英国石油公司称吸油工作进展良好

Energy giant BP has announced the successful tests on a system to siphon oil from a blown-out well, a move the company called an "important step" in containing a spill that threatens environmental disaster.

能源巨头英国石油公司称，一套吸导漏油的设备已投入试验性运行，并且从破裂的油井中成功吸导出了原油。英国石油公司认为，这对于阻止漏油，避免环境灾难来说，迈出了“意义重大的一步”。

Crude oil has been gushing into the sea from a ruptured undersea well in the Gulf of Mexico about a mile under the water's surface, threatening an ecological and economic calamity along the US Gulf Coast.

在墨西哥湾水下约1英里处，原油不断地从破裂的钻井中涌出，对美国墨西哥湾沿岸的生态环境和经济都造成了威胁。

BP has succeeded in inserting a tube into the leaking well and captured some oil and gas, according to a statement posted on a website maintained by BP and US government agencies.

据发布于英国石油公司和美国政府机构共同维护的网站上的一份声明，英国石油公司成功地向钻井中插入了一根管子，吸取了一些原油和煤气。

The operation was stopped briefly when the tube became dislodged, the statement said, but technicians inspected the system and reinserted it successfully.

而当管子位置发生移动后，抽油工作就暂时停滞了。不过，技术人员检修了这套设备，之后又成功地把管子重插进去。

President Barack Obama's administration, which over the weekend also pressed BP to make clear its commitment to covering the spill's costs, was unimpressed.

奥巴马政府对此没有发表意见。而上周末，美国还曾给英国石油公司施加压力，令其认清职责，赔偿污染造成的损失。

"This technique is not a solution to the problem," Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said in a joint statement.

美国国国土安全部部长珍妮特和内政部秘书萨拉查在一份联合声明中说，“这项技术并不能完全解决问题。”

The spill began after an April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers. It threatens to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill off Alaska as the worst US ecological disaster.

4月20日，“深海地平线”钻井平台发生了爆炸，11名工作人员死亡，漏油事件便从那时开始，并有可能超过1989年发生在美国阿拉斯加海岸的瓦尔迪兹原油泄露事件的严重程度，成为美国有史以来最为严重的生态污染事件。