actually go to the distribution centers, and so it really is about how do we just make sure that the needs within the communities that we work with are addressed.

BISAHA: But even beyond those issues, it takes a lot of gas to wait, in some cases, two hours at a distribution site. Nyandoro says the families she's working with, on average, make about $12,000 a year.

NYANDORO: Time costs. Gas costs. So it's all of these pieces that so many of us take for granted that families are having to negotiate right now.

BISAHA: The state and National Guard have their own water distribution programs, while Jackson is relying on nonprofits for delivering water to homes, according to the Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition⁹. The coalition says it's sending water Nyandoro's way, though she's also been making her own calls to get water to her affordable housing complexes. She finally got hold of a sheriff in Alabama who drove down a trailer's load of water.

NYANDORO: Hey, Sheriff.

UNIDENTIFIED SHERIFF: How are you?

NYANDORO: I'm so...

UNIDENTIFIED SHERIFF: Where do you want me to park at?

BISAHA: Sixty-five-year-old Yvette Day is one of the residents getting a couple of packs from today's delivery. She's thankful for the water, but all this waiting has really gotten to her.

YVETTE DAY: I've been depressed¹⁰ because, you know, I have no one to help me to get the water. I have no way to get the water. So I've been very depressed about it and about this situation here.

BISAHA: Jackson has dealt with boil water notices for decades, so the nonprofits are used to home water deliveries. But those past notices were in just pockets of the city. The groups were not prepared for all of Jackson's water supply to be threatened. The Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition says it should be able to ramp¹¹ up home deliveries this week.

For NPR News, I'm Stephan Bisaha in Jackson, Miss.

1 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 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。

4 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。

5 impaired   

adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 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。

7 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

9 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

10 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

11 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。