脸书网计划建造海底光缆登陆点惹怒俄勒冈州小镇居民

    People in a small town with no stoplights or mobile phone service are trying to keep out one of the world's largest technology companies.
    在一个没有信号灯也没有移动电话服务的小镇上,人们试图将一家全球最大的科技公司排除在外。

    The battle is taking place in the town of Tierra del Mar in American state of Oregon.
    这场斗争发生在美国俄勒冈州的蒂拉·德尔玛镇。

    Locals there are trying to stop Facebook from developing property in their quiet coastal community. The company wants to build a landing site for an undersea cable connecting the United States with Asia.
    当地居民试图阻止脸书网在他们宁静的沿海社区开发不动产。这家公司想要在这里为连接美国和亚洲的海底光缆建造一个登陆点。

    The cable will link many U.S. sites with Japan and the Philippines. The connection also will help meet an increasing demand for internet services worldwide, the company says.
    该电缆将会把许多美国站点同日本和菲律宾连接起来。该公司表示,这种连接还有助于满足全球对互联网服务不断增长的需求。

    Facebook officials say Tierra del Mar is one of the few places on the U.S. West Coast with the right qualities for the high-speed cable.
    脸书网官员表示,蒂拉·德尔玛镇是美国西海岸为数不多具备建设高速电缆合适品质的地方。

    But locals say underground movements from drilling to bring the cable to this coastal village might damage homes and waste systems. They also note that maps and government records identify Tierra del Mar as a residential area. If state and local officials permit the project, they say, more development will come.
    但是当地人表示,通过地下钻探将电缆引入这个沿海村庄可能会破坏房屋和废物处理系统。他们还指出,地图和政府文件将蒂拉·德尔玛镇确定为居民区。如果州和当地官员批准这些项目,更多开发项目就会随之而来。

    "This is a huge precedent. Once you open the shores to these companies coming anywhere they want to, Oregon's coast is pretty much wide open season," said Patricia Rogers, who lives in Tierra del Mar. She made the comments to county officials in a written statement.
    蒂拉·德尔玛镇居民帕特丽夏·罗杰斯表示:“这是一个巨大的先例。一旦你向这些公司开放了海岸,俄勒冈的海岸就会门户大开。”她在写给县政府官员的书面报告中如是表示。

    The Tillamook County Board of Commissioners voted in support of the project after considering Rogers' and others' statements on Thursday.
    在考虑了罗杰斯以及其他人士的书面报告之后,蒂拉穆克县委员会投票支持了这个项目。

    Locals plan to appeal the ruling to Oregon state officials.
    当地人计划向俄勒冈州官员上诉这一裁决。

    Tierra del Mar is home to a mix of working professionals and retirees. Locals share a love for the town's quiet coastline and for the deer, bald eagles and rare seabirds that call the area home.
    蒂拉·德尔玛镇是在职专家和退休人士的定居地。当地人热爱镇上宁静的海岸线以及以此地区为家园的鹿、白头鹰和稀有海鸟。

    The town has only two businesses. It has no mobile phone service. Providers seemingly do not consider it profitable enough to offer service there.
    该镇只有两家企业。镇上没有手机网络服务。移动电话供应商似乎认为不值得在这里提供服务。

    Locals worry the Facebook project will bring cell phone towers and additional cable sites.
    当地人担心脸书网项目将会带来更多的手机信号塔和更多的电缆站。

    Facebook representatives told county officials that the drilling project would last about a month. They said they carefully chose the Tierra del Mar site to avoid areas where fishermen use huge nets to catch fish. They also noted they went around federally protected fish habitats.
    脸书网代表告诉县官员,该钻探项目将会持续大约1个月。他们表示自己精心选择了蒂拉·德尔玛镇作为站点,以避免渔民使用大网捕鱼的地区。他们还指出自己绕过了联邦政府保护的鱼类栖息地。

    The company did not offer additional details about the project. But it told The Associated Press in a statement: "With more people using the internet, existing internet infrastructure is struggling to handle all the traffic. These new cable projects help people connect more efficiently."
    该公司尚未提供有关该项目的其它详细信息。但是该公司在给美联社的一份声明中表示:“随着越来越多人使用互联网,现有的互联网基础设施难以应对所有流量。这些新的电缆项目将会帮助人们更有效地连接。”

    Internet use worldwide has reached 4.1 billion people, or 54 percent of the world's population. That is up from 1.6 billion people in 2008. Those numbers come from the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency.
    全球互联网用户已经达到了41亿人,占世界人口的54%。这是2008年的16亿人涨上来的。这些数字出自联合国下属机构国际电信联盟。

    Almost all of that messaging and internet use goes through fiber optic cables instead of satellites, said Kristian Nielsen. She is vice president of Submarine Telecoms Forum, a Virginia-based trade magazine.
    克里斯蒂安·尼尔森表示,几乎所有的信息传递和互联网应用都是通过光缆而不是卫星进行的。她是《海底电信论坛》的副总裁,这是弗吉尼亚的一份专业杂志。

    When data -- including phone calls -- go between North America and other continents, undersea fiber optic cables are used 99 percent of the time, Nielsen said.
    尼尔森表示,北美和其它大洲之间99%的数据传递是使用海底光缆,这些数据传递也包括电话在内。

    Undersea cables have around 800 landing points around the world, the Submarine Telecoms Forum reports. Opposition to them, Nielsen said, is rare.
    《海底电信论坛》报道称,海底光缆在全球范围内有大约800个登陆点。尼尔森表示,很少有人反对建设这种登陆点。

    I'm Ashley Thompson.
    我是阿什利·汤普森。(51VOA.COM原创翻译,禁止转载,违者必究!)