From VOA Learning English, this is the TECHNOLOGY REPORT in Special English.
这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。
Hundreds of thousands of people were without electricity last week in the northeastern United States. They lost power when Superstorm Sandy hit the area in late October. Last week, another storm brought more high winds and dropped snow on the already troubled New York City area.
上周美国东北部数十万人断电。他们在10月下旬遭遇超级风暴桑迪袭击时失去了电力。上周，另一场风暴带来了更大的狂风，还给早已陷入困境的纽约市区带来了降雪。
Officials are blaming Sandy for more than one hundred deaths and more than fifty billion dollars in property damage. The storm left about eight million people without power for days. This included nearly five million people in New York State and New Jersey.
有关官员称桑迪导致了一百多人死亡和五百多亿美元的财产损失。风暴造成约800万人数天断电，其中包括纽约州和新泽西州的近500万人。
Sandy flooded parts of New York City's subway system and affected other transportation. It delayed movement of trucks carrying fuel to gasoline stations, resulting in long lines at gas pumps.
桑迪淹没了纽约市部分地铁系统，还影响了其它交通系统。运送汽油到加油站的卡车因此发生延误，导致加油机前排起了长队。
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo spoke about the problems at a press conference last week.
纽约州州长安德鲁·库默（Andrew Cuomo）上周在新闻发布会上谈到了这一问题。
"Many of the gas stations, especially in Nassau, there's gasoline in the tank in the ground but there's no power to run the pump. And that's been the problem."
他说：“很多加油站，特别是拿骚县（Nassau）的加油站，它们地下油罐里有汽油，但没有电来运转电泵（把汽油抽上来）。这就是问题所在。”
Governor Cuomo said Superstorm Sandy has exposed problems with New York's infrastructure.
库默州长表示，超级风暴桑迪暴露了纽约基础设施的问题。
"These systems are the circulatory systems of the region. And you stop the circulatory system, and you paralyze the region."
他说：“这些系统是该地区的循环系统，它一停止运转，该地区就陷入了瘫痪。”
He said the failure of the city's public utility system is of real concern.
他说，城市公共设施系统的崩溃是最大的担忧。
"The utility system we have was designed at a different time for a different place. I believe the system is archaic and is obsolete in many ways."
他说：“我们公共设施系统的设计经历了时空转换，我认为该系统已经太老，在很多方面已经过时了。”
The storm has led to calls for power companies to bury more electrical lines underground. But, at least one expert says similar efforts did not help New York. Otto Lynch is vice president of Power Line Systems in Wisconsin.
风暴还引发人们呼吁电力公司将更多电力线路埋到地下。但是至少有一位专家表示，类似措施没能帮助到纽约。奥托·林奇（Otto Lynch）是康斯威星州电力系统副总裁。
"The reason many people in New York are out of power is because it was underground and when the water came onshore, water and electricity don't mix. And they've got problems and it takes forever to find the problems. And when you do find the problems, it's not just a quick fix. You have to dig. You have to work. Out of sight, out of mind is great until there's a problem."
“纽约很多人断电的原因是因为电力线路埋在地下，当水涌上陆地时，水电不相容。它导致了问题却又难于发现。当你确实发现问题，也无法快速解决，你必须挖开地面。在没发生问题前的确是眼不见心不烦。”
Otto Lynch says a bigger national problem has to do with electrical distribution poles. He says the current poles do not have to meet industry weather requirements. And he says the ones in New York did not.
林奇表示，需要解决的一个更大的全国性问题是配电电杆。他说目前的电杆无需满足工业级气象标准，纽约的电杆就未满足。
"The structures aren't designed for the ninety-mile per hour winds that occurred and there were a lot of distribution failures."
他说：“这些设施不是为刚发生的90英里每小时的大风设计的，配电问题很多。”
Mr. Lynch is a member of the America's Infrastructure Committee at the American Society of Civil Engineers. The group produced its last report on the nation's infrastructure in two thousand nine.
林奇先生是美国土木工程师学会下属的基础设施委员会成员。该组织2009年就国家基础设施发布了最新报告。
"The two thousand nine grade for energy was a D+. That's actually better than most of the rest of the infrastructure. The average grade for all of America's infrastructure was a D."
“2009年能源等级为D+。其实已经优于其它基础设施。美国基础设施平均等级是D。”
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