美国国家公共电台 NPR The Tempest At Galveston: 'We Knew There Was A Storm Coming, But We Had No Idea'

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Today is the last day of the official 2017 hurricane season. It's been the most destructive in history - an estimated $200 billion in damages - and the only time that three Category 4 hurricanes have hit the United States in the same year. For all of the destruction, Americans, at least, could see the hurricanes coming. All you had to do was watch TV. This next story is about a time when hurricanes struck without warning. NPR's John Burnett has covered many hurricanes for NPR News. He's now on the Texas coast on the beach on Galveston Island.

Why there, John?

JOHN BURNETT, BYLINE¹: Hey, Steve. Well, the reason I'm here in Galveston is because this was the site of the worst natural disaster and the worst hurricane in U.S. history. It came ashore² September 8 of 1900. They call it the Great Galveston Storm. They estimate it was a Category 4 with a 15-foot storm surge. It killed 6,000 to 12,000 people and virtually destroyed the city. Forecasting was so primitive³ in those days, all they had was spotty reports from ships that were out on the Gulf⁴. The citizens of Galveston had no idea that a killer⁵ storm was bearing down on them.

INSKEEP: Well, how did you go about trying to reconstruct what that experience was like?

BURNETT: Well, back in 2000, I did a documentary on the centennial of the hurricane that NPR aired. It was really a labor⁶ of love. The project originally was produced with The Kitchen Sisters and their Lost & Found Sound project. So we're going to play an abbreviated⁷ version of that. And I do want to say, some of what you're going to hear is very raw and might not be appropriate for young ears. These are oral histories from survivors⁹ of the great storm who lived to tell the tale.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KATHERINE VEDDER PAULS: Everyone went about their usual tasks until about 11 a.m., when my brother Jacob and our cousin Allen Brooks¹⁰ came from the beach with a report that Gulf was very rough and the tide very high.

BURNETT: Katherine Vedder Pauls was not quite 6 years old at the time.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PAULS: About half past 3, Jacob and Allen came running, shouting excitedly that the Gulf looked like a great gray wall about 50 feet high and moving slowly toward the island.

BURNETT: At the dawn of the 20th century, Galveston was the grandest city in Texas. After the 1900 storm, she would never regain¹¹ her status. What became of the people of Galveston is what happened before accurate forecasting, mandatory¹² evacuations and storm building codes. This year, hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria were destructive in terms of dollars, but the official death toll¹³ remains¹⁴ under 300. In 1900, thousands died. The unnamed hurricane swept in from the Gulf with a tidal surge so high it swallowed the skinny barrier island that was only 5 feet above sea level.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ANNIE MCCULLOUGH: Oh, it was a awful thing. You want me to tell you, but it's - no tongue can tell it.

BURNETT: Annie McCullough was about 22 years old in 1900. Her family was on a mule-drawn wagon¹⁵, trying to escape the rising tide.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MCCULLOUGH: The water was coming so fast. The wagon was getting so it was floating. And the poor mules¹⁶ swimming, they was pulling. And the men laid flat on their stomach, holding the little children.

BURNETT: These recordings¹⁷ are archived at Galveston's Rosenberg Library, along with letters and memoirs¹⁹. Survivors wrote of wind that sounded like a thousand little devils shrieking²⁰ and whistling, of 6-foot waves coming down Broadway Avenue, of a grand piano riding the crest²¹ of one, of slate²² shingles²³ turning into whirling saw blades and of streetcar tracks becoming waterborne battering²⁴ rams²⁵ that tore apart houses. Katherine Vedder Pauls, reading from her memoir¹⁸, describes how any sturdy building became a shelter.

PAULS: (Reading) The animals tried to swim to safety, and the frightened, squawking chickens were roosting everywhere they could get above the water. People from homes already demolished²⁶ were beginning to drift into our house, which still stood starkly²⁷ against the increasing fury of the wind and water.

BURNETT: At the height of the storm, John W. Harris remembered two dozen terrified people climbing in through the windows of their home on Tremont Street. His mother prepared for rising floodwaters by lashing²⁸ her children together.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOHN W. HARRIS: Mother had a trunk strap²⁹ around each one of us to hold on to us as long as she could.

BURNETT: Rosenberg School, built of brick, became a refuge for Annie McCullough's family and many others.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MCCULLOUGH: And the people were screaming and hollering and so - hunting their folks. The wind - those men that was in the school - all they could do was stand against those doors and hold them.

BURNETT: The sun rose on September 9 on a coastal³⁰ city obliterated³¹. One survivor⁸ described knots of people frightened out of their wits, crazy men and women crying and weeping at the tops of their voices. Corpses³² were everywhere. There was never an official death toll, only estimates. Authorities forced men, most of whom were black, at bayonet point to collect the dead, pile them on barges³³ and dump them in the Gulf for burial, but the cadavers³⁴ washed back onshore. Finally, they had to be burned in funeral pyres. Thieves who stole jewelry³⁵ from the bodies were shot on sight. Louise Bristol Hopkins was 7 years old.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LOUISE BRISTOL HOPKINS: It was a terrible time. It really was. I heard the stories of women with long hair who'd been caught in the trees with their hair and cut to pieces with slate that had been flying.

BURNETT: Katherine Vedder Pauls recollected³⁶ a ghoulish incident that happened to her mother.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PAULS: And once, she stepped on a barrel concealed³⁷ by the water. It rolled, and she went under with it. She grabbed at something to pull herself up. It was the body of a small girl. Her self-control gave way, and she wept hysterically³⁸.

BURNETT: John W. Harris, who became a prominent banker and philanthropist on the island, lost 11 relatives in the 1900 storm. He remembered his family was having breakfast in their house - one of the few that stood against the waves - when the mayor came by.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HARRIS: He said to father, John, your whole family are destroyed. And I remember it's first time that I ever saw father with tears in his eyes. He had no idea of the extent of the damage. We hadn't left the house yet.

