A beautiful summer day in Texas — until tragedy strikes for 16 people in hot-air balloon
德克萨斯的一个美丽的夏日——直至16人丧生于热气球的消息传来
（文章来源：http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-texas-balloon-crash-20160731-snap-story.html此 文章只作学习之用）
Before sunrise, meteorologists at the National Weather Service station in New Braunfels, Texas, peered into glowing monitors displaying weather models of the central Texas sky. It was early Saturday and conditions looked good, a pleasant 72 degrees with a light breeze.
太阳还未升起时，德克萨斯New Braunfels国家天气服务站的气象学家费力的看向显示屏，屏上显示着德克萨斯中心的气象模型。这是一个星期六的清晨，天气状况良好，温度72华氏摄氏度，舒服的温度并且吹着微风。
In the rural darkness of nearby Kyle, Texas, Skip Nichols and Alan Lirette stood before the stone facade of their shared home, looked to the skies and smiled.
在德克萨斯相邻的乡村中，Skip Nichols 和 Alan Lirette站在他们共同房子的石头外墙前，微笑着看向天空。
“Clear as you could want,” Lirette told Nichols, his roommate and the pilot of their shared operation, Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides. Nichols nodded.
跟你想的一样清晰，Lirette 告诉 Nichols。Nichols是他的室友也是德克萨斯热气球中心的飞行员，他点了点头。
It was 4 a.m.
此时是凌晨4点。
In less than four hours, 16 people would be dead.
在四小时内，将会有16人丧生。
For men who relied on hot-air balloons to support themselves financially, wind was their engine and clouds their enemy. To look up and see low and overcast skies would mean cancellations, refunds and apologies. But this Saturday morning looked like a winner. There were 15 people scheduled to ride in their steel-framed wicker basket over San Marcos, Texas, with Nichols as their pilot.
对于以热气球运营为生的人来说，风是他们的动力，而云是他们的敌人。低沉而多云的天气意味着形成取消、退款以及各种道歉。但是这个星期六的早晨看上去是胜券在握的。有15个人预订了此次热气球的行程，飞越德克萨斯州San Marcos上空，Nichols是此次航行的飞行员。
“You could see every star in the sky,” Lirette told The Times.
Lirette对记者表示，你甚至可以看见天空中的星星。
An hour later, weather data showed a broken cloud ceiling forming at 1,100 feet. Balloonists are generally instructed to keep their craft at least 500 feet above inhabited areas, and a falling ceiling could spell trouble.
一个小时之后，气象数据显示在1100英尺的高空正在形成一个断云层。热气球一般被要求在至少离居住区500英尺以上的高度上飞行，一个断云层一般意味着麻烦。
But the winds were calm. Nichols drove to the takeoff spot outside San Marcos, where the customers loaded into the hot-air balloon for takeoff. Just before sunrise, a few clouds formed in a low layer, 700 feet.
但是风并不强烈。Nichols开车前往San Marcos的出发点，客人们在这里乘坐热气球出发。就在日出之前，一个小型云层在低空700英尺左右形成。
The sun rose at 6:50 a.m. Minutes later, the balloon took off.
太阳在早晨6点50分升起。几分钟之后，热气球起飞了。
Nichols navigated with an iPad, and stayed on the phone with ground crew in “chase cars” following the balloon.
Nichols用一个ipad导航，并与地面的追踪车保持联系，追踪着热气球的行进。
Within minutes, the cloud ceiling began to solidify. A chilly mist blew in from the north and visibility dropped from 10 miles to 4 miles to 2.
几分钟之内，云层开始凝固。大雾在北边方向已经形成，能见度从10英尺降到4英尺，又降到2英尺。
The cloud ceiling dropped from 700 feet to 600 feet at 7:30 a.m. Ten minutes later, it was at 500 feet and dropping. The wind was calm but the humidity in the air was at 100%.
云幂在上午7点30分从700英尺下降到了600英尺。十分钟之后降到了500英尺，还在继续下降着。无风，但是湿度已经达到了100%。
The cloud ceiling dropped to 300 feet, then 200.
云幂降到了300英尺，继而降到了200英尺。
A woman walking her dog on the outskirts of Lockhart heard a pop-pop-pop near a wheat field. At 7:42 a.m., a power line in the area recorded a failure. The woman turned and saw a fireball under the power lines.
一个女人在Lockhart的郊区遛狗，她在一片麦地附近听到了三声砰砰声。上午7点42分，一条电线报告了输电失败情况。这个目击者看到电线下方一个火球。
It was the balloon. It had traveled 8 miles from its takeoff location, and when emergency responders reached the crash site, the basket carrying passengers was three-quarters of a mile from the balloon itself.
这是那个热气球。它从起飞地点飞行了8英里，当急救人员赶到出事现场时，装有乘客的篮子已经被甩离热气球四分之三英里的位置。
All 16 people aboard were killed, the worst such disaster in U.S. history.
