2006年VOA标准英语-New Orleans Economy Still Uncertain After One Y

By Mil Arcega
Washington, DC
31 August 2006
 
watch New Orleans Economy

One year after the costliest¹ storm in U.S. history, the city of New Orleans remains² a shadow of its former self.  Some economists³ believe it's too early to tell if the city will ever completely recover. But there are signs that the important tourism and convention industry is making a slow comeback.

-----

  
  
When Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf⁴ Coast on August 29th, 2005, the powerful storm left behind a path of destruction 160 kilometers wide and damage estimated at $80 billion.  Critical levees broke in the low-lying city of New Orleans in Louisiana. Eighty percent of the city was flooded.  One year later the tourists are slowly coming back.

Marion Lightfoot acts more like a party promoter than a volunteer for a local charity.  But she spends a lot of her time along the popular stretch of nightclubs on Bourbon Street because tourists tend to be generous here.

Marion Lightfoot   
  
"We pull people over for not partying hard enough, give them a party hat to get them in the mood and ask them for a donation to help feed the needy⁵ people down here," says Lightfoot.

One tourist responds, "They just still need a lot of help, they really do.  I hate it. It could easily have been any of us."

But in a post-Katrina world, New Orleans residents say fewer than a third of the tourists have come back.

That's because even residents have been slow to come back.  Since Katrina, only about 230,000 residents -- about half the city's population -- have returned.  Employment has declined 30 percent and low-wage workers are hard to find.

But the region's billion dollar gambling⁶ industry found reason to celebrate Katrina's one-year anniversary. The Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi was the seventh casino to reopen along the Gulf Coast.

George Corchis is the president of the newly renovated⁷ 1700-room hotel and casino.

 
George Corchis 
  
"By us opening our doors, it helps lead the economic spark that's going to ignite the engine down here, the economic engine for the whole Gulf Coast to actually emerge again,” he says. “We're going to help drive the entire economy by getting 4,000 people back to work again."

New Orleans is famous for its jazz musicians. People here believe music -- not gambling -- is the key to restoring the tourist trade. Singer Margie Perez is one of the 7,000 musicians forced out by Hurricane Katrina. "We need musicians to come back, to bring that life back to the city."

 
Margie Perez 
  
New Orleans musicians, such as Aaron Neville, have headlined major benefits in the past year to raise money to build homes for displaced performers.

New Orleans trumpeter Wynton Marsalis wants to help build a musicians' village in the city of jazz. "They want to create a place for musicians to have a chance to prosper⁸ and flourish," he said.

 
Wynton Marsalis
 
  
City officials believe visitors will return.  As of August, about 27,000 of the city's 38,000 hotel rooms have reopened.  And repairs to New Orleans' Convention Center, which sustained severe damage, are expected to be completed later this fall.

1 costliest   

adj.昂贵的( costly的最高级 )；代价高的；引起困难的；造成损失的

参考例句：

• At 81 billion dollars, Katrina is the costliest natural disaster in American history. “卡特里娜”飓风造成了近810亿美圆的损失，是美国历史上最严重的自然灾难之一。 来自互联网
• Senator John Kerry has proposed a tax on the costliest health plans sold by insurance companies. 参议员约翰？克里(JohnKerry)已经提议对保险公司销售的高价值的保险计划征税。 来自互联网

2 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。

3 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

6 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

7 renovated   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He renovated his house. 他翻修了房子。
• The house has been renovated three years earlier. 这所房子三年前就已翻新。

8 prosper   

v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣

参考例句：

• With her at the wheel,the company began to prosper.有了她当主管，公司开始兴旺起来。
• It is my earnest wish that this company will continue to prosper.我真诚希望这家公司会继续兴旺发达。