中國(guó)網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
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 A military helicopter scoops water off the Japanese coast to dump on the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. |
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Fukushima is not Chernobyl, scientists repeat, and even Chernobyl was not as deadly as popularly believed. Dire warnings of radiation spreading from Japan's embattled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to deadly effect across Japan, or even to California, are likely overblown, they say. Radiation is all around us, varying with the number of miles we fly, the elevation of our towns, and the minerals in our environments, scientists point out. We live with it, and most of the time it is harmless. “There is an increased level of anxiety disproportionate to the actual risk,” says Jerrold Bushberg, who directs programs in health physics at the University of California at Davis. “It’s the dose that makes the poison. It’s not a binary thing.” Fear and hype surround radiation, which has become something of a bogeyman in part because of popular culture. A radioactive spider bit Peter Parker and turned him into Spiderman. Bruce Banner absorbed radiation in a bomb explosion and became The Incredible Hulk. Radiation from nuclear detonations morphed a small lizard into Godzilla. “It gives you subliminal messages about the capacity of radiation to do harm,” Professor Bushberg says in a telephone interview. A buy-up of potassium iodide tablets, which some say guard against some effects of radiation exposure, is “premature” in America, he says, and concerns over contaminated Japanese exports are also alarmist. “That’s crazy, absolutely crazy,” agrees Shan Nair, a former nuclear physicist who was one of two UK experts assisting the European Commission in the post-accident Chernobyl response. “It’s important to have a sense of proportion here.” And even then, Chernobyl was a very different incident from what is now unfolding at Fukushima Daiichi. Chernobyl’s reactor lacked a containment facility, unlike the Fukushima plant, whose GE-made containment vessels have withstood both an earthquake, tsunami, and thus far, a partial meltdown. When it comes to nuclear power, says Bushberg of the University of California, "there is a lot of misinformation." (Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
科學(xué)家反復(fù)強(qiáng)調(diào)，福島不是切爾諾貝利，而且切爾諾貝利也不像公眾所想的那么可怕和危險(xiǎn)。 日前傳出可怕的警告，稱(chēng)日本福島第一核電站危機(jī)四伏，它的核輻射擴(kuò)散將對(duì)全日本、甚至美國(guó)加州造成致命后果。科學(xué)家稱(chēng)，這種警告很可能是言過(guò)其實(shí)。 科學(xué)家指出，我們四周到處是輻射，輻射多少和我們飛行的里數(shù)、我們居住的城鎮(zhèn)的海拔以及周?chē)h(huán)境的礦物質(zhì)有關(guān)。我們生活在輻射當(dāng)中，而且大多數(shù)時(shí)間我們所受到的輻射是無(wú)害的。 加州大學(xué)戴維斯分校保健物理學(xué)專(zhuān)業(yè)項(xiàng)目的負(fù)責(zé)人杰羅德?布希伯格說(shuō)：“人們的焦慮情緒日益強(qiáng)烈，但實(shí)際上人們并不需要如此擔(dān)憂。只有劑量夠大，才會(huì)把人毒死。并不是非此即彼。” 有關(guān)核輻射的恐懼和炒作由于在某種程度上受大眾文化影響，變得像鬼怪一樣。彼得?帕克被一只遭到輻射的蜘蛛咬過(guò)之后，就成了蜘蛛人。布魯斯?班納在吸收了炸彈爆炸中的輻射后，就變成了神奇綠巨人。核爆炸產(chǎn)生的輻射還使一只小蜥蜴變異成了怪獸哥斯拉。 布希伯格教授在一次電話訪談中說(shuō)：“這傳達(dá)了一種信息，讓你在潛意識(shí)里認(rèn)為輻射能帶來(lái)的危害是無(wú)限的。” 有人認(rèn)為碘化鉀藥片可以起到一定的防輻射作用，于是人們大量買(mǎi)進(jìn)這種藥片。布希伯格認(rèn)為這一舉動(dòng)在美國(guó)還“為時(shí)過(guò)早”。他說(shuō)，有關(guān)日本出口貨物受到污染的說(shuō)法也是危言聳聽(tīng)。 前核物理學(xué)家杉?奈爾也同意這一觀點(diǎn)，他說(shuō)：“這真的很瘋狂，太瘋狂了。人們應(yīng)該適可而止。”奈爾曾經(jīng)是協(xié)助切爾諾貝利事故后續(xù)反應(yīng)歐洲委員會(huì)工作的兩個(gè)美國(guó)專(zhuān)家之一。 盡管都是核事故，切爾諾貝利事故和現(xiàn)在福島第一核電站發(fā)生的事故也是有很大不同的。切爾諾貝利核電站的反應(yīng)堆缺少防范設(shè)施，而福島核電站有美國(guó)通用制造的防范設(shè)施，而且福島核反應(yīng)堆已經(jīng)經(jīng)歷了一場(chǎng)地震和一場(chǎng)海嘯，迄今為止，也只是部分核心熔毀而已。 加州大學(xué)的布希伯格說(shuō)，關(guān)于原子能“有太多的錯(cuò)誤信息”。 相關(guān)閱讀 日本核危機(jī)升級(jí) 全球關(guān)注核電安全 日本核危機(jī)升級(jí) 鄰國(guó)碘片熱銷(xiāo) 明星為日本祈福 LadyGaga設(shè)計(jì)腕帶義賣(mài) （中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 陳丹妮 編輯：馮明惠） |
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Vocabulary: embattled: surrounded by problems and difficulties（被困擾的；處境艱難的；危機(jī)四伏的） overblown: that is made to seem larger, more impressive or more important than it really is exaggerated（過(guò)分的；夸張的） binary: consisting of two parts（二元的；由兩部份組成的） hype: exaggeration about something in order to get a lot of public attention（炒作） bogeyman: an imaginary evil spirit that is used to frighten children （用以嚇唬小孩的）鬼怪 radioactive: emitting or relating to the emission of ionizing radiation or particles（放射性的；和輻射相關(guān)的） hulk: a very large object, especially one that causes you to feel nervous or afraid （尤指令人緊張或害怕的）龐然大物 detonation: an explosion; the action of making something explode（爆炸；起爆；引爆） morph: change or cause to change smoothly from one image to another by small gradual steps（演變，變體） subliminal: affecting your mind even though you are not aware of it（下意識(shí)的；潛意識(shí)的） buy-up: 全部（或盡量）買(mǎi)下某物；收購(gòu) potassium iodide tablet: 碘化鉀藥片 alarmist: causing unnecessary fear and anxiety（危言聳聽(tīng)的；駭人的） meltdown: a serious accident in which the central part of a nuclear reactor melts, causing harmful radiation to escape 核反應(yīng)堆核心熔毀（導(dǎo)致核輻射泄漏） |
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