好英语网为什么新西兰允许旅客前往活火山？
WHAKATANE, New Zealand — Above the noise of the boat engine, there was quiet, Geoff Hopkins remembered. There was no rumble, no roar to signal that the White Island volcano had awakened.
新西兰华卡塔尼——除了船的引擎噪音，一切都是安静的，杰夫·霍普金斯(Geoff Hopkins)回忆说。没有隆隆的轰鸣声示意人们，怀特岛火山苏醒了。
The crater he’d just circled with his 22-year-old daughter, Lilani, erupted as they sat in a catamaran several hundred meters from shore, watching with other passengers as the island disappeared under ash.
他和他22岁的女儿莉拉妮(Lilani)刚刚在火山口环游一圈，坐在离岸数百米的双体船上时，火山爆发了，他们和其他乘客一起看着岛屿消失在火山灰里。
新西兰的怀特岛火山于周一喷发，造成至少六人死亡。
“A rolling rumbling mass of ash tumbled over the cliff face, in all directions, and it completely engulfed the island,” said Mr. Hopkins, a 50-year-old pastor. “It cut out the sun, it went dark. You couldn’t see that there was an island there. It was completely covered in ash."
“一团团火山灰轰鸣着从悬崖跌落，向各个方向翻滚，淹没了整个岛，”现年50岁的牧师霍普金斯说。“它遮住了阳光，天暗下来。你都看不出那里有过小岛。它完全被火山灰覆盖了。”
That Mr. Hopkins, his daughter and dozens of others were allowed to go near the island — let alone scale the crater at its center — when geologists had repeatedly warned of increased volcanic activity is now the subject of an investigation, with the death toll from the eruption Monday having risen to six. As of Tuesday afternoon, eight others were also believed to have died, with emergency workers still unable to reach the island to retrieve them.
在地质学家一再预警火山活动增加之时，霍普金斯和他的女儿以及许多其他人仍然被允许走到该岛附近，甚至观测中心的火山口，这件事已经引发了调查。周一的火山喷发导致的死亡人数已升至六人。截至周二下午，据信又有八人死亡，紧急救援人员至今无法抵达营救。
And the question heard over and over in the long hours since, heard as the injured were carried to the docks, is: “Why?”
接下来的几个小时里，随着伤者被转移到码头，人们不断在问：“为什么？”
Why was anyone — from retirees to children — allowed to tour the crater of an active volcano, despite warnings about bursts of gas and steam in recent weeks? Why would tour operators and cruise lines tout an adventure ride, with prices starting at $260 per child, at such risk?
为什么有人（从退休老人到儿童）被允许游览一座活火山的火山口，即使近几周发出了天然气和蒸汽喷发的警告？为什么旅行社和邮轮公司顶着这样的风险，以儿童票最低260美元的价格，兜售冒险之旅？
And why, as of Tuesday, were there no clear answers to who is ultimately accountable for ensuring visitors’ safety: the family that owns the remote island, or the government charged with enforcing health and safety regulations?
以及为何，直至周二，对于谁最终负责确保游客安全尚无明确答案，到底是拥有这个偏远小岛的家族，还是负责执行健康与安全法规的政府？
“There has to be more respect for nature. We can’t assume we can access anything we want,” said Jozua van Otterloo, a volcanologist at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, who visited White Island — also known by its Maori name of Whakaari — in 2012. “This is something policymakers and the public need to consider. Even though this is such a great place, should we be allowing people to go in such large numbers?”
“必须给大自然更多尊重。我们不能以为我们可以去任何想要去的地方，”澳大利亚墨尔本的蒙纳士大学的火山学家约祖·范奥特卢(Jozua van Otterloo)说，他在2012年访问了在毛利语中被称作华卡里(Whakaari)的怀特岛(White Island)。“这是政策制定者和公众需要考虑的事情。即使这个地方很棒，我们是否应该允许人们大量涌入？”
The volcano is the island’s main draw. The town of Whakatane calls itself the “Gateway to White Island,” and much of the local economy is driven by tourist visits. Already, locals are concerned about the effect the eruption will have on the community as questions of disclosure and negligence swirl.
