Los Alamos in the Southwestern American state of New Mexico is where the U.S. government set up its secret mission to develop nuclear weapons during World War II.

位于美国西南部新墨西哥州的洛斯阿拉莫斯是美国政府在二战期间设立秘密研制核武器任务的地方。

Eighty years later, it is the home to huge government research and development laboratories.

八十年后，它成为了庞大的政府研发实验室的所在地。

Now, Los Alamos National Laboratory is taking part in the nation’s largest nuclear weapons effort since World War II. The aim is to modernize America’s nuclear weapons. New workers there are producing an important part of nuclear weapons – plutonium/pluːˈtəʊ.ni.əm/ cores.

现在，洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室正在参与美国自二战以来最大规模的核武器项目。 目的是使美国的核武器现代化。 那里的新工人正在生产核武器的重要组成部分——钚核心。

The government has given jobs to about 3,300 workers in the last two years. The workforce is now over 17,270. Close to half of the workers live in some other part of New Mexico. The population of Los Alamos nearly doubles during the workweek.

过去两年，政府为约 3,300 名工人提供了就业机会。 目前员工人数超过 17,270 人。 近一半的工人居住在新墨西哥州的其他地区。 每周工作期间，洛斯阿拉莫斯的人口几乎翻倍。

While new technology has changed the way work is done at Los Alamos, some things remain the same. Secrecy and a sense of duty that came in the 1940s are still part of the community.

虽然新技术改变了洛斯阿拉莫斯的工作方式，但有些事情仍然保持不变。 20 世纪 40 年代出现的保密性和责任感仍然是这个社区的一部分。

James Owen is an engineer. He has spent more than 25 years working in the nuclear weapons program.

詹姆斯·欧文是一名工程师。 他在核武器项目上工作了超过 25 年。

“What we do is meaningful. This isn’t a job, it’s a vocation and there’s a sense of contribution that comes with that,” Owens told The Associated Press. He added, “The downside is, we can’t tell people about all the cool things we do here.”

“我们所做的事情是有意义的。 这不是一份工作，而是一种职业，随之而来的是一种贡献感。”欧文斯告诉美联社。 他补充道，“缺点是，我们无法告诉人们我们在这里所做的所有很酷的事情。”

While the main goal of Los Alamos is maintaining America’s nuclear weapons, the research center also works in other areas. These include energy, national security, space exploration, supercomputing, efforts to limit disease, and threats from computer attacks.

虽然洛斯阿拉莫斯研究中心的主要目标是维持美国的核武器，但该研究中心也在其他领域开展工作。 其中包括能源、国家安全、太空探索、超级计算、限制疾病的努力以及计算机攻击的威胁。

Employees say their work is necessary because of worldwide political insecurity. Most people in Los Alamos are connected to the laboratories, so opposition is rare.

员工们表示，由于全球政治不安全，他们的工作是必要的。 洛斯阿拉莫斯的大多数人都与实验室有联系，因此很少有人反对。

But groups that follow nuclear development, such as activists and nonprofit organizations, question the need for nuclear weapons and the increasing costs.

但关注核发展的团体，例如积极分子和非营利组织，对核武器的必要性和不断增加的成本提出质疑。

Greg Mello is director of the Los Alamos Study Group. It is an organization that has disagreed with the laboratory over safety, security and cost concerns. He said, “For some time, Los Alamosans have seemed numbed /nʌm/ out…”

格雷格·梅洛是洛斯阿拉莫斯研究小组的主任。 该组织在安全、安保和成本问题上与实验室存在不同意见。 他说：“有一段时间，洛斯阿拉莫桑人似乎已经麻木了……”

Chistopher Nolan’s recently released film Oppenheimer brought new attention to the town. The attention increased support for an effort to expand the federal government’s radiation compensation program for a group of people in several western states. The group includes people in southern New Mexico where the Trinity Test of the first atomic bomb took place in 1945. In July, the U.S. Senate voted to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which would pay money to people who might have been affected by nuclear-related activity in the U.S.

奇斯托弗·诺兰最近上映的电影《奥本海默》为这座小镇带来了新的关注。 这种关注增加了人们对扩大联邦政府针对西部几个州的一群人的辐射补偿计划的支持。 该群体包括 1945 年第一颗原子弹进行三位一体测试的新墨西哥州南部的居民。7 月，美国参议院投票决定扩大辐射暴露补偿法案，该法案将为可能受到核辐射影响的人们提供赔偿 - 在美国的相关活动

The activist groups argue that the federal government’s modernization effort has already gone above spending predictions. Additionally, they say the effort has taken years longer than planned. Independent government researchers released a report earlier this month that showed the growing costs and delays.

活动团体认为，联邦政府的现代化努力已经超出了支出预测。 此外，他们表示这项工作比计划花费了数年时间。 独立政府研究人员本月早些时候发布了一份报告，显示了不断增长的成本和延误。

Owen said officials feel a sense of urgency because of increasing threats around the world. “What’s being asked is that we all need to do better in a faster amount of time,” he said.

欧文表示，由于世界各地的威胁日益增加，官员们感到了紧迫感。 “我们的要求是，我们都需要在更快的时间内做得更好，”他说。