2015考研英语阅读英文原刊《经济学人》：灾难来袭日本
2015考研英语复习正是强化复习阶段，考研英语阅读在考研英语中占了40分，所以考研英语阅读是英语科目中重要的一项。新东方名师范猛老师曾建议过考研生需要坚持每天泛读10-15分钟的英文原刊。强烈推荐了杂志《经济学人》杂志中的文章也是考研英语的主要材料来源.希望考研考生认真阅读，快速提高考研英语阅读水平。Japan's catastrophes 灾难来袭日本 Nature strikesback大自然的报复
Can fragile Japan endure this hydra-headeddisaster?脆弱的日本能否抵御多重灾难的冲击?
UP A shallow river, five kilometres from the Pacificcoast in Japan’s north-eastern Iwate prefecture, liethe remains of a town. Crushed wooden houses nowresemble matchwood, scattered in every directionover swampy wasteland. A purple car is partiallysubmerged in mud. The piles of debris reach twometres high.
在日本东北部的岩手县，太平洋沿岸五公里处一条小河的上游保留着一座小城的遗址。泥泞的土地上，被毁坏的木制房屋像火柴棍一样零星地散落在各方。一辆紫色的汽车半掩在淤泥中，废墟堆了足有两米高。
Only on close inspection do you see that it was never a town at all—at least not there. It was arice paddy. The houses, shops, cars and people belonged lower down the valley. But the townis gone, washed away. Its debris settled on the field, high up the valley, that was the tsunami’shigh-water mark. That is all that physically remains of Rikuzentakata.
如果走近观察，你会发现这根本不是一座小城，至少不是这里的小城，这儿是一片水稻田。这里的房屋，商店，汽车和人本来属于下游的小镇。如今他却被海啸冲走，不复存在。废墟散布在地上，提升了地势，这就是海啸水墙过后留下的痕迹。这些就是陆前高田市仅存的残骸。
Rikuzentakata, a former whaling town, once held 23,000 people. Several hundred areconfirmed dead, but at mid-week perhaps thousands more were still missing. All tried to flee,as they were trained to do, when the tsunami warnings sounded in mid-afternoon. But this wasa town of old people, as fishing villages here invariably are. Many just could not make it. Theirfate was shared by perhaps tens of thousands of people living in ports, coastal towns and tinycove communities across the north-east. Some, though, were spared. Above a washed-awayhamlet clay-tiled homes are still standing, and a garden with tenderly coiffed trees. Even higherup is a small cemetery.
陆前高田市是一个以捕鲸业为主的小镇，这里曾经居住着23000名居民。如今已有几百人被证实死亡，但到本周中旬可能仍会有数千人下落不明，而且这一数字在不断增长。下午海啸警报响起的时候，人们纷纷逃难，就像平时训练的一样。但是和其他渔村一样，这里的居民以老年人居多，他们中的许多对逃生就有些力不从心了。不仅这里的居民，东北部港口，沿海城镇和小海湾社区中的居民也经历了这一切，虽然他们中的一些死里逃生。在一座被海啸冲刷过的小村庄里，一间瓦房仍然矗立在原地，旁边的公园里还有仔细修剪过的树木。然而在更高的地方却是一小片墓地。
Japan, which shows its love of nature in its reverence for trees and seasons, also knows theawesome power of the physical world—and fears it. Its orderly and law-abiding people knowthey live on one of the most geologically violent archipelagoes on the planet. The earthquakethat struck on the afternoon of March 11th had a magnitude of 9.0, the biggest in Japan’srecorded history. It was so strong that, even in Tokyo’s shock-absorbing skyscrapers, officeworkers cowered beneath their desks and then raced out into the street, only to be hit again bythe whump of aftershocks.
