美国国家公共电台 NPR 'This Was A Beautiful Place': Puerto Rico's Coffee Farms Devastated By Maria

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico almost three weeks ago, it caused much destruction across the island, including the small agricultural sector¹. By some estimates, 80 percent of crops were destroyed. NPR's Merrit Kennedy reports on one coffee company that is struggling with how to get back to work.

MERRIT KENNEDY, BYLINE²: Cafe Hacienda San Pedro is a trendy coffee shop in San Juan with a long line of customers. People are chatting. A dog sits snoozing. Despite the hurricane's destruction, everything here seems very normal. But in a few months, it probably won't. Two and a half hours away in the mountains, through denuded³ trees and winding⁴ roads cleared by chainsaws, it's clear this coffee company has been devastated⁵ at its source.

ROBERTO ATIENZA: I think that maybe 90 percent of the plantation⁶ is - was destroyed by the hurricane.

KENNEDY: Roberto Atienza is the third generation of his family to grow coffee on this land. Harvest season was just beginning, and they barely picked any beans before Hurricane Maria blasted through. The ripple⁷ effects will continue. He expects the company, including the San Juan coffee shop, to run out of beans in December.

ROBERTO ATIENZA: In this moment, we have a good market of the coffee. We have everything, all the coffee chains, you know? But really we don't have coffee to continue.

KENNEDY: His daughter, Rebecca, owns the coffee shop. She walks through mangled⁸ hillsides and broken coffee plants. Orange and plantain trees are crumpled⁹ with fruit rotting on the ground.

REBECCA ATIENZA: This was a beautiful place with a lot of trees. And it's like a different place.

KENNEDY: She remembers first surveying the damage after the storm.

REBECCA ATIENZA: No words. Like, what are we going to do now? And we have so much to do, but we didn't know where to start.

KENNEDY: Agriculture was once central to Puerto Rico, but today it's currently less than 1 percent of the economy here. U.S. policy in the 1940s and '50s pushed manufacturing on the island over farming. But farmers like Roberto are trying to revitalize the industry. He converted this farm to a specialty¹⁰ coffee company, sun drying and roasting on site.

In the rural area of Jayuya, Hacienda San Pedro is one of the largest job providers. Roberto employs about a hundred people during peak harvest times. Now fewer than two dozen are working. There's not much coffee to harvest, and his workers have to rebuild their homes. Roberto picks red and pink beans from a tree damaged at the roots.

ROBERTO ATIENZA: This is OK, but really the percent of trees like this is very, very small.

KENNEDY: And many of the plants are completely stripped bare, like one hillside next to Tres Picachos, one of the tallest peaks on the island.

ROBERTO ATIENZA: From here to the top of the mountain, everything is like this. Those without leaves are coffee, yeah - no coffee, no beans, no nothing.

KENNEDY: Roberto expects it'll take at least six months to receive new coffee plants. They'll focus on areas in relatively¹¹ good condition and estimate the damage to the entire plantation is more than half a million dollars.

ROBERTO ATIENZA: Because really we don't have income to put the coffee back on more.

KENNEDY: They're starting over. He expects the next good season will be in three years as long as another hurricane doesn't come through. Merrit Kennedy, NPR News, Jayuya, Puerto Rico.

(SOUNDBITE OF LUKE HOWARD'S "A SOFTER WORLD")

1 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

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 denuded   

adj.[医]变光的，裸露的v.使赤裸( denude的过去式和过去分词 )；剥光覆盖物

参考例句：

• hillsides denuded of trees 光秃秃没有树的山坡
• In such areas we see villages denuded of young people. 在这些地区，我们在村子里根本看不到年轻人。 来自辞典例句

4 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

5 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。

6 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

7 ripple   

n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进

参考例句：

• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。
• The small ripple split upon the beach.小小的涟漪卷来，碎在沙滩上。

8 mangled   

vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• His hand was mangled in the machine. 他的手卷到机器里轧烂了。
• He was off work because he'd mangled his hand in a machine. 他没上班，因为他的手给机器严重压伤了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 crumpled   

adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。
• She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。

10 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

11 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。