导致欧洲大部分领空持续五天关闭的危机昨日终于显露出缓和迹象。有关官员承认，计算机模型中存在的缺陷使得他们在冰岛火山喷发后停飞了数千航班。

　　The crisis that has closed much of Europe's airspace for five days finally showed signs of easing yesterday as officials acknowledged flaws in the computer models that led them to ground thousands of flights after a volcanic eruption in Iceland.

　　相关航空公司预计每天至少损失2亿美元。面对这些航空公司施加的越来越大的压力，欧盟各国交通部长表示，他们计划开始开放一些空中走廊，让几十万因火山爆发而受困的旅客回家。

　　Amid mounting pressure from airlines, estimated to be losing at least $200m a day, European Union transport ministers said they planned to start opening air corridors to bring home some of the hundreds of thousands of travellers caught up in the disruption.

　　荷兰当局准备从本周一晚起允许航班飞行，此前部长们达成协议，缩小自上周起划出的禁飞区的面积。

　　Dutch authorities were ready to allow flights from Monday night after ministers reached a deal to cut the size of the no-fly zone in place since last week.

　　与此同时，布鲁塞尔的欧洲官员们表示，按照美国的航空标准，很多被停飞的航班都可以飞行，他们敦促在未来考虑这一点。

　　The moves came as European officials in Brussels said many of the grounded flights would have gone ahead under US aviation standards and urged these be considered in the future.

　　“就目前我们运行的模型而言，其背后的原理基于我们并无明确科学证据支持的特定假设，”欧洲委员会(European Commission)交通司长马蒂亚斯•鲁伊特(Matthias Ruete)说。

　　“The science behind the model we're running at the moment is based on certain assumptions where we do not have clear scientific evidence,” said Matthias Ruete, the European Commission's director-general for mobility and transport.

　　鲁伊特表示，有关当局并不确定多大的火山灰密度对飞机发动机有害。荷兰皇家航空(KLM)和法国航空(Air France)等欧洲航空公司上周末进行了40多次测试，其初步结果表明，安全风险要低于计算机模型所给出的水平。

　　Mr Ruete said authorities were unsure what density of ash was hazardous for aircraft engines. Early results of 40-odd test flights conducted over the weekend by European airlines, such as KLM and Air France, had suggested safety risks were less than the computer models had indicated.

　　相关官员的表态很可能支持了某些批评人士的观点，即有关当局在冰岛埃亚菲亚德拉冰盖火山上周爆发之后表现得过于谨慎。

　　The admission is likely to bolster critics who say the authorities have shown excessive caution in the wake of the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano last week.

　　译者/功文