搜索人员在370航班新搜索区域发现物体

A New Zealand aircraft spotted objects late Friday in a previously ignored section of the southern Indian Ocean, after the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 shifted hundreds of miles north based on a new review of radar data.

一架新西兰飞机周五晚间在南印度洋一片此前被忽视的海域发现了一些物体。此前，根据对雷达数据的最新分析，针对马来西亚航空(Malaysia Airlines) 370航班的搜寻区域向北调整了数百英里。

The air sighting raised hopes that the shift may soon yield a breakthrough--but only one of six ships involved in the search had made it to the new search area by Friday, hampering the confirmation and identification of any debris. It would likely be Saturday before a ship could attempt to recover the objects, Australian authorities said.

此次空中搜索发现的物体增加了搜索区域的改变可能很快会给搜索行动带来突破的希望，但到周五，参与搜索的六艘舰船中仅有一艘赶到了新的搜索区域，这导致对任何飞机残骸的确认和识别工作受到妨碍。澳大利亚有关部门称，可能要等到周六才可能会有参与搜索的舰船能够尝试打捞上述最新发现的物体。

In abandoning the original search area, authorities effectively reset the clock just days before the plane's black box flight recorders are due to stop emitting signals. They also moved away from where most satellite images had appeared to offer clues to the plane's disappearance on March 8.

相关政府部门撤离最初搜索区域的决定实际上意味着搜救又从零开始，但是目前距离失联飞机黑匣子停止发送信号仅剩几天时间。此外，此前多数卫星图片曾显示出失联飞机3月8日可能的消失地点，但新搜索区域也离开了这一区域。

The decision to dramatically revise the search zone--based on new calculations of radar data that Malaysian investigators passed to the Australians late Thursday night--also means aircraft are now scouring a vast new search area without the aid of markers laid down by search crews to monitor ocean currents and the movement of possible debris. The new area is roughly four times the size of that being searched a day earlier.

大幅调整搜寻海域的决定也意味着现在飞机要彻底搜索一大片新的海域，这片海域没有搜索人员放置的标志来监控洋流以及可能碎片的移动情况。新的搜寻海域大约是一天之前所搜寻面积的四倍，是根据马来西亚调查人员周四晚间交给澳大利亚的雷达数据计算得出的结果。

'I don't count the original work a waste of time,' said John Young, an official at the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is leading the multinational search. 'This is the normal business of search-and-rescue operations--that new information comes to light and refined analysis takes you to a different place.'

牵头多国搜寻行动的澳大利亚海事安全局(Maritime Safety Authority)官员约翰•扬(John Young)表示，他认为最初的工作不是浪费时间。他说，这是搜救行动的正常程序，即新出现的信息和更精确的分析把搜索行动带到不同的地点。

A review of data produced by British satellite operator Inmarsat PLC, along with radar signals from the plane and assumptions about aircraft performance, indicated the plane was traveling faster than previously estimated when it vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, Malaysia's Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in a statement Friday.

马来西亚国防部长希沙慕丁(Hishammuddin Hussein)周五在声明中称，根据对英国卫星运营商国际海事卫星组织(Inmarsat)提供的数据进行评估、加上来自失联飞机的雷达信号以及对该飞机性能的假设来看，该航班从吉隆坡至北京的航线上消失后的飞行速度比之前的估计要快。

That suggested the plane used up fuel more quickly, reducing the distance the aircraft traveled south into the Indian Ocean. The data was reviewed by an international panel including air crash investigators from the U.S. and U.K. , and representatives from Boeing Co. and Roll Royce Holdings PLC, Mr. Hishammuddin said. The new information was passed on to Australian authorities by the National Transportation Safety Board, underscoring heavy U.S. involvement in the search.

这一情况暗示，失联航班燃料耗尽的时间早于原先的推测，向南进入印度洋上空后飞行的距离也短于此前估计。希沙慕丁称，对这些数据进行分析的是一个国际小组，该小组成员来自美国和英国的空难调查人员以及波音公司(Boeing Co.)和罗尔斯•罗伊斯公司(Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC)的代表。这一新信息由美国国家运输安全委员会转交给了澳大利亚有关部门，这也凸显出美国对此次搜寻行动的参与程度之深。

'Because of ocean drift, this new search area could still be consistent with the potential objects identified by various satellite images over the past week,' Mr. Hishammuddin said.

