Areas surrounding Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant could remain uninhabitable for decades due to high radiation, the government warned on Saturday as it struggles to clean up after the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
日本政府上周六警告称，被废弃的福岛核电站周围地区由于高辐射，可能几十年内都无法居住。福岛核事故是切尔诺贝利核事故来最严重的一起，日本政府一直尽力清除放射性物质。

Japan faces the daunting task of decontaminating large areas of land around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, which is still leaking low levels of radiation nearly six months after an earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear meltdown.
清除福岛核电站周围广大地区核污染的任务非常艰巨。此次核事故由地震及海啸引起，虽然距今已有半年之久，但该地区依然有低量核辐射。

In a meeting with local officials on Saturday, the government estimated it could take more than 20 years before residents could safely return to areas with current radiation readings of 200 millisieverts per year, and a decade for areas at 100 millisieverts per year. The estimates, which merely confirm what many experts have been saying for months, are based on the natural decline of radiation over time and do not account for the impact of decontamination steps such as removing affected soil. An vast area is still uninhabitable around the Chernobyl plant 25 years after that disaster.
日本政府在上周六与当地官员会谈时估算，在目前年辐射量200毫希沃特的地区，居民要在20多年后，才可以安全回家。年辐射量100毫希沃特的地区则需10年。该推算根据的是核辐射的自然衰减，没有计入人工再清除，比如挖走受污染土壤等因素。诸多专家几个月以来一直持有这种观点。切尔诺贝利核事故已过去25年，但周围的广大地区依然无法居住。

The Japanese government unveiled guidelines last week with the aim of halving radiation in problem areas in two years, but for spots with very high readings it could take much longer to reach safe levels.
日本政府上周公布了指导方针，目标是在两年内使问题地区的核辐射量减半，但在一些高辐射地区，需要更久才能降到安全线。

Japan has banned people from entering within 20 km (12 miles) of the Fukushima plant, located 240 km northeast of Tokyo. Around 80,000 people have been evacuated since the March 11 quake and tsunami and many are living in shelters or temporary homes.
日本禁止人们进入福岛核电站周围20公里（12英里）内的地区。这里位于东京东北240公里。自3月11日日本强震以来，已有大约8万人撤离，很多人还住在避难所或临时住所里。

The government's announcement follows the release of data last week showing radiation readings in 35 spots in the evacuation zone above the 20 millisieverts per year level deemed safe by the government. The highest reading was 508 millisieverts in the town of Okuma, about 3 km from the nuclear plant.
在公布这一消息之前，日本政府上周发布数据显示，撤离区内35个地点的辐射量超过每年20毫希沃特，而这一数值被政府认为是安全线。最高辐射量出现在大隈的某镇，达到508毫希沃特，该地距核电厂3公里。

Kan, who resigned on Friday as leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan amid intense criticism of his handling of the nuclear crisis, also told Sato that the government planned to build a temporary storage facility in Fukushima for radioactive waste.
菅直人还告诉佐藤，政府计划在福岛建造一个临时的核废料储存设施。菅直人因核危机后表现不佳而备受批评，于上周五辞去了执政的民主党党首的职务。

The accident at the Fukushima plant is likely to have released about 15 percent of the radiation released at Chernobyl in 1986, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has estimated. But that is still more than seven times the amount of radiation produced by Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979, and experts have estimated Japan's decontamination efforts could cost as much as 10 trillion yen ($130 billion).
日本原子力安全保安院估计，福岛核事故的核辐射量已经达到1986年切尔诺贝利事故的15%。但这已经是1979年美国三里岛核事故辐射量的7倍多。专家估计日本人工清除核污染的措施将花费10万亿日元（1300亿美元）。

词汇学习：

crippled: disabled in the feet or legs（残废的）

daunting: causing fear or discouragement; intimidating（令人怯步的，使人气馁的）

decontaminate：to eliminate contamination in（净化，排除污染）

complex: a whole made up of interconnected or related parts（集团，综合设施）

reading: a measurement indicated by a gauge, dial, scientific instrument, etc.（读数，示数）