天氣狀況料將惡化 航班搜尋愈加不易
Ten planes resumed the hunt in the Indian Ocean for clues to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on Monday, including--for the first time--Chinese military aircraft.
10架飛機週一繼續在印度洋搜尋馬來西亞航空(Malaysia Airlines)失聯航班的蹤跡，其中包括兩架中國軍機，這是中國軍機首次參與這次搜尋工作。Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said two Chinese military Ilyushin IL-76 planes would search an area where a large object was identified by a Chinese satellite Saturday.
澳大利亞副總理特拉斯(Warren Truss)說，中國兩架軍用伊爾-76運輸機將在一個搜尋區域參與搜索活動。上週六，一顆中國衛星發現該搜尋區域出現一個體積較大的物體。'It is a very difficult task. Today we expect the weather to deteriorate. Unfortunately forecasts ahead are not all that good,' Mr. Truss said on Monday. 'The search area is very large today, around 68,000 square kilometers (26,000 square miles). That's a lot of water to look for a tiny object.'
特拉斯週一說，這是一項非常困難的任務，預計天氣會惡化；遺憾的是，從天氣預報來看，未來幾天的天氣都不怎麼好。他還說，當天的搜尋區域非常大，大約有6.8萬平方公里，在如此大的海面上尋找一個小物體很不容易。
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Sunday that authorities have a number of credible leads. They include satellite images of objects in the southern Indian Ocean captured by DigitalGlobe Inc.--a provider of imagery to the Pentagon's geospatial agency--and Chinese images that, at first blush, appeared to be consistent with the earlier satellite photos. The commercial images showed two pieces of debris, the largest of which was around 79 feet (24 meters) long, while Chinese military discovered a large object measuring 72 feet long and 42 feet wide.
澳大利亞總理阿博特(Tony Abbott)週日說，有關部門有了一些可靠的線索。這些線索包括顯示南印度洋有漂浮物的衛星圖像（圖像由DigitalGlobe Inc.-公司拍攝，該公司是五角大樓地理空間機構的圖像提供商），以及中國提供的乍看來與早先的衛星照片表面看來相一致的圖像。商業圖像顯示有兩件類似殘片的物體，其中較大的大約24米長，中國軍方發現的一個大件物體長約22米，寬約13米。'It is still too early to be definite, but obviously we have now had a number of very credible leads and there is increasing hope--no more than hope--that we might be on the road to discovering what happened to this ill-fated aircraft,' the Australian prime minister told reporters in some of the most upbeat remarks since his country assumed the lead of the international search almost a week ago.
阿博特對記者說：現在還給不出確定的消息，但很顯然我們已經有了一些非常可靠的線索，而且希望越來越大，我們可能會發現這架飛機發生了什麼，當然也只是希望而已。這是大約一週前澳大利亞牽頭進行國際搜尋以來阿博特發表的最樂觀的言論。The chief of Malaysia's civil-aviation authority said Sunday they received new satellite images from French authorities of possible debris roughly 370 miles west of the area where the search is now focused. Mr. Truss said the latest images were outside the zone identified as the most likely area to search for the missing Boeing 777-200 jet--which disappeared carrying 239 people en route from Malaysia to Beijing on March 8.
馬來西亞民航局負責人週日稱，他們從法國有關部門獲得了新的疑似殘骸衛星圖像，圖像顯示疑似殘骸位於目前搜索區域以西約370英里（約600公里）的海域。特拉斯說，最新圖像顯示的疑似殘骸位於目前被認爲是最有可能找到失聯客機的搜索海域之外。3月8日，一架波音777-200客機在從馬來西亞飛往北京的途中消失，機場載有239人。'Having said that, we've got to check out all the options. We still don't know for certain that the aircraft is even in this area,' he said. 'We are I guess clutching at whatever little piece of information comes along, to try and find a place where we might be able to try and concentrate the efforts.'
他說，即便如此，我們也必須考察所有的可能，我們仍不能肯定飛機是否就在這一海域。他還說，我想我們正在收集任何哪怕是一丁點的信息，試圖找到一個我們或許可以集中力量搜索的海域。One significant discovery by searchers on Saturday was a number of small items, including a wooden pallet surrounded by strapping belts. Australia's maritime authority said wooden pallets were commonly used on commercial aircraft. However, efforts to confirm the initial sighting--made by a civilian plane--were fruitless.
搜索人員上週六獲得的一個重大發現是幾個體積較小的物體，其中包括一個被打包帶環繞的木質托盤。澳大利亞海事部門表示，木質托盤通常被用於商用飛機上。不過，對最初所見物體的確認工作沒有發現任何線索。可疑物體最初是由一架民用飛機發現的。Ocean conditions in the search area are some of the world's roughest, making it a challenge to find floating debris. Sailors have dubbed the area 'the roaring 40s'--a stretch around 40 degrees latitude in the southern hemisphere where strong winds can roar like a lion. Ships involved in the search are faced with the problem of looking for debris that may be partly submerged amid continuous rolling waves up to 30 meters (98 feet) high, according to some ocean experts.
搜尋區域的海況屬全球最惡劣之列，這使得搜尋漂浮殘片成了一項巨大的挑戰。海員們將目前搜尋的海域稱爲“咆哮的40度”。這片海域位於南緯40度附近，強風呼嘯的聲音聽起來就像獅子在咆哮。一些海洋專家說，參與搜索的船隻必須在不斷翻滾的海浪中尋找飛機碎片，海浪高度最高可達30米。Sunday's search found 'nothing of note,' according to Mr. Truss. Asked whether there was a timeline on when the multinational search could be abandoned, he said the 30-day operating life of the aircraft's black box flight data recorder would be a natural point for reassessment.
特拉斯說，週日的搜尋沒有發現任何蹤跡。在被問及多國搜尋工作何時會放棄的時間表時，他說，黑匣子――也就是飛行記錄儀――的電池壽命只有30天，在這個時點進行重新評估是比較順理成章的。'The black box recorder will emit signals for about a month, so that's obviously the first critical point,' he said.
他說，黑匣子記錄儀會在大約一個月的時間內發出信號，因此顯而易見這是第一個關鍵點。Civil and military aircraft from Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., China and Japan are assisting in Monday's search. The broader search operation in the southern Indian Ocean has covered nearly 200,000 square miles (518,000 square kilometers) since it began March 17, nine days after the plane vanished.
來自澳大利亞、新西蘭、美國、中國和日本的民用飛機和軍用飛機都將在週一協助進行搜尋。在南印度洋進行的範圍更大的搜尋已經涵蓋了面積大約20萬平方英里（合51.8平方公里）的區域。搜尋範圍於3月17日擴大，當時是飛機消失的第九天。
