2007年VOA标准英语-US Coast Guard in New Orleans Prepares for Hurr

By Greg Flakus
New Orleans, LA
23 May 2007
 

It has been nearly two years since Hurricane Katrina ravaged¹ New Orleans and much of the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf² coasts.  Some U.S. federal agencies came under harsh criticism for their slow response to the disaster, however there was one government operation that earned high praise for moving quickly to help hurricane victims -- the U.S. Coast Guard.  Coast Guard personnel in boats and helicopters saved thousands of people from flood waters in and around New Orleans. This year's hurricane season officially begins June first and the Coast Guard is getting ready for what may come.  VOA's Greg Flakus has more from New Orleans.

For thousands of people left stranded³ by flood waters in New Orleans following Katrina, U.S. Coast Guard boats and helicopters were a welcome sight. But why was the Coast Guard so quick to respond while other agencies, notably⁴ the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, stumbled?

New Orleans sector⁵ Coast Guard Captain Robert Mueller credits the training given to every Guardsman. "Nobody calls the Coast Guard when it is a nice, sunny day. We get the call when the weather is bad and somebody is in trouble. So we train our people to that standard, to handle the worst cases. That is what we do."

The intensive training results in personnel who are capable of acting⁶ independently, making decisions on the spot, without seeking approval up the chain of command. Captain Mueller says experience is also important. Thousands of Guardsmen came to assist in New Orleans and he says some of them applied⁷ critical experience gained elsewhere. "We had several people help us out who had been through 9/11 in New York. So they understood massive operations quickly and they were invaluable⁸. I am sure people who cycled through here will be invaluable the next time there is a big disaster somewhere because they have been there before."

The other important ingredient is preparation, and Captain Mueller says the Coast Guard has boats and helicopters at staging areas and bases all along the Gulf Coast, ready to respond to whatever comes this season. Mueller says Coast Guard teams have the equipment, food and water they need to go into action and stay at work for many days.

"So if a really bad hurricane hit Texas or Mobile or Alabama, we could send a team that would be self supporting, ready to operate for up to a week at a time, without any re-supply and they can do that."

One lesson learned during Katrina was the need to reach people trapped in flooded houses, sometimes by cutting into the roofs. Mueller says each boat now carries a chain saw for that purpose.

US Coast Guard on patrol

The other lesson Captain Mueller says is to never give up looking for people who may be trapped. "At the end of the second week, the doctors were saying nobody could have survived longer and our guys found an 87-year-old woman sitting in her chair with water up to her neck and she was still alive. She had been sitting there for two weeks. There were no signs on the outside of anything wrong, but the guys thought there was something about that house and they went into that house and found her. Her first words were, 'I knew if I stayed in the house long enough, my boys would come and get me'," he recounted.

The men and women of the Coast Guard stand ready to carry out such rescues again if disaster should strike anywhere along the Gulf coast. 

1 ravaged   

毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫

参考例句：

• a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
• The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。

2 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。

3 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

4 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

5 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。

6 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

7 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

8 invaluable   

adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的

参考例句：

• A computer would have been invaluable for this job.一台计算机对这个工作的作用会是无法估计的。
• This information was invaluable to him.这个消息对他来说是非常宝贵的。