对失踪的马来西亚航空(Malaysia Airlines) MH370班机的水下搜索以失败告终。在该班机失踪将近三年后，这个全球最大的航空谜团之一仍未被解开。

　　In a joint statement on Tuesday, China, Malaysia and Australia said they were suspending the operation and the last vessel had left the 120,000 sq km underwater search area without being able to locate the plane.

　　在周二发表的一份联合公报中，中国、马来西亚和澳大利亚表示它们正中止搜寻行动，最后一艘搜索船已离开面积为12万平方公里的水下搜索海区，没有找到该班机的下落。

　　“Despite every effort using the best science available, cutting-edge technology, as well as modelling and advice from highly skilled professionals who are the best in their field?.?.?.?the search has not been able to locate the aircraft,” said the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre, which led the search. “Accordingly, the underwater search for MH370 has been suspended.”

　　“尽管搜索已竭尽所能，采用了最好的科技，先进的技术和模拟，以及相关领域中出类拔萃专业人士提出的建议，遗憾的是，搜索未能找到飞机。”领导搜寻工作的联合机构协调中心(Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre)表示，“据此，MH370的水下搜索暂告中止。”

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　　MH370 went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board, prompting one of the longest and most complex search operations in history. The underwater search has concentrated on a remote part of the Indian Ocean off Western Australia — where investigators believe the aircraft ditched in the ocean after running out of fuel.

　　MH370班机2014年3月8日由吉隆坡飞往北京途中失踪，机上有239名乘客和机组人员。它的失踪引发了史上持续时间最长、复杂程度最高的搜寻行动。水下搜索工作聚焦于西澳大利亚州外的印度洋偏远海域——调查人员认为，该班机在耗尽燃油后坠入了这一带的大洋中。

　　Experts have been left baffled as to why the aircraft went “dark” — someone on board is thought to have deliberately disabled the transponder, a device that identifies an aircraft on radar screens — before the jet veered off-course.

　　专家们一直没弄明白该班机为何“失联”，据信机上有人故意关闭了应答机（一种在雷达屏幕上确认飞机身份的设备）。该班机失联后改变了航向。

　　Radar tracking showed the aircraft changed course to the west, leaving its original route heading north-east from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Later analysis of satellite signals suggested the aircraft had then turned south and headed out over the Indian Ocean

　　雷达跟踪信息显示，MH370改变航向向西飞行，离开了由吉隆坡飞往北京的、指向东北方的原定航线。后来对卫星信号的分析显示，该班机之后又转而向南，一头飞向印度洋上空。

　　“Today’s announcement is significant for our three countries, but more importantly for the family and friends of those on board,” said the joint statement. “We again take this opportunity to honour the memory of those who have lost their lives and acknowledge the enormous loss felt by their loved ones.”

　　“今天的公报对我们三个国家很重要，但对于搭乘这趟航班旅客的亲友们尤为如此。”联合公报称，“我们利用这个机会再次对失事旅客表示怀念，并对由此给亲人带来的巨大损失深表同情。”

　　However, the decision to wrap up the A$180m search is likely to prove controversial following a report last month by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which recommended searching a new 25,000 sq km area north of the search zone.

　　然而，决定中止耗资1.8亿澳元的搜寻行动很可能会引起争议，因为澳大利亚交通安全局(Australian Transport Safety Bureau)上月曾发布报告建议，对现搜寻区域以北一块面积2.5万平方公里的新区域进行搜寻。

　　A review of all available data by the ATSB identified the new area as the “one with the highest probability of containing the wreckage of the aircraft”.

　　澳交通安全局一项对所有可用数据的评估认定，该新区域为“最有可能包含该班机残骸的区域之一”。

　　But government ministers from Canberra and Kuala Lumpur dismissed the report’s recommendation to extend the search as it did not provide enough specific information on the aircraft’s final resting place.

　　但澳大利亚和马来西亚政府没有采纳这份报告提出的扩大搜寻范围的建议，理由是报告未就该班机的最终所在地给出足够多的具体信息。

　　Voice 370, a support group for relatives of those on board MH370, criticised the decision to end the search.

　　MH370机上人员亲属的援助团体Voice 370批评了结束搜寻的决定。

　　“In our view, extending the search to the new area is an inescapable duty owed to the flying public in the interests of aviation safety,” it said in a statement. “Commercial planes cannot just be allowed to disappear without trace.

　　“在我们看来，从航空安全出发，将搜寻范围扩大到新区域是对乘飞机出行的公众负有的、不可推诿的责任，”该团体在声明中表示，“不能任由商用飞机消失得无影无踪。”

　　Several pieces of debris from MH370 have washed up on Indian Ocean beaches in Mauritius, the French island of Réunion and an island off the coast of Tanzania.

　　MH370的一些碎片被冲刷到毛里求斯、法属留尼汪岛(La Réunion)和坦桑尼亚沿海一座小岛的海滩上。