IN THE NEWS - Remembering the Gulf Oil Spill, One Year Later
This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
这里是美国之音慢速英语新闻报道。
Last year on April twentieth the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig exploded in flames in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven workers were killed. Oil continued to spill from a damaged well head on the sea floor until July. It was the worst offshore oil spill in American history. Officials estimate that nearly five million barrels of oil poured into the Gulf.
去年4月20日，墨西哥湾的深水地平线钻井发生爆炸陷入一片火海。11名工人丧命。石油从海底损坏的油井口不断涌出，并一直持续到7月份。这是美国历史上最严重的近海石油泄漏事件。官方估计有将近500万桶石油泄漏到墨西哥湾。
Today, the surface of the water looks much like it did before the disaster. Natural micro-organisms in the water helped eat the oil and clean up the spill. Workers also used chemical dispersants to break up the oil.
今天，海水表面看上去和灾难发生前一样平静。水中的天然微生物帮助了降解石油和清理泄漏。工人们也使用化学消油剂分解石油。
But John Hocevar, a marine biologist with the environmental group Greenpeace, says most of the oil is still in the Gulf.
但“绿色和平”环保组织的海洋生物学家约翰·霍席瓦（JOHN HOCEVAR）表示，大部分的石油仍残留在墨西哥湾。
JOHN HOCEVAR: "It's in the water. It's on the sediment. It's on the sea floor. A lot of it is washed up into the wetlands. It is still there. It is still being eaten by marine life today."
霍席瓦：“石油残留在海水中，在淤泥上，在海底。还有很多石油被冲入湿地。石油仍然残留在这里，直到今天还被许多海洋生物进食。”
Tar balls continue to wash up on beaches. And animal rescue teams still treat oil-covered dolphins, turtles and other creatures.
焦油球继续冲上海滩。而动物救援队也还在处置被油污覆盖的海豚、海龟和其他动物。
Lisa DiPinto is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Ms. DiPinto says the effects of such a huge spill could have been much worse. She says tests show that fish and shrimp from the Gulf are safe to eat.
丽萨·迪平托（Lisa DiPinto）在美国国家海洋和大气管理局工作。迪平托称，这样一次大泄漏造成的影响本来可能会更糟。她表示，试验表明，墨西哥湾的鱼虾已经可以安全食用。
LISA DiPINTO: "The seafood safety testing that I have seen has indicated everything is looking good."
迪平托：“我看到的海鲜安全测试表明，一切看上去都已正常。”
But she says the recovery of the Gulf is far from complete. The full effects of the oil spill may not be known for years.
但她说，墨西哥湾还远远没有恢复。石油泄漏的全面影响可能很多年都不得而知。
LISA DiPINTO: " We are looking at things we've probably never looked at before as the result of an oil spill. So we are looking at things in the offshore deepwater environment, as well as up through the water column and all along the shorelines."
迪平托：“因为石油泄漏，我们正在关注一些以前可能从未关注过的东西。所以我们正在关注近海深水环境中的事物，以及水体和沿海岸线的事物。”
BP agreed last year to put twenty billion dollars into a fund to pay fishing boat owners, workers and other people affected by the spill. BP is the British-based energy company that operated the well and leased the Deepwater Horizon from the rig's owner, Transocean.
英国石油公司去年同意投入200亿美元基金用于赔付渔船船主、工人和其他受石油泄漏影响的人们。英国石油公司一家英国能源公司，该公司经营这个油井，并向钻井平台所有者瑞士越洋钻探公司（Transocean）公司租用了深水地平线。
In December the federal government announced civil action against BP, Transocean and other companies connected to the spill.
去年十二月，联邦政府宣布对英国石油公司、瑞士越洋钻探公司和其它与泄漏相关的公司发起民事诉讼。
Observances of the first anniversary took place along the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday.
周三，泄漏第一周年纪念活动在沿墨西哥湾地区进行。
The spill led the Obama administration to halt deep-water drilling in the Gulf. That moratorium ended in October. But the government has given very few permits since then. Oil and gas companies say new rules prevent them from moving quickly to increase production.
这次石油泄漏导致奥巴马政府暂停墨西哥湾地区的深水钻井。这次暂停政策于去年10月结束，但自那时起，政府只批准了少量（深水钻井）许可。石油和天然气公司说，这一新政策妨碍它们快速提升产量。
Administration officials say they are preparing new rules that will do more to enforce safety and let drilling operations continue. The Gulf of Mexico provides about thirty percent of the oil produced in the United States.
政府官员表示，他们正在筹备在强化安全方面能够发挥更大作用的新政策，从而使钻井作业得以继续进行。墨西哥湾提供了美国石油产量的近30%。
President Obama says crews have made progress in cleaning up the spill, but the job is not done. He says his administration will do "whatever is necessary" to protect and restore the Gulf Coast.
奥巴马总统说，相关人员在清理泄漏中已经取得进展，但这项工作尚未结束。他表示，政府将“尽一切必要”，以保护和恢复墨西哥湾沿岸。 |