上面所有的16人都死了，是美国有史以来最严重的相关事故。
Investigators have begun the grim job of sorting through the wreckage of the crashed balloon and are forced to rely solely on dental records to identify the bodies, a process that could take months, said Matt Kiely, a Caldwell County justice of the peace.
调查人员开始了严峻的调查。他们只能依靠牙科记录来从热气球的残料中分离受害者的尸体。这项过程有可能持续数个月的时间。
Distinguishing one person from another will be “a long process,” the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement Sunday.
国家运输安全协会会长在星期天的发布会上表示，把每个人的尸体辨认分离出来是一个很长的过程。
The NTSB will be looking for cellphone videos from those inside the balloon when it crashed and caught fire early Saturday, said NTSB member Robert Sumwalt at a news conference in Washington on Sunday.
NTSB成员Robert Sumwalt在星期天华盛顿的新闻发布会上表示，他们会寻找当时在热气球中的游客所拍摄的相关视频，希望有人拍到在撞击以及起火瞬间的视频资料。
“We look at three things: the human, the machine and the environment,” Sumwalt said. “What that means is we're looking at the operation of the balloon, the pilot [and] the company that operated the balloon.”
我们现在调查有三个重点：人、机器、环境。意思是我们在调查当时热气球的运行，驾驶员以及运行热气球路线的公司。
Sumwalt refused to speculate Sunday on what led to the crash near this small, leafy central Texas town, which is on the edge of the Austin metro area and is known for its barbecue restaurants. Sumwalt said the NTSB had not yet located a passenger manifest.
Sumwalt拒绝猜测是什么原因导致了这场坠毁。坠毁发生在德克萨斯中心城区，在Austin都市区附近，这个区以诸多烧烤店为名。Sumwalt 表示NTSB还没有公布旅客名单。
Lirette, the surviving partner in the balloon business, said he had been told by the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration not to talk to reporters, but decided to speak because he wanted to clear his friend's name before he was judged unfairly. He did not discuss what caused the crash, and ended the interview after less than two minutes.
热气球公司的另一名幸存的合伙人Lirette表示NTSB告知他不要与记者沟通。但是他决定发声，因为他不想让他的朋友被不正当的误解。他并没有讨论这场坠毁的原因，在两分钟之内就结束了访谈。
The crash and ensuing fire took place near – or possibly under – high-capacity power lines. Aerial photos show charred earth directly beneath the power lines at the crash site.
这场坠毁发生在高强力电线附近或者说直接在电线下方。照片直接显示了这一点。
The NTSB was eager to speak to the people in the chase cars, which typically pick up riders after they land.
NTSB目前急于联系当时的地面追踪车，他们在着陆之后一般会接乘客从热气球中下来。
“We think there may be some chase footage from those cars," Sumwalt said.
我们认为可能有追踪痕迹。
The crash investigators also will be looking for “perishable evidence” from the scene, Sumwalt said. Such evidence includes physical remains, but also people’s memories of what they saw and heard, which investigators will try to record before too much time can pass.
调查人员也会寻找所谓的易腐证据。这些证据包括人体残骸，也包括人们对于他们所见、所听到的回忆。调查人员试图在短期内对这些相关证据进行收集。
Asked whether the atmospheric conditions could have contributed to the crash, Sumwalt said investigators were assessing that possibility.
当被问到是否当时的环境因素对于这次事故起了一定作用，Sumwalt表示这是有可能的。
“The weather report in the area showed a 500-foot ceiling. Not only the cloud cover, visibility and the winds, but we will also be looking at the temperature to see if the conditions might have created a density altitude,” he said.
天气预报显示有一个500英尺的云幂。不仅云降低了能见度和风的因素，但是我们还要调查当时的温度情况，看看是否温度造成了一个密度高度。
A density altitude is an atmospheric condition in which hot, humid air creates low-air density, making it more difficult to achieve lift.
密度高度是指在一个热的、潮湿的空气环境下，会造成一种热空气下降，密度上升的情况。很难升高。
Warning about potential high-fatality accidents, safety investigators recommended two years ago that the FAA impose greater oversight on commercial hot-air balloon operators, government documents show.
在高空潜在的事故方面，安全调查员在两年前指出FAA对于商业运营的热气球缺乏监管。
The FAA rejected those recommendations, and the NTSB classified the FAA's response to the balloon safety recommendations as "open-unacceptable," which means the safety board was not satisfied with the FAA's response.
FAA拒绝承认有这种说法。NTSB表示FAA的这种拒绝是完全不能接受的。很显然NTSB对于FAA并不满意。
Asked Sunday whether the crash would prompt a review of the recommendations, Sumwalt said the decision remains with the FAA.
对于这场事故是否能导致更多安全措施出台，Sumwalt表示决定权最终还是要落在FAA处。