火山是该岛的主要景点。华卡塔尼镇称自己是“通往怀特岛的门户”，当地的大部分经济由旅游推动。由于信息公开和玩忽职守问题的浮现，当地人已经开始担心火山喷发对社区的影响。
White Island has long been promoted as New Zealand’s most active volcano, appearing in “Lord of the Rings” and other blockbusters, when it is in fact little more than its dangerous apex. Around 70 percent of the volcano sits under the water, and tourists walk into its crater and up to the lip of its crater lake, peering into its cavity to see its endlessly boiling core.
长期以来，怀特岛一直被宣传为新西兰最活跃的火山，出现在《指环王》(Lord of the Rings)和其他大片中，而事实上，这里除了这个危险的顶峰以外也没有别的。约70%的火山位于水下，游客走进火山口一直到火山湖口的边缘，凝视火山内部不断沸腾的核心。
“You’re walking into this enclosed amphitheater, onto the floor of a very active volcano where there are steaming gas vents, where there are crater lakes filled with hot water close to boiling temperatures,” said Ray Cas, a volcanologist at Monash University who visited the crater twice, and on both visits believed it was a disaster waiting to happen.
“进入这个封闭的圆形剧场，走在非常活跃的火山表面，那里有蒸腾的气口，因为那里的火山湖充满了接近沸腾的热水，”蒙纳士大学的火山学家雷·卡斯(Ray Cas)说。这座火山他去过两次，两次访问都令他相信，它注定将变成一场灾难。
“That tells you there’s a source of heat under the volcano that is constantly supplying hot gasses and heating up fluids under the molten rock or magma,” he added. “Basically you have this hot cooker system at constant high temperature and high pressure that could explode at any time.”
“这意味着在火山下有一个持续提供热气的热源，它在加热熔融岩石或岩浆下的流体，”他说。“基本上来说，这就像一个持续高温高压的锅炉系统，随时可能爆炸。”
But New Zealand has long prided itself as a place where tourists could dance with danger. It was the first place in the world where you could bungee jump, and jet boating and blackwater rafting in caves are among its other attractions.
但是新西兰长期以来将自己标榜为一个可以让游客与危险共舞的地方。这是世界上第一个可以蹦极的地方，还有开喷射快艇和在山洞里黑水漂等游玩项目。
That allure of adventure — natural beauty with a dash of risk — framed the excursion for visitors to the island on Monday.
周一前往该岛的旅客正是受到这种探险的诱惑——带着一丝危险的大自然之美。
Aboard the Ovation of the Seas, the Royal Caribbean cruise ship where most of the victims traveled from, the online promotion for the tour promised “a scenic boat ride along the picturesque Bay of Plenty to White Island for an unforgettable guided tour of New Zealand’s most active volcano.”
大多数受害者乘坐的是皇家加勒比(Royal Caribbean)邮轮“海洋赞礼号”(Ovation of the Seas)，其网上对游览的宣传承诺是：“景色优美的船程沿着如画的普伦蒂海湾到怀特岛，让您度过难忘的新西兰最活跃火山之旅。”
“Get close to the drama,” it read. “Gas masks help you get near roaring steam vents, bubbling pits of mud, hot volcanic streams and the amazing lake of steaming acid. And the vivid hues of yellow and orange resulting from all sulfur on the island make for remarkable photos, so have your camera ready.”
“近看令人更加兴奋，”它写道。“防毒面具可以帮你到达咆哮的蒸汽喷口、冒泡的泥坑、炙热的岩浆，和惊艳的酸性火山湖。岛上大量的硫磺所产生的鲜艳的黄色和橙色构成绝佳的影像，准备好你的相机。”
GeoNet, the agency that monitors geological activity in New Zealand, had reported increased activity at the volcano for several weeks, raising the warning level to 2 out of 5, while maintaining that the island was still safe for visitors.
监测新西兰地质活动的机构GeoNet曾报告称，火山活动在几周内有所增加，它将预警级别提高至五级中的第二级，但同时表示该岛对游客来说仍然安全。
Now, more than 27 of the 47 people who were on the volcano when it erupted are suffering burns on at least 30 percent of their bodies, officials said.
官员称，火山喷发时，47个身在火山的人中，有27人的身体至少遭到了30%的烧伤。
The tours have been running for decades, under a deal between a handful of operators and the family that has passed down ownership of the land through several generations.
