For generations, coal has been the lifeblood of this mineral-rich stretch of eastern Utah. Mining families proudly recall all the years they toiled underground. Supply companies line the town streets. Above the road that winds toward the mines, a soot-smudged miner peers out from a billboard with the slogan “Coal = Jobs.”
猶他州東部的這個地帶礦產資源豐富，幾代人以來，煤炭一直是其經濟命脈。談及地下采煤的往事，礦工家庭都會倍感自豪。煤炭供應公司在城鎮(zhèn)街道兩旁鱗次櫛比。通向礦場的蜿蜒的道路上，可以看到畫著礦工形象的廣告牌，他滿身煤污，凝視遠方，旁邊寫著“煤炭=工作”的標語。

【注釋1】Toil?長時間或辛苦工作
Students toiling over their homework
辛辛苦苦做功課的學生
We toiled away all afternoon to get the house ready for our guests.
我們忙了一下午收拾房子準備迎接賓客.

【注釋2】Smudge?/ sm?d?; sm?d?/ 污點, 污跡（常因磨擦造成的）

You’vegot a smudge of soot on your cheek.
你臉上有塊煤灰污跡.
Wash your hands or you’ll make smudges on the writing paper.
把手洗乾凈, 別把寫字的紙弄臟了.

But recently, fear has settled in. The state’s oldest coal-fired power plant, tucked among the canyons near town, is set to close, a result of new, stricter federal pollution regulations.
但是最近，人們開始擔憂起來。小鎮(zhèn)附近的峽谷間有全州最早的火電廠，如今它正面臨關停厄運，因為聯邦政府新頒布了更嚴格的污染治理法規(guī)。

As energy companies tack away from coal, toward cleaner, cheaper natural gas, people here have grown increasingly afraid that their community may soon slip away. Dozens of workers at the facility here, the Carbon Power Plant, have learned that they must retire early or seek other jobs. Local trucking and equipment outfits are preparing to take business elsewhere.
隨著能源公司紛紛放棄煤炭，轉而選擇更加清潔廉價的天然氣，人們日漸擔心這種改變也會一并帶走他們的家園。當地卡本發(fā)電廠的很多工人已經意識到，他們將不得不提早退休或另尋出路。

【注釋3】Afraid?不只是害怕，還有擔心

I was afraid that nobody would believe me.
我擔心沒有人會相信我的話。

【注釋4】Tack
To change the direction or course of a vessel:
搶風調向：改變一艘船的方向或航線：
ready to tack on the captain’s signal.
準備一等船長發(fā)出信號就換搶風向

【注釋5】Dozens?不確定的大數量的：
dozens of errands to run.
許多要跑腿的差事
She’s got dozens of boy-friends.
她的男朋友多極了.

“There are a lot of people worried,” said Kyle Davis, who has been employed at the plant since he was 18.
凱爾?戴維斯（Kyle Davis）從18歲就在這家電廠上班，他說：“許多人都在擔憂?！?/div>

But Rocky Mountain Power, the utility that operates the plant, has determined that it would be too expensive to retrofit the aging plant to meet new federal standards on mercury emissions. The plant is scheduled to be shut by April 2015.
洛基山能源是經營這家日漸衰落的工廠的公用事業(yè)公司，他們已經查明/確認/斷定，如果為了達到汞排放聯邦標準而增加新設備，那成本將會太高。該工廠計劃于2015年4月關閉。

【注釋6】Determine：查明 To determine a fact means to discover it as a result of investigation.

