VOA标准英语2010年-Florida Tourists Undaunted by Oil Spil

Oil cleanup workers hired by BP search for tar¹ balls as they work along white beaches in Pensacola Beach, Florida, 6 Jun 2010

Tourists are hitting the beaches in Florida for the start of summer, even as tar balls from the Gulf² of Mexico oil spill wash up on shore.  The clean-up effort may expand over the coming months.

Seven weeks after an undersea oil well blew out in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida is beginning to feel the impact.  Louisiana has been hardest hit by the disaster, but oil residue³ is continuing to spread across the Gulf.

Small tar balls have been washing up on the shores of Pensacola Beach for several days.  Now, crews are placing layers of containment⁴ boom across Pensacola Bay to protect against an oil sheen that may hit later this week.

 Tourists worry it may be a final chance to enjoy the area's famous white sand beaches for the season.  Krisilyn Patton is visiting from nearby Alabama.

"I think it's coming, and we wanted to get one last trip down here before it gets really bad," said Patton.  "They are talking about it getting here in the next few days or so, with the sheen coming on shore."

Clean-up crews have deployed⁵ across the beach, where they use netting to sift⁶ sand and pick up tar balls by hand.  Only steps away, tourists are working on their tans or jumping in the water to swim or surf.

For weeks, Florida has been preparing for the worst, amid fears that oil contamination could ruin the beaches and destroy the tourist industry.  Crews and equipment were ready when oil hit Pensacola Beach, which includes the national park grounds of Gulf Islands Seashore.

Park ranger⁷ Katie Lawhon is helping⁸ to coordinate⁹ the response inside the park.

"Within 90 minutes of finding oil on Fort Pickens, we had clean-up crews and assessment¹⁰ crews in place cleaning up oil," said Lawhon.  "So all that careful planning really paid off with a quick response."

The question now is how long the response will have to continue.  BP has yet to stop the leak from the damaged undersea well.  Officials say even after the well is fixed¹¹, massive amounts of oil will remain scattered¹² across the Gulf waters.

Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen is overseeing the government's response to the disaster.

"Dealing¹³ with the oil spill on the surface is going to go on for a couple of months," explained Allen.  "After that, it will be taken care of.  I agree with you -- long-term issues of restoring the environment and the habitats and stuff will be years."

The immediate¹⁴ concern in Florida is how to handle the intense heat of summer.  Clean-up crews must work for short periods and rest often.  Officials are using machines to pick up debris¹⁵ when possible, but much of the work is done by hand.  Park ranger Katie Lawhon says the weather is a growing obstacle for workers.

"We have heat indexes of 130 degrees to 140 degrees [54 to 60 degrees Celsius], depending on whether you are in the parking lot or the beach," added Lawhon.  "Believe it or not, it is hotter where the waves are breaking.  So it is a big issue, and safety is the primary concern for everybody responding to this incident."

The heat also is likely to continue drawing tourists to the water.  Tourist Krisilyn Patton says people should come as long as the beaches are open.

"People need to know that, for right now and the further east you go, it's still open and it's still beautiful.  They need to come on down because it may not stay like this for long," said Patton.

Just how long the threat from oil will remain is the big question for Pensacola and the entire Gulf region.

 

1 tar   

n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于

参考例句：

• The roof was covered with tar.屋顶涂抹了一层沥青。
• We use tar to make roads.我们用沥青铺路。

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 residue   

n.残余，剩余，残渣

参考例句：

• Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。
• Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期，就会导致残留问题。

4 containment   

n.阻止，遏制；容量

参考例句：

• Your list might include such things as cost containment,quality,or customer satisfaction.你的清单上应列有诸如成本控制、产品质量、客户满意程度等内容。
• Insularity and self-containment,it is argued,go hand in hand.他们争论说，心胸狭窄和自我封闭是并存的。

5 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

6 sift   

v.筛撒，纷落，详察

参考例句：

• Sift out the wheat from the chaff.把小麦的壳筛出来。
• Sift sugar on top of the cake.在蛋糕上面撒上糖。

7 ranger   

n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员

参考例句：

• He was the head ranger of the national park.他曾是国家公园的首席看守员。
• He loved working as a ranger.他喜欢做护林人。

8 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。

9 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

10 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

11 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

12 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

13 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

14 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

15 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。