China: 5,335 Students Dead or Missing In Quake中国：5，335名学生在地震中死亡和失踪

China: 5,335 Students Dead or Missing In Quake
By AP / AUDRA ANG Thursday, May. 07, 2009
(BEIJING) — China said Thursday that 5,335 students died or remain missing in last year's massive Sichuan earthquake, the first official tally in what became a politically charged issue because of allegations of corruption and shoddy school construction.
中国政府周四发表声明称在去年特大地震灾难中有5，335名学生死亡和失踪。由于被指控涉及腐败和学校豆腐渣工程的建设，第一次的官方统计上升为政治问题。
The overall death toll in the May 12 quake was unchanged at 68,712 and almost 18,000 people are still listed as missing, Huang Mingquan, head of Sichuan civil affairs department, said at a news conference in the provincial capital of Chengdu. (See pictures of the earthquake rubble,)
四川民政厅厅长黄明全，在省会成都的一场新闻发布会上说，统计的5•12地震中全部死亡人数没有改变还是68，712人，失踪人数依旧是近18，000人。
While the government began a count of the dead and missing within hours after the magnitude-7.9 temblor razed huge portions of Sichuan, authorities have refused until now to say how many students were killed when thousands of classrooms collapsed while buildings around them remained intact.
尽管四川大部分地区发生7.9级地震之后不久的几个小时内，政府就开始统计死亡和失踪人数，但是当局直到现在仍对学生的死亡人数避而不谈，因为成千上万的教室倒塌后，然而周围的楼房却完好无损。

The issue has sparked national outrage and has been an enduring source of grief for parents trying to find answers and closure. They say the schools crumbled so easily because corruption and mismanagement led to slipshod construction methods and weak buildings that were not up to code. Some say materials meant for school construction projects were sold on the side by contractors for personal gain.
这个事件已经引发了国民的愤怒，也一直让学生家长们揪心不已，他们想找讨一个说法。他们说，学校之所以如此容易的坍塌，原因在于腐败和不善的管理导致的马虎不合格的建设方案和薄弱的楼房建筑，这些建筑都不符合国家规范。有些人说学校建筑所需材料的供应商与承包商相互勾结以谋取个人利益。

Many parents have petitioned and protested, only to be detained or warned against speaking out. Activists sympathetic to their cause have been harassed or taken away by police.
许多家长去请愿抗议这件事，结果却被扣押还被警告不要再说出这件事。那些同情支持他们看法的志愿者要么被骚扰要么被警察带走。
Officials blame the sheer power of the quake as the main cause of the number of flattened schools. They have said compiling and confirming the names of the students was a complicated process.
官员推卸责任的说如此多校舍坍塌的主要原因是这次地震的巨大强度，他们还表示汇总喝确认学生的姓名是非常复杂的过程。

No reason was given for the release of the figures on Thursday, just days before the one-year anniversary of the disaster.
周四公布的数字没有任何理由，只是这场灾难快一周年了。
In a transcript of the press conference posted on the Sichuan government's Web site, the officials said that "once there is concrete evidence to prove that problems exist in building designs and construction, relevant departments will investigate according to law."
在四川政府网页上公布的一份新闻发布会的材料上，一位官员说，曾经有确凿的证据证明在楼房设计和建设上存在问题，相关部门也将会绳之于法。

Liu Xiaoying, whose 12-year-old daughter was killed when the three-story Fuxin No. 2 Primary School collapsed into the ground, said she is sure that the number is much higher.
刘晓英，她12岁的女儿在阜新第2小学三层坍塌到地面被压死，她说她肯定实际数量更高。
"I hope the investigation will continue and that the people responsible will be seriously punished," said Liu, who is under tight surveillance after traveling to Beijing twice to petition the central government.
“我希望调查仍将继续，相关责任人一定要严惩，”刘晓英说，她在两次进京向中央政府请愿后被严密的监视。
"I hope the government will really do what they say they would and not brush off us parents," she said. "If this is the case, the hearts of my husband and I will be more at ease."
“我希望政府能够按照承诺说到做到，不要随便打发我们这些父母，”她说，“要是这样的话，我丈夫和群殴的心会安慰些。”

Ai Weiwei, an avant garde artist and high-profile critic of Beijing's policies, said while it was a sign that the government may be caving to "pressure of the common people, pressure from the media," it was still an empty gesture.
艾未未，一位前卫派的艺术家，高调的批评了政府的政策，并且说,“这仅仅是政府屈于百姓的压力，媒体的压力做出的样子，它依旧很空洞，没有实际效果。”