这些旅游路线已经运营了几十年，几个运营商和世代拥有这片土地的家族之间签有协议。
They fall under the jurisdiction of the 2016 Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Regulations, which require a safety audit for companies that “deliberately expose the participant to a serious risk to his or her health and safety that must be managed by the provider of the activity.”
运营商受2016年的《工作（探险活动）健康与安全条例》管辖，该条例要求，如果某个公司“故意将参与者置于健康与安全的严重风险之下，而参与者的健康与安全必须由活动提供者进行管理”，则该公司必须接受安全审计。
White Island Tours, which was responsible for bringing most or all of the people to the island Monday, is a registered and approved tour provider. A little over a year ago, it won an award as one of the safest places in New Zealand to work.
周一将大部分或全部游客带到岛上的怀特岛旅行社(White Island Tours)是一家获批的注册旅社。一年多以前，它曾获得新西兰最安全工作场所奖。
But it’s not clear whether the company or government officials did enough to protect visitors to a location so remote that it can be hard to get a substantial number of people off the island and to safety quickly. Nor is it clear that the government will actively seek to hold anyone accountable.
但目前尚不清楚该公司或政府官员是否做了足够的工作来保护游客，因为他们所在的位置非常偏远，很难让大量人员迅速离开该岛，到达安全地点。也不清楚政府是否会积极追究任何人的责任。
The New Zealand police said Tuesday that a criminal investigation had been opened. But later in the day they corrected that statement, saying it was “too early to confirm” whether there would be one.
新西兰警方周二表示已展开刑事调查。但当天晚些时候，他们更正了这一说法，声称关于是否会有这样的调查，“现在确认还为时过早”。
Employees at the office of White Island Tours declined to comment, as did New Zealand’s tourism minister and the area’s member of Parliament. Volcanologists with GeoNet, the agency that monitors geological activity in New Zealand, also declined to answer questions on Tuesday.
怀特岛旅行社办公室的员工拒绝置评，新西兰旅游部长和该地区的议员也拒绝置评。周二，监测新西兰地质活动的GeoNet火山学家同样拒绝回答问题。
And local residents hadn’t seemed to think twice about the risk.
当地居民似乎没太在意这种风险。
“I was going to buy one of those tours for my in-laws for Christmas,” said Karla Lyford, 24, who had been having lunch at the White Island Tours cafe when the eruption occurred at 2:10 p.m. local time. “White Island is so big here. It’s part of us. I was 14 when I went for a school trip, so it’s considered very safe. I’ve never — nor has anyone — considered it would be life-threatening.”
“我本来打算出钱让公公婆婆圣诞节到这里来旅行，”卡拉·利福德(Karla Lyford)说，当地时间下午2点10分火山喷发时，24岁的她正在怀特岛旅社咖啡馆吃午饭。“怀特岛对这里来说太重要了。它是我们的一部分。我14岁的时候跟着学校去旅行了一次，所以说它被认为是很安全的。我从来没想过它会让人送命，也从来没人这么想过。”
Now, she said, she has no plans to go back, and many are wondering if tighter restrictions will put White Island off limits. After a violent eruption in 2002 on the Sicilian island of Stromboli, another active volcano where tourists often gather, visitor access was banned for months. In Hawaii as well, volcano tours have been restricted in the aftermath of eruptions — and many of those volcanoes are not considered as active or as dangerous as White Island.
她说，现在她没有回去的打算，很多人都在想，更严格的限制是否会让怀特岛成为禁区。2002年，西西里的斯特龙博利岛（岛上也有一座游客众多的活火山）发生了一次猛烈的火山喷发，之后游客被禁止登上该岛达数月之久。同样，夏威夷发生火山爆发后，火山旅游也受到了限制——那里的许多火山并不像怀特岛这么活跃，也不像怀特岛这么危险。
“It’s a fair question to ask whether anyone should be allowed in an active crater at any given time,” said Mr. van Otterloo, referring to White Island. “In hindsight, it was an accident waiting to happen.”
“是否任何时候都不应允许任何人进入活跃的火山口，这是个好问题，”范奥特卢在谈起怀特岛时说。“事后看来，这是一场随时会发生的事故。”