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The New Nuclear Poker
新一轮核游戏
MORE PLAYERS. LOOSER RULES. EVERYTHING AT STAKE
玩家更多，规则更松，成败在此一举
BY W.J. HENNIGAN
文/W.J.亨尼根
AT A VAST TRACT OF UNINHABITED DESERT IN southern Nevada,
在内华达南部无人居住的广阔沙漠中，
hundreds of moonlike craters dimple the wasteland,
数以百计类似月球表面的石坑就躺在这片荒原上，
remnants of Cold War nuclear explosions that melted the bedrock and fused the sand
这些都是冷战时期核爆炸留下的，在核爆炸产生的高温下，基岩融化，沙土也变成了熔浆，
to ensure that America could take part in the unthinkable: global thermonuclearwar.
这一切都是为了确保美国能够把不可能变成可能：全球热核战争。
The crowds of scientists and generals are long gone—the U. S. hasn’t tested a nuke since 1992,
尽管那批科学家和将军早已不在 - 1992年以来，美国也再未进行过核武器测试，
when then President George H. W. Bush declared a self-imposed testing moratorium.
因为当时的乔治·W·布什总统宣布自愿暂停试验。
But the Nevada National Security test site is not completely abandoned.
但内华达州国家安全局的测试基地并未完全被抛弃。
A skeleton crew of custodians oversees the long dormant facility, less than 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas,
一批骨干监管人员还在距离拉斯维加斯西北方向不到90英里（约145千米)的地方监管着那些已经长期休眠的设施，
standing by to turn the lights back on if the day ever comes.
等着重新启动的那一天。
It may come sooner than many thought.
出人意料的是，这一天可能很快就会到来。
Since 1993, the Department of Energy has had to be ready to conduct a nuclear test within two to three years if ordered by the President.
自1993年以来，按照规定，一旦总统下令，两到三年内，能源部必须将核试验准备就绪。
Late last year, the Trump Administration ordered the department to be ready, for the first time,
去年年底，特朗普政府已经下令能源部做好准备——这还是1993年以来的第一次——
to conduct a short-notice nuclear test in as little as six months.
要求能源部临时在短短6个月时间内进行核试验。
That is not enough time to install the warhead in shafts as deep as 4,000 ft. and affix all the proper technical instrumentation and diagnostics equipment.
六个月的时间根本无法将核弹弹头安装到深达4000英尺（约1200米)的井筒并配上所有合适的技术仪器和诊断设备。
But the purpose of such a detonation, which the Administration labels “a simple test, with waivers and simplified processes,”
不过，这样的测试，政府当局称其为“进行了各种减免及简化的简单测试，”
would not be to ensure that the nation’s most powerful weapons were in operational order,
其目的并不是为了确保这个国家最强大的武器能够正常运转，
or to check whether a new type of warhead worked, a TIME review of nuclear-policy documents has found.
也不是为了检查一种新型的弹头是否起作用，本刊在研究了相关的核政策文件后发现。
Rather, a National Nuclear Security Administration official tells TIME, such a test would be “conducted for political purposes.”
一位国家核安全局官员向本刊透露，这样的测试是“为了政治目的展开的。”
The point, this and other sources say, would be to show Russia’s Vladimir Putin,
消息人士称，其目的是为了向俄罗斯的弗拉基米尔·普京，
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Iran’s Ayatullah Ali Khamenei and other adversaries what they are up against.
朝鲜的金正恩，伊朗的阿亚图拉·阿里·哈梅内伊等对手展示，他们面临的是怎样的劲敌。
