Severe snowstorms over broad swaths of eastern and central China have wreaked havoc on traffic throughout the country, creating gigantic passenger backups, spawning accidents and leaving at least 24 people dead, according to state news reports.
据官方消息，肆虐中国东部和西部地区的暴风雪已经扰乱了整个国家的交通，造成大批旅客滞留和事故的发生，已经造成至少24人死亡。

Officials say 78 million have been affected by the snow.
官方说已有7800万人受到大雪的影响。

In many areas, where snow has continued falling for several days, the accumulation has been described as the heaviest in as many as five decades. The impact of the severe weather was complicated by the timing of the storms, which arrived just before the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, when Chinese return to their family homes by the hundreds of millions.
在大雪持续数天的部分地区，积雪已经达到50年未遇的深度。恶劣天气的影响由于降雪的时间变得麻烦了，现在正是农历新年，也就是春节前，也就是数百万中国人回家的时候。

On Monday, the government announced a severe weather warning for the days ahead, as forecasts suggested that the snowfall would continue in many areas, including Shanghai, which is unaccustomed to severe winter weather.
周一，政府对未来几天的天气发布警报，因为天气预报说未来几天在部分地区还将持续降雪，包括遭遇反常寒冬的上海。

“Due to the rain, snow and frost, plus increased winter use of coal and electricity and the peak travel season, the job of ensuring coal, electricity and oil supplies and adequate transportation has become quite severe,” Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said in a statement issued late Sunday.
温家宝总理在上周日发表的讲话中说“因为雨、雪和霜冻加上春运高峰用煤用电，现在确保煤电油的供应和充分的运输的工作越来越艰难。”

“More heavy snow is expected,” Mr. Wen warned. “All government departments must prepare for this increasingly grim situation and urgently take action.”
温总理说“预期还将有更大的雪，所有的政府部门必须做好准备应对这次严峻的形势迅速采取行动。”

The Ministry of Civil Affairs estimates the direct economic cost of the weather so far to be $3.2 billion and the number of people affected to be 78 million, including 827,000 emergency evacuees.
据民政部统计，到目前为止，受天气影响的直接经济损失达32亿美元，波及7800万人，包括紧急疏散的827,000人。

The country’s transportation problems have been deepened by power brownouts in about half of the 31 provinces. Officials said Monday that the supply of coal for electricity had dropped to 21 million tons, less than half the normal levels at this time of year. As a result, 17 provinces were rationing power by Monday.
由于31个省半数以上实行电力管制给解决运输问题造成了更大的影响。官方说周一电力用煤的供应减少到2100万吨，比往年平均水平减少了一半多，结果17个省限电。

In Guangzhou, the booming southern industrial city, authorities said they expected as many as 600,000 train passengers to be stranded there by Monday. The police were being deployed around the city’s central railroad station as a precaution to keep order.
在广州这个繁荣的南方工业城市，官方说周一预计会有60万旅客滞留。在城市中心的火车站有警察在维持秩序。

A power failure on Saturday night in Hunan Province was blamed for many of the rail delays, stranding 136 electric trains, scores serving the north-south Beijing-Guangzhou route.
周六晚上湖南省断电导致火车延误，滞留了贯穿南北的京广线上136辆列车，

According to Xinhua, the government news agency, about 100 diesel locomotives were sent to help restore the stranded trains to service. Railroad authorities also said that large quantities of rice and meat, as well as 20,000 boxes of instant noodles, had been rushed to the paralyzed trains to feed passengers.
根据政府新闻机构新华社说，大约100辆柴油机车已经被派往帮助滞留列车。铁路方还说大量的米和肉以及两万箱方便面已经被运送到滞留列车上供乘客食用。

To cope with the crisis, authorities in Guangzhou have ordered a temporary halt to the sale of train tickets and urged migrants from other provinces to spend the Spring Festival in Guangdong Province. At the earliest, normal train service is not expected to resume for three to five days.
为了应对这一危机，广州官方已经命令火车票临时停售，劝说外省人留在广东过年。火车最早也要三五天后才能恢复。

Air travel in the country has also been affected, with at least 19 major airports closed Monday and flight schedules severely disrupted at dozens of other airports because of the snowfall. About 10,000 passengers were stranded at Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou after 55 flights were canceled.
民航此次也受到了影响，至少19个主要机场周一关闭了，其他数十个机场的航班时刻因为降雪被打乱。55个航班被取消后，大约一万名旅客滞留在广州白云机场。

For the stranded passengers, there are few alternatives. Long-distance bus travel has also been severely hampered by icy roads and overwhelmed by the huge numbers of passengers.
对于滞留旅客来说，其他的选择几乎没有。长途运输已经被结冰的路面严重阻碍，加上巨大的人流已经超负荷了。

For safety reasons, Jiangxi Province has halted all provincial bus service. In Jiangsu Province road networks are reportedly all but paralyzed by the heavy snowfall, while in Anhui Province, authorities have closed all public highways as a safety precaution.
为了安全起见，江西省已经停开长途汽车。江苏省公路网络由于强降雪几乎全线瘫痪，安徽省已经关闭了所有的高速公路。