美国签证系统崩溃 全球赴美签证暂停

 　　A computer glitch¹ at the U.S. State Department is causing a backlog² for people trying to get passports and visas.

　　美国国务院电脑系统出现故障，导致大批申请护照和签证人员积压。

　　It’s also creating a huge nightmare for some Colorado families in China trying to get their newly adopted children back home.

　　科罗拉多州一些到中国领养孩子的家庭也受到波及，苦不堪言。

　　It took more than a year for Amy and Danny Vogt, a Highlands Ranch³ couple, to be approved to adopt a boy from China. Now they don’t know how long it will take to get him back to Colorado.

　　艾米·沃格特和丹尼·沃格特一家来自高地牧场，他们花了一年多时间才获得批准在中国领养一个男孩。现在，他们不知还需多久才能将领养的孩子带回科罗纳多。

　　“He fits in perfectly⁴ with our family,” said Danny.

　　丹尼说，“他跟我们家很合得来。”

　　“On July 9 we left our three kids in Colorado and flew to China to pick up our son. He officially became ours on July 15,” said Amy.

　　艾米说，“7月9日我们把三个孩子留在家里，飞到中国来接我们的新儿子。他7月15日的时候正式成为了我们的孩子。”

　　They fell in love with him. All seemed well until a problem with the passport visa system.

　　他们都很喜欢这个孩子。在签证系统出现问题前一切都很顺利。

　　“We got notice 24 hours later that the systems in the United States that actually issued visas are down,” said Amy.

　　艾米说，“24小时后，我们收到通知说美国签证系统崩溃了。”

　　Now their plans are on hold because they can’t get their son’s visa to bring him home. They’ve cancelled their return flight, unsure of what will happen next.

　　现在他们的计划都被暂停了，因为他们不知何时才能办好孩子的签证把她带回家。他们不确定接下来的情况，已经取消了回程的飞机。

　　“Just about once a day we get an official email from the consulate⁵ and each time it has said, ‘We don’t have an update for you, we don’t have a timeline for you,'” said Amy.

　　艾米说，“我们每天都会收到来自领事馆的官方邮件，而每次邮件内容都是‘我们无法为您提供最新进展，我们无法告知您详细时间’。”

　　The State Department told CBS4 that the computer glitch happened in the aftermath of routine maintenance. They do not believe the system was hacked⁶.

　　美国国务院告诉CBS4，电脑故障是由于例行维护不当造成的。他们认为，系统并没有遭到黑客攻击。

1 glitch   

n.干扰；误操作，小故障

参考例句：

• There is a glitch in the computer program somewhere.这个计算机程序中的某个部分有点小问题。
• It could just be a random glitch that can be solved by restarting the machine.可能只是一个小故障，重新启动主机就能解决了。

2 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

3 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 consulate   

n.领事馆

参考例句：

• The Spanish consulate is the large white building opposite the bank.西班牙领事馆是银行对面的那栋高大的白色建筑物。
• The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。

6 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。