VOA慢速英语:Remembering the Gulf Oil Spill, One Year Later

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，墨西哥湾深水钻井平台起火发生爆炸.11名工作人员遇难。石油持续不断地从损坏的钻井向海洋中泄漏,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故。官员们估计大约有500万桶石油倾倒在墨西哥湾。

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，水面上看起来似乎与灾难前一样。水中的天然微生物帮忙吞噬了石油和清理了漏油。工作人员也使用化学消油剂来分解石油。

But John Hocevar, a marine biologist with the environmental group Greenpeace, says most of the oil is still in the Gulf.
但是，环保团体绿色和平组织的海洋生物学家John Hocevar表示，大部分漏油仍然在墨西哥湾。

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."
John Hocevar：“他们还在水中，沉淀到海底.有许多被冲刷到沼泽地。他们依然在那里，直到今天还在被海洋生物吞食。”

Tar balls continue to wash up on beaches. And animal rescue teams still treat oil-covered dolphins, turtles and other creatures.
焦油球继续被冲刷到沙滩上。动物救援小组仍然在处理满身油污的海豚，海龟和其他生物。

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.
Lisa DiPinto是国家海洋和大气管理局工作人员。DiPinto称，如此大规模的石油泄漏的影响原本可能更糟。她称检测结果表明，来自墨西哥湾的鱼虾仍然可以安全食用。

LISA DiPINTO: "The seafood safety testing that I have seen has indicated everything is looking good."
Lisa DiPinto：“我看到的海洋食品安全检测表明一切看上去都比较好。”

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.
但是她表示，墨西哥湾的恢复工作还远远没有完成。石油泄漏的全部影响或许多年后还不能完全知道。

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."
Lisa DiPinto：“由于石油泄漏的缘故，我们可能会看到以前可能从未见过的事情。所以，我们正在观察近海深水环境，水柱中以及海岸线的情况。”

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.
去年，英国石油公司同意成立一个200亿美元的基金，用于渔船船主，工人和其他受石油泄漏影响的人。英国石油公司是英国本土的能源公司，负责运营油井，从跨洋公司租赁了深水地平线钻井平台。

In December the federal government announced civil action against BP, Transocean and other companies connected to the spill.
12月份，联邦政府宣布对英国石油公司，跨洋公司和其他与这次漏油相关联的公司提起民事诉讼。

Observances of the first anniversary took place along the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday.
周三，墨西哥湾沿岸举行了纪念这次漏油一周年的活动。

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.
这次漏油事件导致奥巴马政府停止了墨西哥湾的深水钻井活动。该禁令于十月份结束。但是政府自那时起几乎没有发放任何许可证。石油和天然气公司表示，新的规定使他们难以迅速的增加产量。

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.
政府官员称他们正在准备制定新的规则，将采取更多措施确保安全，让钻井作业得以继续。墨西哥湾提供的石油大约占美国总产量的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.
奥巴马总统称工作人员在清理漏油方面取得了进展，但是工作还没有完成。他表示他领导下的政府将会采取一切必要措施来保护和恢复墨西哥湾海岸。