Experts say testing needs to be done on each contaminant to determine the long-term effects on humans.
專家說需要對每種污染物進行測試，以查明對人類的長期影響。
The police determined that no crime had been committed in the street.
警察確定，街上沒有發(fā)生犯罪行為。

For the last several years, coal plants have been shutting down across the country, driven by tougher environmental regulations, flattening electricity demand and a move by utilities toward natural gas.
近年來，由于環(huán)保法規(guī)更加嚴格，電力需求日趨減少，再加上公用事業(yè)公司對天然氣的推廣，火電廠在全國范圍內都正相繼關停。

【注釋7 】Utility：公用事業(yè)公司

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the stricter emissions regulations for the plants will result in billions of dollars in related health savings, and will have a sweeping impact on air quality.
據環(huán)保局預計估算，如果推行更嚴格的工廠排放規(guī)定，可以節(jié)約高達幾十億美元的相關健康儲蓄經費，而且對空氣質量也會產生深遠影響。

“Coal plants are the single largest source of dangerous carbon pollution in the United States, and we have ready alternatives like wind and solar to replace them,” said Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, which wants to shut all of the nation’s coal plants.
“在美國，火電廠是有害碳污染的最大單一來源，但我們已經有風能、太陽能等替代能源取代，”塞拉俱樂部的無煤運動負責人布魯斯?尼爾斯說 。該項運動旨在關停國內所有的燃煤電廠。

For many here, coal jobs are all they know. The industry united the area during hard times, too, especially during the dark days after nine men died in a 2007 mining accident some 35 miles down the highway. Virtually everyone around Price knew the men, six of whom remain entombed in the mountainside.
對這里的許多人來說，煤礦工作是他們所知的全部。艱難時期，也是煤礦產業(yè)將這片區(qū)域凝聚起來，特別是 2007 年發(fā)生的一起煤礦事故中， 9名礦工在公路地面下近35米處遇難的黑暗日子里。實際上，普賴斯鎮(zhèn)周邊的人都幾乎認識這幾位遇難者，其中六位仍葬身于長眠礦山之下。

【注釋8】地名英譯、人名英譯

除另有特別規(guī)定外，對于原文中的地名一般都是要求翻譯的，翻譯時可以借助外文詞典、地名詞典或其他工具。在考試中，考生應該力爭將地名按照通用的習慣說法準確地翻譯出來，尤其是一些著名的大城市，幾個主要大國的州（?。┮患壝Q。小地名字典上查不到，當然可以自譯，這時如果在地名譯文首次出現時將原文加括號附在詞后，不失為一種聰明的處理方法?？紤]到這是限時的考試，閱卷時，各閱卷組也會對這些小地名的扣分作統一規(guī)定。

除另有特別規(guī)定外，對于原文中的人名一般都是要求翻譯的，翻譯時可以借助外文詞典、人名詞典或其他工具。在考試中，考生應該力爭將人名準確地翻譯出來，尤其是一些國際上較為著名的人物，例如聯合國秘書長、幾個主要大國的國家元首或政府首腦，歷史上有名的大科學家、大文學家等。對于一些一般人不太熟悉的人名，即使翻譯得不太準確，考慮到這是限時的考試，閱卷老師一般是可以通融的（各閱卷組會作統一規(guī)定）。有的考生在譯文中將外國人名直接上原文，這是不符合要求的（除非有特殊規(guī)定），閱卷老師會相應地扣分。

But there is quiet acknowledgment that Carbon County will have to change — if not now, soon.
然而，人們一致默認的是，卡本縣將不得不面臨做出改變——如果不是現在，也會是不久的將來。

Pete Palacios, who worked in the mines for 43 years, has seen coal roar and fade here. Now 86, his eyes grew cloudy as he recalled his first mining job. He was 12, and earned $1 a day. “I’m retired, so I’ll be fine. But these young guys?” Pete Palacios said, his voice trailing off.
皮特?帕拉西奧斯（Pete Palacios）在煤礦工作已有43個年頭了，在這里他在這里見證了煤炭行業(yè)的興衰起落。如今86歲的他，回想起自己第一份采礦工作時熱淚盈眶。那時他才12歲，每天掙1美元?！拔椰F在退休了倒是沒問題。但是那些年輕礦工呢？” 說這番話時，他的聲音越來越低沉。

【注釋9】
Trail：拉長聲音講話
Trail off: 減弱，變小

【全篇解析】：參考譯文綜合網絡各版本，僅供參考。本篇原文理解并不困難，困難仍然是在表達方面，特別是長句拆分重組。生詞其實也不少，放在三級筆譯中還有時間查詞典，如果是二級筆譯，很可能會做不完。
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