pbs高端访谈:日本大地震两年后的生存状态

 　　JEFFREY BROWN:And finally tonight: Japan two years after the massive earthquake and tsunami¹ struck its northeastern coast.

　　Ray Suarez has the story.

　　RAY SUAREZ:The 2011 quake was one of the strongest in recorded history. It set off a tsunami that killed at least 16,000 people, left another 2,600 missing, and triggered meltdowns at a nuclear power plant.

　　Today, official records show over 300,000 people are still living in temporary housing.

　　For more on life in Japan two years after the disaster, I am joined by Yuki Tatsumi. She's a senior associate on U.S.-Japanese relations at the Stimson Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan international research group. And she has just returned from Tokyo.

　　Yuki, welcome.

　　What are the observable effects of that earthquake in Japan two years later?

　　YUKI TATSUMI, Stimson Center: The answer depends on where you live, frankly².

　　If you live in the disaster-hit area, if you know anybody who were affected³ by the disaster, the disaster is still very much with you every day. People worry about radiation not only in their soil and the air, but also in the produce that they buy in grocery stores. But the further you move away from the affected area, you feel much, much less impact.

　　RAY SUAREZ:Well, you were just in Tokyo. There, is there a conscious feeling of still trying to cope with this disaster and rebuild the country?

　　YUKI TATSUMI:Yes. Yes and no, actually.

　　On the day of the earthquake anniversary, there were memorial services everywhere, including Tokyo. There was actually a big memorial service in Tokyo, where prime minister and emperor and empress attended, and gave a prayer to those who lost their lives.

　　And, at the same time, people in Tokyo at least live—go around and live their normal lives, but I wouldn't say as if nothing happened, because parents very much worry about the radiation that still could be carried in the air, worry about their children's health, and then also, like I said, in the food that may be still contaminated.

　　RAY SUAREZ:Well, we should talk a little bit about nuclear power. Because Japan has no significant natural resources to create energy, it's relied very heavily on nuclear power. And that nuclear power became a subject of great controversy⁴ after the power plant disaster that followed the tsunami.

　　What's the state of play now? Is Japan abandoning its stated desire to move away from nuclear energy?

　　YUKI TATSUMI:Well, the reaction you just describe it, exactly what happened in Tokyo—or in Japan, as I should say, in the immediate⁵ 12 months that followed.

　　The government at that time, partly because they were very much aware that they could not respond to the nuclear meltdown as well as they could have, so they went completely the other way and declared that the Japan will be a nuclear power plant-free country in some 20- to 25-year span.

　　However, since then, Japanese experienced two summers. And, as you may know, in Japan—Japan's summer, wherever you are, it's very humid, hot, much, much worse than the D.C. metropolitan⁶ area. People actually feel the power shortages and the implication of trying to reduce their dependence⁷ on nuclear power to—in a too soon, too short time span.

　　The current government has a little bit more balanced approach. They still do believe that Japan should reduce its dependence on nuclear power. However, they take a longer perspective of doing so. And they are intending to, I believe, invent—more resources into accelerating the—developing alternative energy to—eventually to replace the demand that is currently met by the nuclear power.

　　RAY SUAREZ:You mentioned radiation. You can't see it, you can't smell it, you can't taste it.

　　We did a story on this program that showed fruits and vegetables still setting off radiation detectors⁸ long after the power plant disaster. It must be a little unnerving to think that everything in your life might be contaminated.

　　YUKI TATSUMI:It's very unnerving, and especially if you're a mother with a small child. It's very unnerving.

　　There's really no solid scientific data that really can say anything definitively⁹ about the impact of the health in terms of how much radiation it can take in a contaminated—and so on and so forth¹⁰. So, yes, it's still very unnerving. And in that sense, yes, the aftermath, aftereffect of the disaster is very much with Japanese.

　　RAY SUAREZ:There was a great deal of shock right after the tsunami and its aftereffects that more things didn't work better. Has this been a knock, now that we're two years away, to Japan's self-confidence?

　　YUKI TATSUMI:Right after the disaster, as you can imagine, everybody was completely shell-shocked. No one had ever imagined in their wildest dream that the disaster of that degree could happen, and to them.

　　And immediate—immediate reaction among the public was that, in some strange way, they rediscovered their inner strength, in terms of the way they were able to—kept their civility. As you remember, we really hardly heard any news about rioting, racketeering in the stores, none of that.

　　So, in a sense, at the public level, they rediscovered the self-confidence in themselves. But, at the same time, I think their confidence in the government very much were shaken by, like you said, the systems not working, the government not being able to respond to a nuclear meltdown as quickly, the government not being able to provide reliable information about the damage very quickly. So ...

　　RAY SUAREZ:And in the intervening months, of course, Japan has changed its government, changed its prime minister in—partially in reaction.

　　Yuki Tatsumi, thank you very much.

　　YUKI TATSUMI:Thank you.

1 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

2 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

5 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

6 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

7 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

8 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技

9 definitively   

adv.决定性地，最后地

参考例句：

• None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination. 三个超级国家中的任何一国都不可能被任何两国的联盟所绝对打败。 来自英汉文学
• Therefore, nothing can ever be definitively proved with a photograph. 因此，没有什么可以明确了一张照片。 来自互联网

10 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。