2006年VOA标准英语-The Changing Face of New Orleans
时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:2006年VOA标准英语(一月)
By Kathie Scarrah
Washington, DC
25 January 2006
watch New Orleans report
Before Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Louisiana city of New Orleans last August, 60 percent of the city's nearly half a million residents were African-American. Five months after Katrina, it appears the face of the "Big Easy" may be changing.
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When Hurricane Katrina forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands from metropolitan 1 New Orleans, many of those who left were low-income African-American residents. City officials estimate that half of those residents will never return. It is a situation that recently got New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin in trouble when he expressed his hopes that people would come back.
Mayor Ray Nagin
"This city will be chocolate at the end of the day. This city will be a majority African American city, it's the way God wants it to be," said the mayor.
Although he later apologized, the mayor's comments angered many who believed his words could incite 2 racial tensions between African-American residents who have returned to the city, and large numbers of immigrant Hispanic construction workers who came to New Orleans looking for jobs.
Duane Gardner
Duane Gardner, an African-American carpenter, says Hispanic workers are willing to accept lower wages and are taking jobs that used to go to the city's largely African-American workforce 3.
"I see a lot of Hispanics eating the jobs up. I mean, hell, you’ve got to be a blind man not to see that."
Gannon Web owns a demolition 4 business in New Orleans. When he was looking for workers in October, he would have preferred to hire local, mostly African-American workers, but they had not yet returned.
Gannon Web
"It's whoever wants to make money right now,” said Mr. Web. “If they want to come back in here they can make money, but as you see a lot of Mexicans are coming in here right now."
Looking at the labor 5 force in New Orleans as a race issue isn't all that bad says Audrey Singer, an immigration expert with the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution.
"Even though this was a natural disaster, the social aspect of what's happened after Katrina, the way that race relations are now talked about in public forums 6, in politics, in every day life. I think that's one effect of the storm. And I think it's actually good for America," she says.
Ms. Singer says New Orleans is a city that has thrived with its ethnic 7 communities.
Amy Singer, Brookings Institution
"The culture there is about mixture, acceptance and change, basically. So I think that New Orleans does have this in its history. And this is going to be a deep marker in its history, but I think New Orleans can adapt and still be New Orleans even though it's going to change a lot. "
The number of African-Americans who return to New Orleans will also affect how the city is rebuilt. Under a city plan, 50 percent of former residents have to come back to a neighborhood. If they do not return, the city may decide not to rebuild that part of New Orleans.
- Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
- Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。
- I wanted to point out he was a very good speaker, and could incite a crowd.我想说明他曾是一个非常出色的演讲家,非常会调动群众的情绪。
- Just a few words will incite him into action.他只需几句话一将,就会干。
- A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
- A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。
- The church has been threatened with demolition for years. 这座教堂多年来一直面临拆毀的威胁。
- The project required the total demolition of the old bridge. 该项目要求将老桥完全拆毁。
- 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。
- A few of the forums were being closely monitored by the administrators. 有些论坛被管理员严密监控。
- It can cast a dark cloud over these forums. 它将是的论坛上空布满乌云。