考研英语阅读篇章: 美国签证系统崩溃 全球赴美签证暂停

A computer glitch at the U.S. State Department is causing a backlog for people trying to get passports and visas.

美国国务院电脑系统出现故障，导致大批申请护照和签证人员积压。

It’s also creating a huge nightmare for some Colorado families in China trying to get their newly adopted children back home.

科罗拉多州一些到中国领养孩子的家庭也受到波及，苦不堪言。

It took more than a year for Amy and Danny Vogt, a Highlands Ranch couple, to be approved to adopt a boy from China. Now they don’t know how long it will take to get him back to Colorado.

艾米·沃格特和丹尼·沃格特一家来自高地牧场，他们花了一年多时间才获得批准在中国领养一个男孩。现在，他们不知还需多久才能将领养的孩子带回科罗纳多。

“He fits in perfectly with our family,” said Danny.

丹尼说，“他跟我们家很合得来。”

“On July 9 we left our three kids in Colorado and flew to China to pick up our son. He officially became ours on July 15,” said Amy.

艾米说，“7月9日我们把三个孩子留在家里，飞到中国来接我们的新儿子。他7月15日的时候正式成为了我们的孩子。”

They fell in love with him. All seemed well until a problem with the passport visa system.

他们都很喜欢这个孩子。在签证系统出现问题前一切都很顺利。

“We got notice 24 hours later that the systems in the United States that actually issued visas are down,” said Amy.

艾米说，“24小时后，我们收到通知说美国签证系统崩溃了。”

Now their plans are on hold because they can’t get their son’s visa to bring him home. They’ve cancelled their return flight, unsure of what will happen next.

现在他们的计划都被暂停了，因为他们不知何时才能办好孩子的签证把她带回家。他们不确定接下来的情况，已经取消了回程的飞机。

“Just about once a day we get an official email from the consulate and each time it has said, ‘We don’t have an update for you, we don’t have a timeline for you,'” said Amy.

艾米说，“我们每天都会收到来自领事馆的官方邮件，而每次邮件内容都是‘我们无法为您提供最新进展，我们无法告知您详细时间’。”

The State Department told CBS4 that the computer glitch happened in the aftermath of routine maintenance. They do not believe the system was hacked.

美国国务院告诉CBS4，电脑故障是由于例行维护不当造成的。他们认为，系统并没有遭到黑客攻击。