Busy signal
信号忙（陈继龙 编译）
Jun 8th 2006
From The Economist print edition
LONDON responded to terrorist attack on July 7th______①true Blitz style: rescuers were heroic, and ordinary citizens showed compassion and fortitude. （1）Or so the politically correct version goes.A report this week from the London Assembly takes a sterner line. In fact, radios failed to work, medical supplies were lacking, some ambulances arrivedinexplicably[1]late and traumatised people were left to wander off.
伦敦方面应对7月7日恐怖袭击时的情景跟当年遭遇德军闪电般空袭时如出一辙：救援人员英勇无比，平民百姓富有同情心而且不屈不挠。从政治角度来看，这么做大概无可非议。不过，伦敦议会本周发表的一份报告则较为苛刻地指出了其中存在的问题，比如无线电通讯不畅，医疗支援不足，有的救护车还莫名其妙地姗姗来迟，以至于受伤群众无人过问。
______________________________________. （这是关于去年造成56人丧生、数百人受伤的地铁和公共汽车爆炸事件的第三份官方报告。）In May theHome Office offered a “narrative” of events but cast blame only______②the terrorists. （2）A parliamentary investigation concluded that the intelligence services, stretched thin, had done their best.The London Assembly's take on the matter will not satisfy those who want an independent public inquiry. But it has, at least, got beneath thegloss[2].
这是关于去年造成56人死亡、数百人受伤的地铁和公共汽车爆炸事件的第三份官方报告。今年五月，英国内政部首先对此事件进行了“陈述”，但把全部责任都归咎于恐怖分子。后来，英国议会组织对事件进行调查后认为，人手捉襟见肘的情报部门并没有玩忽职守。对于那些希望进行独立公众调查的人而言，伦敦议会对该问题的态度并不能让他们感到满意，不过它至少让问题浮出了水面。（译者按：sb's take on sth是指“someone's opinion about a situation or idea”，即“某人对……的见解”）
The response to the July 7th bombings was chaotic, and in ways that ought to have been preventable. The emergency services had no coherent plan______③place to care for those who survived, the report suggests. （3）But most crippling were the communication failures.
七•七”爆炸事件发生时，有关方面成了无头苍蝇，方寸大乱。报告指出，各紧急救援部门没有一个适当的、协调一致的幸存者救护方案。不过，最关键的问题还是通讯故障。
Police, ambulance workers and firefighters were unable to talk to each other underground; only the radios of the transport police worked in the tunnels. The emergency services had to rely on runners to pass information to and______④disaster areas. Yet a report on a big fire at King's Cross tube station had drawn attention to precisely this problem in 1988.
在地下，警察、救护人员、消防员之间无法相互沟通。在隧道里，只有交警的无线电才能正常使用。各紧急救援部门只好靠人跑步把信息送到或送出事发地点。1988年，一份关于地铁国王十字站发生大火的报告就恰恰曾指出过这一问题，然而时至今日却未能引起重视。
Communications above ground were not much better. （4）Rescue workers competed with bewildered bystanders for access to overloaded mobile-phone networks.The City of London Police, for its part, asked one wireless operator to favour certain rescue workers by limiting service for ordinary users. Earlier, a body headed by the Metropolitan Police had decided this was unnecessary.
地面的通讯也好不到哪去。救援人员竭力疏散不知所措的旁观人群，希望避免手机信号网络过于拥堵。伦敦市警察局则委派一名无线电报员通过限制大众用户的通讯服务来保证救援人员通讯无阻。然而之前大伦敦警察厅下属的一个机构已经认定此举毫无必要。
Richard Barnes, who chaired the assembly's July 7th review committee, says the report is not meant todisparage[3]the work of the rescuers but rather to fix the problems they encountered. Almost a year later, the situation has barely improved: a new digital radio network for London's underground, for example, is running______⑤schedule. （5）The assembly plans new hearings in November to hold various feet to the fire.
伦敦议会“爆炸事件调查委员会”主席理查德•巴恩斯称，报告无意贬损救援人员所做的工作，而是希望解决他们遇到的问题。事发近一年了，情况依然没有明显好转——原计划在伦敦地下建立的一套新型数字无线电网络，但这一计划至今仍被束之高阁。伦敦议会打算在11月召开新一轮听证会，以期引起各方面对这一问题的高度重视。（译者按：to hold various feet to the fire，就我的理解看，可能相当于“让人如坐针毡”）
[QUIZ]（愿意做多少题就做多少题）
1. 在文中空白处填入适当的介词：
①______ true Blitz style
②cast blame only ______ the terrorists
③had no coherent plan ______ place
④pass information to and ______ disaster areas
⑤running ______ schedule
2. 英译汉（将划线部分英文翻译成中文）：
3．汉译英（根据译文提示和上下文，在空白处填入相应英文）：
[NOTES](LONGMAN)
1. inexplicable adj.too unusual or strange to be explained or understood [= incomprehensible, strange]:无法理解的，莫名其妙的
2. gloss n.（beneath the gloss of）an attractive appearance on the surface of something that may hide something less pleasant 表面地或虚假的吸引人的形象；假象
3. disparage vt.to criticize someone or something in a way that shows you do not think they are very good or important 毁谤，贬损
[KEY TO QUIZ]
[replyview]1. ①in；②on；③in；④from；⑤behind
2.（见译文，仅供参考，欢迎指正）
3．This is the third official report into the bombs on tube and bus that killed 56 people last year and injured hundreds more