日本人崇敬树木和季节，这显示了他们对自然地热爱。他们同样也了解自然的可怕之处并对其报以敬畏之心。日本人井井有条，遵纪守法，他们知道自己居住在世界上地质运动最为活跃的群岛之一。3月11日下午发生的大地震达到了里氏9.0级，这是日本有史以来最强的一次地震。这次地震威力无比，东京的摩天大楼虽然有减震设计，但是在其中工作的人们还是不得不躲到桌子下面，并在安全的时候快速冲出了大楼。然而等着他们的又是一波余震。
As the quake lifted the ocean floor, it triggered atsunami (the word is Japanese) that breached withease some of what were considered to be Japan’sbest coastal defences. As of March 17th the policesaid at least 14,000 people were dead or missingalong the coast, though that fails to account for thetens of thousands who are unreported to theauthorities, supposed lost, in places likeRikuzentakata. As many as half a million are inemergency shelters, shivering through a bitterly coldsnowstorm that has added to the sense of crisis.Because of damaged roads, petrol shortages and bungling bureaucrats, many lack essentialssuch as food, water, toilet paper, nappies and kerosene for heating. A shocking number appearto be in their 90s, looked after by people who are themselves grandmothers and grandfathers.Amid the debris in Rikuzentakata, a 62-year-old woman wearing trainers was prodding aroundfor her 94-year-old aunt. The president of a nearby construction company had tried to helpthe aunt escape, but he too was washed away. Her niece had been searching fruitlessly for herevery day since March 12th.
地震使海床升高并由此引发了海啸(该词源于日语)。这次海啸来势凶猛,不费吹灰之力就将日本最好的海岸防备系统破坏殆尽。3月17日警察称沿海地区至少有14000人失踪或死亡,而这其中还不包括陆前高田等地疑似失踪,没有上报政府的人数。近50万人在避难所避难.暴风雪的肆虐之下他们瑟瑟发抖,这更加深了危机过后的悲惨景象。由于道路损毁,石油短缺,政府人员工作拖沓.许多人无法得到如食物,水,手纸,尿布和取暖用的煤油等必须日用品。惊人的是,他们中的许多已年过九旬,而照料他们的子女亲人许多也已身为(外)祖父母。陆前高田的废墟中,一名身穿运动鞋，年届62岁的妇女正在到处寻找她94岁的姑姑。附近一家建筑公司的社长在设法营救这位老人的时候被大水冲走。3月12日以来虽然她每天都在寻找，但却毫无音讯。
Appalling as these people’s plights are, they have been eclipsed for most of the week by fear ofan altogether different sort: that of a meltdown in the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear-power plant, some 240km north-east of Tokyo. Nuclear experts say the potential danger tohuman health from the three stricken reactors has so far been blown out of proportion—especially when set against the wider-spread suffering of the tsunami victims. But there is agnawing sense that Japan, the only country to have suffered mass radiation from atomicattack (and hence an expert in its consequences for long-term health), may be on the verge ofanother nuclear nightmare. Inevitably, the latest crisis will renew debate about the wisdom ofbuilding nuclear-power plants on such unstable and exposed terrain. Experts, however, canbarely imagine Japan meeting its energy needs without them.
灾民的处境令人震惊，同样令人震惊的是本周大部分时间人们都在被另外一种迥然不同的危机所笼罩：东京东北部240公里左右，由于福岛核电站的冷却系统遭到破坏，温度过高的反应堆面临融化的危险。核专家称受损的三座核反应堆给人类健康带来的潜在威胁近段时间被夸大，尤其是在广大难民的悲惨遭遇的衬托之下。更为令人揪心的是，日本，作为唯一一个因原子弹袭击而遭受大范围核辐射的国家(因此在核辐射对长期健康的影响上堪称专家)，可能正面临又一场核噩梦。这次危机会不可避免地掀起新的一轮讨论，议题就是在日本这样一个不稳定而又轻易暴露于灾难之下的地方修建核电站是否可行。但专家很难想象如果没有核电站，日本的能源需求要怎样得到满足。
A government under siege四面楚歌的政府
The palpable fear of the unknown can be heard in the words of Katsunobu Sakurai, themayor of Minamisoma. His town straddles the 20km exclusion zone surrounding the Fukushimaplant, as well as the 30km circle in which as many as 136,000 people are being urged to stayindoors to avoid radiation. Speaking by telephone to NHK, Japan’s national broadcaster, onMarch 16th, he said that people were now “trying their best to stay calm”, but many would fleethe area altogether if they could only find fuel to make the journey. He said the most basicsupplies were running short because outsiders were not willing to transport them to thedanger zone. Whenever he is interviewed, he begs the government for help.