希沙慕丁表示，由于洋流移动，这片新搜寻区域仍可能与过去一周中各种卫星图像发现的疑似物体所暗示的可能坠落区域相符。

Investigators aren't saying for sure that this will be the final search area. Officials from both Australia and Malaysia said the data may be analyzed again, prompting them to look elsewhere in the southern Indian Ocean.

调查人员并不能肯定这将是最终的搜寻区域。澳大利亚和马来西亚的官员都表示，可能会再次对数据进行分析，分析结果可能会导致他们需要在南印度洋的其他区域进行搜寻。

'It's possible that further analysis may change [the search area] again,' said Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. 'At this stage we don't expect significantly, but there are no guarantees in that area.'

澳大利亚交通安全局(Australian Transport Safety Bureau)局长杜兰(Martin Dolan)表示，进一步的分析有可能会导致搜寻区域再度发生改变，现阶段这种可能性不是很大，但也不能保证飞机残骸就在该区域内。

The new area is more hospitable than the previous search zone. Air crews will no longer have to battle the 'Roaring 40s'--an area of strong winds and high seas. The likelihood of better weather may mean the search will face fewer stoppages after aircrews were grounded by gale winds twice this week. It is also closer to the Australian mainland, extending the amount of time planes spend in the search area before returning to base to refuel.

新搜寻区域的天气条件要好于之前的区域。机上人员不用再与“咆哮西风带”，也就是南纬40度左右地带的恶劣海况作斗争。天气条件可能好转意味着搜寻工作被迫暂停的情况将会减少。狂风导致飞机在本周两次暂停搜寻。新区域也离澳大利亚大陆更近，这就使飞机在返回基地补给燃料前能在搜寻区域进行更长时间的搜索。

Authorities calculate that they have nine days or fewer left to find the flight's so-called black box flight recorders before the battery in its underwater locator beacon is expected to expire. After that point, they say, finding the recorders will become immensely more difficult and could mark a turning point in the search effort.

相关机构认为，现在寻找MH370航班黑匣子的时间只剩下九天甚至更短，因为黑匣子水下定位信标的电池预计将在九天后耗尽。相关机构称，电池耗尽后，寻找黑匣子的任务将会变得更加困难，可能会标志着搜寻工作转入另一个阶段。

'Each time the search area changes or moves, it restarts the clock' in the hunt for the missing plane, Royal New Zealand Air Force Wing Commander Andy Scott said Friday.

新西兰皇家空军中校安迪•斯科特(Andy Scott)周五表示，每次搜索区域改变或者移动后，搜寻失踪飞机的工作就要重新开始。

If planes could locate a debris field from the flight, then an underwater search in depths up to 13,000 feet would begin in earnest, experts say. The U.S. Navy has already sent a black-box locator--a device that is able to detect pings from the flight recorder--to Perth. The device will be towed behind a salvage ship, which itself will take days to reach the search area, meaning it'll have little time to search before the black box's batteries are expected to expire.

专家们称，如果搜寻飞机可以在空中定位到残骸区域，那么水下搜寻活动就可以正式开始。美国海军已经给珀斯送去了一个黑匣子定位器，该装置能够检测到来自黑匣子的信号。这个定位器将被拖在救援船的后面，而救援船到达搜索海域还需数日，这就意味着在黑匣子电池耗尽之前寻找它的时间已所剩无几。

The locator is able to search only about 150 square miles of ocean a day, according to the Navy--a tiny sliver of the vast area aircrews have been attempting to cover each day. Oceanographers say that if searchers don't find anything that can be conclusively linked to the missing jetliner soon it could take months, or even years, to find the wreckage.

美国海军称，定位器每天只能搜索面积约150平方英里（合388平方公里）的海域，只占到各国飞机每天试图搜索海域中的很小一部分。海洋学家说，如果搜寻人员不能很快找到与失联航班有关的确凿碎片证据，那么飞机的残骸可能要数月乃至数年才能发现。

Investigators for the Air France Airbus A330 that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 took almost two years to retrieve the plane's data recorder.

2009年，法国航空公司(Air France)一架空中客车(Airbus) A330客机坠入大西洋，调查人员花了近两年时间才找到黑匣子。

French authorities launched their fourth undersea search in March 2011 after three previous attempts to pinpoint the plane failed.

法国有关部门是在2011年3月进行的第四次海下搜索行动中才找到这架飞机残骸的，前三次行动均无功而返。