VOA常速英语2014 Ukraine-Russia Tension Hampers Chernobyl Cleanup 俄罗斯乌克兰关系恶化 切尔诺贝利清理工作艰难

 

Ukraine-Russia Tension Hampers¹ Chernobyl Cleanup 俄罗斯乌克兰关系恶化 切尔诺贝利清理工作艰难

CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE — The tensions between Russia and Ukraine have begun complicating² the ongoing³ cleanup at the site of one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters.

In northern Ukraine, close to the border with Belarus, the world's largest movable structure is being built.

在靠近白俄罗斯边界的乌克兰北部，世界上最大的可移动建筑正在建造当中。

When finished, the 250-meter-wide steel arch is to slide 200 meters to cover the sarcophagus hastily built after the 1986 explosion to entomb Chernobyl Reactor⁴ Number 4.

这座250米宽的钢铁拱形建筑竣工后，将被移到200米远处因为1986年切尔诺贝利4号反应堆爆炸而仓促建成的石棺上。

Driver Igor Bordnarch has made more than 500 trips to this spot, none lasting⁵ more than 15 minutes.

司机伊戈尔·博德纳克已经来到这个地方500多次了，而每一次停留不超过15分钟。

His geiger counter shows the limited effectiveness of the old sarcophagus, which is in danger of collapse⁶.

他的盖格计数器显示这座随时都会坍塌的旧石棺防辐射的效率已经岌岌可危。

“This, actually for perimeter⁷ of the nuclear power plant, is a cleaned area.

“事实上核电厂的外围才是安全区域，”

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So the radiation does not go from the ground, from the soil.

辐射不是来自地下和土壤，

It goes directly through the sarcophagus,” explained Bordnarch.

而是直接来自石棺。”

Tons of radioactive material shot into the sky when the reactor exploded.

当反应堆爆炸时成吨的辐射性物质射入天空。

The fallout blanketed Belarus and Ukraine in what was then the Soviet⁸ Union.

放射尘散落在当时苏联的白俄罗斯和乌克兰境内。

But the Soviet government in Moscow did not raise a public alarm.

可是当时的莫斯科苏联政府并没有引发公众的恐慌。

It would be scientists in Sweden who told the world something ominous⁹ had occurred.

直到后来瑞典科学家向世界宣布那里发生了恶性事件。

Farmer Ivan Semenyuk said if Soviet authorities had told villagers they would never be able to return home, there would have been panic and perhaps many of the 120,000 people in the area would have refused to leave.

农民伊万·塞米雅克称如果苏联当局告诉村民们再也不能回家了，那样会造成恐慌，也许这个地区的12万人当中很多人会拒绝离开。

“They lied to us. I took only 20 potatoes and a kettle. I fled in my broken-down car.”

“他们欺骗了我们，我只带了20个土豆和一只水壶，开着我的破车逃的远远的。”

But Semenyuk and his wife have illegally returned home to tend to a small wheat field and raise some chickens and a pig, just 12 kilometers from the accident site.

但是塞米雅克和他的妻子还是回到了家里，他们在一小块麦田上耕种，养了几只鸡还有一头猪，而这里离开事发现场只有12公里。

Most of a 30-square-kilometer exclusion¹⁰ zone remains¹¹ an eerie¹² ghost town, off limits to all but cleanup workers and some officials who may spend no more than 15 days per month inside.

禁区的30平方公里处俨然成了令人毛骨悚然的鬼城，除了清理人员和一些官员每个月在里面呆上15天之外，其他人一律不许进入。

A top Ukrainian Communist official at the time, Leonid Kravchuk, who would become independent Ukraine's first president, visited the site two days after the explosion.

后来当选为乌克兰独立后第一位总统的当时乌克兰共产党高级官员克莱昂纳德·拉夫丘克在爆炸2天后视察了现场。

“Of course the Ukrainian intelligentsia, Ukrainian scientists and those who were politically savvy¹³ saw that Moscow would never tell the truth to Ukraine.

“乌克兰知识界,乌克兰科学家们以及那些在政治上具有远见卓识之士当然已经洞察到莫斯科永远不会对乌克兰道出这段真相。

They knew that Moscow always wanted to see Ukraine under its thumb.”

他们知道莫斯科一直想要掌控乌克兰。”

Twenty-eight years later those initial Ukrainian suspicions are full-fledged animosities, following Russia's annexation¹⁴ of Crimea.

28年后随着俄罗斯吞并克里米亚乌克兰当初的疑虑爆演变成了全面的仇恨。

Ukrainian officials say Russia has abandoned its G-8 duties to lead fundraising for the sarcophagus cost overruns, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

乌克兰官员表示俄罗斯没有履行G-8核安全峰会所应尽的义务，没有带头为石棺超支的数亿美元筹款。

Ukrainian lawmaker Valerii Kalchenko，“Now they will leave us on our own to finish the construction of the new sarcophagus and it is hugely uncertain whether they will provide the portion of the funds that they took responsibility for.”

乌克兰议员瓦莱利·卡尔钦科说道：“现在俄罗斯让我们自己去完成新石棺工程，而且还不能肯定他们会承担应付的那部分资金。”

There are warnings time is running out to avert¹⁵ a second Chernobyl catastrophe¹⁶ due to the precarious¹⁷ condition of the sarcophagus.

有关方面警告称由于石棺的危险性防止发生第二次切尔诺贝利灾难的时间已经所剩无几。

“This is why it is very important for us today not to lose time.Perhaps we have three to four years left to finish the construction.”

“所以我们现在不能浪费时间了，也许我们只有3，4年时间来完成加固工程。”

But even when the new protective arch is slid into place, the dangerous work will not be finished.

可是即使加上新的拱形建筑，这项危险的工程还没有告一段落。

Removing spent fuel and other highly radioactive materials will take decades and cost many more billions of dollars, a tremendous financial burden for Ukraine.

 

废弃燃料和高辐射物质的清理工作还需要几十年的时间和巨额资金，这对乌克兰来说是一个沉重的财政负担。

1 hampers   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Prejudice sometimes hampers a person from doing the right thing. 有时候，偏见会妨碍人正确行事。
• This behavior is the opposite of modeless feedback, and it hampers flow. 这个行为有悖于非模态的反馈，它阻碍了流。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 complicating   

使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。
• In America these actions become executive puberty rites, complicating relationships that are already complicated enough. 在美国，这些行动成了行政青春期的惯例，使本来已经够复杂的关系变得更复杂了。

3 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

4 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

5 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

6 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

7 perimeter   

n.周边，周长，周界

参考例句：

• The river marks the eastern perimeter of our land.这条河标示我们的土地东面的边界。
• Drinks in hands,they wandered around the perimeter of the ball field.他们手里拿着饮料在球场周围漫不经心地遛跶。

8 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

9 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

10 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。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 eerie   

adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的

参考例句：

• It's eerie to walk through a dark wood at night.夜晚在漆黑的森林中行走很是恐怖。
• I walked down the eerie dark path.我走在那条漆黑恐怖的小路上。

13 savvy   

v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的

参考例句：

• She was a pretty savvy woman.她是个见过世面的漂亮女人。
• Where's your savvy?你的常识到哪里去了？

14 annexation   

n.吞并，合并

参考例句：

• He mentioned the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910 .他提及1910年日本对朝鲜的吞并。
• I regard the question of annexation as belonging exclusively to the United States and Texas.我认为合并的问题，完全属于德克萨斯和美国之间的事。

15 avert   

v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等)

参考例句：

• He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
• I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。

16 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

17 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。