华盛顿邮报 俄亥俄州有毒化学品泄漏事故(1)

 

    A lot of residents in the small town of East Palestine, Ohio, are scared -- and angry.

    俄亥俄州东巴勒斯坦小镇的许多居民都感到害怕和愤怒。

    On a Friday night almost two weeks ago, a train carrying hazardous¹ chemicals derailed on its way through town.

    大约两周前的周五晚上，一列载有危险化学品的火车在穿过小镇的途中脱轨。

    Train cars caught fire and released dangerous materials into the air.

    火车车厢起火，向空中释放危险物质。

    And according to residents, they felt the impact almost immediately.

    据居民所言，他们几乎立刻就感受到了影响。

    I mean, people have been saying they've had headaches.

    人们一直说他们头疼。

    People are concerned about rashes that they say have appeared just since this all happened.

    在这一事故发生后，人们说身上就出现了皮疹，他们对此感到担忧。

    The health officials are not downplaying the possibility that these ailments² could be linked to these chemicals, but the fears in town are that they just don't know what the long-term effects will be.

    卫生官员并没有轻视这些疾病与这些化学物质有关的可能性，但镇上的人们担心的是，他们不知道这些化学物质会有什么长期影响。

    Scott Dance is a reporter on the Climate and Environment team at The Post.

    斯科特·丹斯是《华盛顿邮报》气候与环境团队的记者。

    Though the Environmental Protection Agency says their testing indicates the air is safe, many residents are unsure, and they're demanding transparency from the train company.

    尽管美国环境保护署称，他们的测试表明空气安全，但许多居民并不确定是否如此，他们要求铁路公司信息透明。

    Even though there aren't solid answers to a lot of questions they're asking, I think that the sense is so strong that, "We have to take action. We can't be quiet."尽管人们提出的很多问题都没有可靠的答案，但我认为这种意识是如此强烈，“我们必须采取行动。我们不能坐以待毙。”

    There were a lot of statements along the lines of, "If we don't stand up for ourselves, nobody will."有很多言论都是这样的: “如果我们不为自己挺身而出，那就没有人会这样做了。”

    Today, what we know about the environmental disaster in East Palestine and why a town-hall meeting on Wednesday left many residents with more questions than answers.

    今天，我们会了解东巴勒斯坦镇的环境灾难情况，以及为什么周三的市政厅会议给许多居民留下的问题比答案更多。

    Scott, do we know how and why this train derailed?

    斯科特，知道火车为什么会脱轨吗?

    So, the train derailed because of a mechanical problem that the National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating.

    火车脱轨的原因是机械故障，美国国家运输安全委员会仍在调查此事。

    But there is surveillance video out there that shows that the train was on fire and sparking a dozen-or-so miles before it even got to East Palestine.

    但有监控录像显示，火车在到达东巴勒斯坦镇之前就着火了，点起了十几英里长的火。

    Yeah, Scott, I've seen pictures and videos of this huge fire and plumes³ of smoke around the train tracks where it derailed, and it looked like an enormous mess. How did authorities decide to clean it up?

    是的，斯科特，我看过图片和视频，这场大火和浓烟围绕着火车脱轨的地方，一片狼藉。当局决定进行清理时情况如何?

    A Norfolk Southern train traveling through the center of this town derailed on the night of February 3rd.

    2月3日晚，诺福克南方铁路公司的一列火车在穿过该镇中心时脱轨。

    It was carrying chemicals that are used to make plastic, and it caused this massive chemical fire.

    这列火车携带了用于制造塑料的化学物质，引发了这场大规模的化学火灾。

    So, at first, the concern was this fire, which obviously they put out eventually, but then, a couple days after the derailment, the concern shifted to a train car that was getting very hot.

    一开始，人们担心的是这场大火，显然他们最终扑灭了，但是，在火车脱轨几天后，人们的担忧转移到了一节越来越热的火车车厢上。

    There was a drastic temperature change in one of these cars containing vinyl chloride, this chemical used to make PVC plastic. And so they had to do a controlled release of it.

    其中一辆装有氯乙烯的车厢温度发生了剧烈变化，这种化学物质用于制造PVC塑料。因此，人们必须控制氯乙烯的释放。

1 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

2 ailments   

疾病（尤指慢性病），不适( ailment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His ailments include a mild heart attack and arthritis. 他患有轻度心脏病和关节炎。
• He hospitalizes patients for minor ailments. 他把只有小病的患者也送进医院。

3 plumes   

羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物

参考例句：

• The dancer wore a headdress of pink ostrich plumes. 那位舞蹈演员戴着粉色鸵鸟毛制作的头饰。
• The plumes on her bonnet barely moved as she nodded. 她点点头，那帽子的羽毛在一个劲儿颤动。