VOA标准英语2012--Japanese Town Split by Radiation Evacuation Zone

Japanese Town Split by Radiation Evacuation Zone

It is an extraordinary meeting of the Kawauchi village assembly. Because of severe damage to the village's municipal hall from the earthquake, the public gathering¹ has been convened² at a community center, just inside the restricted zone.

Village leaders explain that next month administrative³ services will resume in the community.

Displaced Japanese encouraged to return home

Only a few hundred residents have returned, with 110 of them living in the third of the village that is inside the exclusion⁴ zone. Mayor Yuukou Endo is pleading for the remaining 2,600 people who called Kawauchi home to come back. "If the exclusion zone shrinks then we will be free to live anywhere in the village. But, for now, I realize that many people feel it is difficult to come back and resettle," he said. 

Despite test indications that radiation levels in some places inside the zone are lower than outside of the zone, ordinary vehicles are not permitted beyond the barracade at end of the line in the mountain village of Kawauchi. 

That has some in the area questioning the logic⁵ of the strict 20-kilometer boundary. One of the local skeptics is a former miso-soup shop operator, Minoru Kubota, who has been hired by the prefectural government to log radiation readings.

"Right now the radioactive level here in Kawauchi averages 0.125 microsieverts," he explained. "In some parts of the restricted zone the readings are lower than that. So what places are off limits should probably be reviewed and reconsidered."

Returnees encounter changes, fear

Yoshiko Watanabe, 69, spent nine months in an evacuation center, where she says the only problems were petty thefts. She came back to her home on the very edge of the no-entry zone to care for her dog. But she finds her old neighborhood a bit too quiet and lonely, because all of the children have left.

"When the school reopens in June, then 30 children should be returning," she stated. 

But most of Watanabe's dispersed⁶ neighbors, according to a recent village survey, are not planning to come home any time soon, fearing a lack of infrastructure⁷ and lingering radiation.

The latter concern is likely to persist as long as there are reminders⁸ like this one behind Watanabe's house - an unmanned barrier marking an invisible line beyond which supposedly lies an unacceptable risk from a source no one can see, smell or hear. 

1 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

2 convened   

召开( convene的过去式 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• The chairman convened the committee to put the issue to a vote. 主席召集委员们开会对这个问题进行表决。
• The governor convened his troops to put down the revolt. 总督召集他的部队去镇压叛乱。

3 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

4 exclusion   

n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行

参考例句：

• Don't revise a few topics to the exclusion of all others.不要修改少数论题以致排除所有其他的。
• He plays golf to the exclusion of all other sports.他专打高尔夫球，其他运动一概不参加。

5 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

6 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

7 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

8 reminders   

n.令人回忆起…的东西( reminder的名词复数 )；提醒…的东西；（告知该做某事的）通知单；提示信

参考例句：

• The film evokes chilling reminders of the war. 这部电影使人们回忆起战争的可怕场景。
• The strike has delayed the mailing of tax reminders. 罢工耽搁了催税单的投寄。