VOA标准英语2011--Japanese Nuclear Crisis Leaves Fukushima

Japanese Nuclear Crisis Leaves Fukushima Town Broken

The Japanese town of Minamisoma was hit hard by the earthquake and tsunami¹ in March. The disaster killed several hundred residents. Tens of thousands were then forced to evacuate² as reactors³ at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which lies just 30 kilometers away, went into meltdown.
And many of the residents who remain feel they have been abandoned by the Japanese government.
Grass and wild rice are encroaching on the road leading into the Fukushima evacuation zone.
It is deserted⁴ apart from a single bus; on board are a few of the former residents of this area, now dressed in protective suits.
For three precious hours, they were allowed back to their homes. After collecting valuables, documents, even abandoned pets, they are once more escorted out.
Everyone living within 20 km of the Daiichi plant was forced to evacuate. For the next 10 kilometers, the government has simply recommended that people move away. The town of Minamisoma lies on the edge of that zone.
Determined⁵ to stay
A bicycle is left near a station in the part of Minamisoma town that is inside the 20-kilometer evacuation zone in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, April 21, 2011.
Overgrown gardens and abandoned homes are testament⁶ to the exodus⁷ that followed the first explosion at the Fukushima plant. Almost overnight the population plummeted⁸ from 71,000 to just 10,000.
Nunokawa Yoshiuki is one of those who decided⁹ to stay. He’s still running his family’s fruit store, just 25 kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
“There are six people in my family. If I run away, there would be no job for me," he explains. “I was born here, I grew up here; I work hard to treat my customers well. My roots are here and that’s connected to all my customers," adds Nunokawa. “I don’t want the Fukushima nuclear problem to beat us, I want to get over this, I talked to my family about it and I decided to stay here.”
Even though he’s decided to stay, Nunokawa fears for his business.
“The number of customers has really fallen,” he says. “I used to deliver to wholesale¹⁰ customers, but they are within the 20 kilometer evacuation zone, and have all closed down. So I’ve lost a lot of profit.”
Aftermath
A kilometer down the road. VOA found an abandoned farm. Behind the padlocked gates, rows of greenhouses full of dead plants. The cattle sheds overgrown and empty. The last entry on the delivery board at the farm entrance shows the date as March 13, two days after the tsunami hit.
At the town hall, officials are dealing¹¹ with a stream of people asking for help and advice.
The mayor of Minamisoma, Sakurai Katsunobu, gained worldwide fame in March when he posted a video on the website YouTube, appealing for help.He was scathing¹² of the Japanese government’s response, saying his town was left "isolated¹³."
Lingering fear
Five months on, authorities are struggling to bring the Fukushima nuclear plant under control. There is still much fear among the people of Minamisoma.
Takano Shinji is among the staff at the Tsunami Response Center.
“We get many phone calls from citizens looking for information," Takano says. "I can’t give them the answer, I have to ask the government, but always they say they haven’t made a decision yet. Always, the Japanese government’s answer is ‘No we can’t’.”
Hour by hour, town hall officials plot the latest radiation readings on maps and mark the progress made on the clean-up operation. Takano says for many years they lived in relative ignorance of the power plant.
“Before, we never thought about the nuclear plant just up the road,” he says. “The Japanese government always insisted that the plants were safe. But now with this situation that has befallen our town, we realize how dangerous nuclear plants really are.”
Latest readings suggest the current radiation level in Minamisoma does not pose a long-term health risk. But tens of thousands residents have abandoned this town. Many are unlikely to return.
Minamisoma has been changed forever thanks to its nuclear neighbor.

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 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

3 reactors   

起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 )； 反应装置； 原子炉； 核反应堆

参考例句：

• The TMI nuclear facility has two reactors. 三哩岛核设施有两个反应堆。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The earliest production reactors necessarily used normal uranium as fuel. 最早为生产用的反应堆，必须使用普通铀作为燃料。

4 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

5 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

6 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。

7 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。

8 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

11 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

12 scathing   

adj.（言词、文章）严厉的，尖刻的；不留情的adv.严厉地，尖刻地v.伤害，损害（尤指使之枯萎）( scathe的现在分词)

参考例句：

• a scathing attack on the new management 针对新的管理层的猛烈抨击
• Her speech was a scathing indictment of the government's record on crime. 她的演讲强烈指责了政府在犯罪问题上的表现。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。