It started as a natural gas well. It has become geysers of mud and water, and in a country plagued by earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis another calamity in the making, though this one is largely man-made.
一開始只是天然氣油井，後來變成噴出泥漿和水的間歇泉，在這個地震、火山和海嘯多災多難的國家，另一大災難正在成形，而這次多半是人為因素使然。
Eight villages are completely or partly submerged, with homes and more than 20 factories buried to the rooftops. Some 13,000 people have been evacuated. The four-lane highway has been cut in two, as has the rail line, dealing a serious blow to the economy of this region in East Java, an area vital to the country's economy. The muck has already inundated an area covering one and a half square miles.

有八個村落已經完全或部分淹沒，民宅和二十多家工廠也完全滅頂，約一萬三千人已經撤離，四線道公路已經攔腰斷成兩截，鐵路交通亦然，對東爪哇地區的經濟造成重創，東爪哇對印尼的經濟發展至關重要。淤泥已經淹沒占地一‧五平方哩的地區。

And it shows no signs of stopping.

而且迄今沒有任何停止的跡象。

The mud is rising by the hour, and now spewing forth at the rate of about 170,000 cubic yards a day, or about enough to cover Central Park.

爛泥每個小時都在增加，現在還以每天約十七萬立方碼的速度噴出，幾乎已經可以吞噬整個中央公園。

Foreign companies, environmental groups and political observers are now watching closely to see whether the government will hold the company that drilled the well accountable for the costs of the cleanup, which could easily reach $1 billion.

外國企業、環保團體和政治觀察家現正密切注意，看政府是否會責成鑽油井的公司 負責負擔清理的代價，這可能上看一億美元。

The company is part of a conglomerate controlled by Aburizal Bakrie, a cabinet member and billionaire who was a major contributor to the campaign of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

這家公司隸屬於印尼內閣部長巴克里所控制的財團，這位億萬富豪是印尼總統尤都約諾競選時的一大金主。

The disaster occurred as the company, Lapindo Brantas, drilled 3 thousands meters to tap natural gas and used practices that geologists, mining engineers and Indonesian officials described as faulty.

這次災難發生時，拉賓度布蘭塔斯天然氣公司正在當地開鑿一口三千公尺深的井，而他們的做法，地質學家、採礦工程師和印尼官員全都認為有問題。

Mr. Bakrie declined to be interviewed. A spokeswoman for Lapindo said that it was too early to conclude that Lapindo had acted negligently. She noted that some geologists had said this was a natural disaster, a natural mud volcano, perhaps set off by seismic activity in the area.

巴克里拒絕接受訪問。拉賓度公司一位女發言人表示，目前要下結論說，拉賓度有疏失，仍言之過早。她指出，有些地質學家說，這是一次天災，天然的泥火山可能因這個地區的地震活動而爆發。

Government officials and company engineers are not hopeful that they can contain the problem.  The government has decided to try to divert the mud into the sea through a local river. Environmentalists say that this threatens to cause a second disaster, because the untreated sludge will do dreadful damage to sea life, and thereby also harm the livelihoods of millions of people living on Java's eastern coast.

政府官員和公司工程師對杜絕這個問題已經不抱任何希望。政府已經決定透過當地一條河流，把泥漿導入大海。環保人士說，這勢必引起第二次災難，因為未經處理的爛泥，將對海洋生物造成恐怖的傷害，同時也會危及住在爪哇東岸千百萬人民的生活。

《詞解》
plagued by 多災多難
tsunamis 海嘯
in the making  正在成形
submerged，inundated 淹沒
evacuate 撤離
sludge，muck，mud 爛泥
seismic activity 地震活動