从南相马市长胜信樱井的话语中我们很容易感受到人们对于未来的担忧。他所在的小镇坐落在福岛核电站周围20公里的隔离区内。以福岛核电站为中心，半径30公里区域内的13万6千名居民都受到警告要待在家中，避免辐射。3月16日在与日本国家广播公司NHK(日本放送协会)的电话连线中，他说人们正在竭力保持冷静。但是许多人正在寻找燃料逃离这里。他还说，由于人们不愿踏足危险区域，这里许多生活必需品都供应不足。采访中，他请求政府迅速对这里进行救援。
The government, though, is besieged on manyfronts。 Naoto Kan, the prime minister, entered acrisis of hydra-headed complexity with feeblepopularity and little public respect。 Until Mr Kan’sDemocratic Party of Japan took power in 2009, Japanhad seen its institutions of government corroded by55 years of one-party rule; and one of the biggestbones of contention had been the nuclear-powerindustry.
日本政府已经四面楚歌，而首相菅直人更是面临多重困境：他不仅满意度低迷，大众对他的尊重也所剩无几。菅直人所在的民主党2009年执政之前，日本一党执政已达55年，这期间政府机构被不断蚕食。党派之间竞争的焦点之一就是核能工业。
Generally the safety record has been good, considering the number of plants and their length ofservice。 But when there have been accidents, a shameful record of cover-ups, lackadaisicalcrisis management and an inbred complicity between regulators and utilities has given the publicample reason for skepticism.
就核电站的数量和服役寿命来说，日本核电站的安全记录整体上尚属优良。然而一旦事故发生，对事实的隐瞒，对灾难管理的怠慢以及管理者和公共事业公司之间的勾结便暴露无疑。这使得日本民众有充分的理由对政府表示怀疑。
The first response of Mr Kan, a former civil activist, has suggested that he is reacting moreopenly, though he hardly exudes authority. If his presence has been hit-and-miss during thecrisis, that cannot be said of his steadfast chief of staff, Yukio Edano. Mr Edano has producedfrequent updates on the unfolding nuclear crisis, while avoiding sowing panic among thepublic. In his blue overalls (now standard kit for Mr Kan and his team), he looks to many theepitome of the stalwart line manager.
作为一名曾经的“市民政治家”，首相菅直人在首次对灾难进行回应时表示他正在更为坦诚的应对危机，然而我们却很难从他身上看到任何权威性。如果说灾难应对过程中他的存在可有可无的话，那么作风坚韧的官房长官枝野幸男则大为不同。他经常发布关于核危机的新消息，这避免公共恐慌的爆发。他身着蓝色外套(他现在是菅直人政府的标准智囊)，在许多人来看来，他就是坚定可靠的业务经理的缩影。
Reduced to this只剩这些
But if the Fukushima crisis worsens, Mr Kan’s ability to lay blame for the mishaps on the TokyoElectric Power Company (TEPCO), the owner of the power plant, will wear thin—not leastbecause the government has set up a crisis committee with TEPCO that appears to put thecompany firmly in charge. Also, there is the lingering danger of panic. Foreigners with families inTokyo have reacted most nervously. As the radiation has risen they have taken bullet trains toOsaka, in western Japan, and flights out of the country, quietly supported by their firms andembassies.
如果福岛核电站的危机继续恶化，首相大人就不能对核电站的所有者东京电力能源公司加以责备了。因为至少政府没有与电力公司合作建立危机委员会以对其进行严格监控。与此同时，恐慌爆发的危险仍然挥之不去。有亲属在东京的外国人反应最为激烈。随着核辐射强度的不断上升，在公司和使馆的支持下，他们纷纷乘坐新干线来到日本西部城市大阪或是乘飞机回国。
Most residents of greater Tokyo—at 35m, the most populous metropolitan area in the world—have shown much more stoicism, partly because the authorities and media have remainedcalm. Despite radiation fears, aftershock warnings, power cuts, train disruption and half-emptysupermarkets, many queued patiently on March 15th to meet their tax deadlines. But the nextday, reflecting the seriousness of the situation, 77-year-old Emperor Akihito gave a raretelevised address to express his “deep concern”. He had been quiet until then, despitemessages of support coming in from royalty around the world.
东京都是世界上最繁华的大都市地区之一。这里约有3500万居民，如今他们大多比较冷静。这部分归因于政府和媒体的冷静态度。尽管面临放射危险，余震警报，停电，铁路中断以及超市营业惨淡，许多人还是在3月15日截止日期到来前排队交纳了税款。但是第二天，鲜有露面的77岁高龄的明仁天皇就通过媒体表达了对这次危机的深刻关注，这在某种程度上反映了局势的严重性。虽然世界各国皇室纷纷发来慰问函，天皇也再难保持沉默。
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