BURNETT: As disturbing as those recollections are, today, there's very little in Galveston to remind people of the 1900 hurricane aside from the sea wall that I'm looking at now. It was one of the great engineering marvels³⁹ of the day. They also raised the city, elevating more than 2,000 structures.

INSKEEP: So the city is higher, but did it really recover?

BURNETT: It did, but mainly as a tourist town. It was Houston, farther inland, that grew into the metropolis⁴⁰ on the Gulf Coast. And now with Hurricane Harvey, Houston has just experienced the worst catastrophe⁴¹ in its history.

INSKEEP: NPR's John Burnett in Galveston, Texas. John, thanks very much.

BURNETT: My pleasure, Steve.

1 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。

2 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

3 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。

4 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。

5 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 abbreviated   

adj. 简短的，省略的 动词abbreviate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He abbreviated so much that it was hard to understand his article. 他的文章缩写词使用太多，令人费解。
• The United States of America is commonly abbreviated to U.S.A.. 美利坚合众国常被缩略为U.S.A.。

8 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

9 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

10 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

12 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

13 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

14 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

15 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

16 mules   

骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者

参考例句：

• The cart was pulled by two mules. 两匹骡子拉这辆大车。
• She wore tight trousers and high-heeled mules. 她穿紧身裤和拖鞋式高跟鞋。

17 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

18 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

19 memoirs   

n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数)

参考例句：

• Her memoirs were ghostwritten. 她的回忆录是由别人代写的。
• I watched a trailer for the screenplay of his memoirs. 我看过以他的回忆录改编成电影的预告片。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 shrieking   

v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were all shrieking with laughter. 他们都发出了尖锐的笑声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 crest   

n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖

参考例句：

• The rooster bristled his crest.公鸡竖起了鸡冠。
• He reached the crest of the hill before dawn.他于黎明前到达山顶。

22 slate   

n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订

参考例句：

• The nominating committee laid its slate before the board.提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
• What kind of job uses stained wood and slate? 什么工作会接触木头污浊和石板呢？

23 shingles   

n.带状疱疹；（布满海边的）小圆石( shingle的名词复数 )；屋顶板；木瓦（板）；墙面板

参考例句：

• Shingles are often dipped in creosote. 屋顶板常浸涂木焦油。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The roofs had shingles missing. 一些屋顶板不见了。 来自辞典例句

24 battering   

n.用坏，损坏v.连续猛击( batter的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The film took a battering from critics in the US. 该影片在美国遭遇到批评家的猛烈抨击。
• He kept battering away at the door. 他接连不断地砸门。 来自《简明英汉词典》

25 rams   

n.公羊( ram的名词复数 )；(R-)白羊（星）座；夯；攻城槌v.夯实（土等）( ram的第三人称单数 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• A couple of rams are butting at each other. 两只羊正在用角互相抵触。 来自辞典例句
• More than anything the rams helped to break what should have been on interminable marriage. 那些牡羊比任何东西都更严重地加速了他们那本该天长地久的婚姻的破裂。 来自辞典例句

26 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

27 starkly   

adj. 变硬了的,完全的 adv. 完全,实在,简直

参考例句：

• The city of Befast remains starkly divided between Catholics and Protestants. 贝尔法斯特市完全被处在天主教徒和新教徒的纷争之中。
• The black rocks stood out starkly against the sky. 那些黑色的岩石在天空衬托下十分显眼。

28 lashing   

n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The speaker was lashing the crowd. 演讲人正在煽动人群。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rain was lashing the windows. 雨急打着窗子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

29 strap   

n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎

参考例句：

• She held onto a strap to steady herself.她抓住拉手吊带以便站稳。
• The nurse will strap up your wound.护士会绑扎你的伤口。

30 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

31 obliterated   

v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭

参考例句：

• The building was completely obliterated by the bomb. 炸弹把那座建筑物彻底摧毁了。
• He began to drink, drank himself to intoxication, till he slept obliterated. 他一直喝，喝到他快要迷糊地睡着了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

32 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

33 barges   

驳船( barge的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The tug is towing three barges. 那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。
• There were plenty of barges dropping down with the tide. 有不少驳船顺流而下。

34 cadavers   

n.尸体( cadaver的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Human cadavers were the only known source of hGH, and demand was intense. 人类尸体是hGH已知的惟一来源，而且需求广泛。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 口蹄疫疯牛病
• Will there be enough cadavers for each group this term? 这个学期每一个组都有足够的尸体吗？ 来自电影对白

35 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

36 recollected   

adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I recollected that she had red hair. 我记得她有一头红发。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His efforts, the Duke recollected many years later, were distinctly half-hearted. 据公爵许多年之后的回忆，他当时明显只是敷衍了事。 来自辞典例句

37 concealed   

a.隐藏的，隐蔽的

参考例句：

• The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
• I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。

38 hysterically   

ad. 歇斯底里地

参考例句：

• The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。
• She sobbed hysterically, and her thin body was shaken. 她歇斯底里地抽泣着，她瘦弱的身体哭得直颤抖。

39 marvels   

n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The doctor's treatment has worked marvels : the patient has recovered completely. 该医生妙手回春，病人已完全康复。 来自辞典例句
• Nevertheless he revels in a catalogue of marvels. 可他还是兴致勃勃地罗列了一堆怪诞不经的事物。 来自辞典例句

40 metropolis   

n.首府；大城市

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a metropolis in China.上海是中国的大都市。
• He was dazzled by the gaiety and splendour of the metropolis.大都市的花花世界使他感到眼花缭乱。

41 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。