This sprawling city, 55 kilometers away from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi reactors, is leading the next phase of Japan's struggles with radiation: deciding how to handle populations in contaminated communities where the level isn't high enough to justify evacuation.

　　伊达市是距离受损的福岛第一核电站55公里远的一个不断向外扩展的城市，它将成为日本艰难应对核辐射下一个阶段的代表：决定如何安置疏散区以外受污染区域的居民。

　　Five months after a nuclear accident blew radioactive particles across the countryside, contamination in Date (pronounced DAH-tay) is deemed low enough to be manageable -- as long as residents don't spend too long outside, and avoid spots such as parks and forests, where radioactive elements tend to gather. Radioactive cesium has a tendency to bind with earth, and flow along with silt in water.

　　在一场核事故将放射性颗粒吹到日本乡村五个月后，伊达市的受污染程度被认为较低，是可以应付的──只要居民们别在室外呆太长时间，并且避开公园和树林等放射性物质容易积聚的地方。放射性铯往往会与土壤结合在一起，随泥沙顺水而下。

　　The government is urging Date's citizens to decontaminate their houses and fields. Instead of the wholesale evacuation urged on towns with higher radiation levels, Date is suggesting families leave only when their homes are deemed mini “hot spots” -- where radiation levels are so high they could be worrisome.

　　政府开始敦促伊达市民消除房屋和田地的污染。伊达市政府建议居民只有在房屋被认为是小“热点”时再离开，而不是向辐射水平更高的城镇那样敦促实施整体疏散。热点是辐射水平高到可能令人不安的地区。

　　The new hot spots are devilishly small and scattered: one out of five houses in the neighborhood of Kaki-no-uchi; six households of 10 in Aiyoshi. In some cases, next-door neighbors have received differing recommendations.

　　新的热点非常小且分散：Kaki-no-uchi区五分之一的房屋，Aiyoshi区60%的房屋。有些情况下，相邻的两户人接到了不同的疏散建议。

　　Even for those houses tapped, evacuation is optional, though the government provides assistance for those who choose to leave.

　　即使是对成为热点的房屋，疏散也是自愿的，但政府会为那些选择离开的人提供帮助。

　　In July, the Japanese government declared 113 households out of the 21,800 in Date eligible for evacuation, in the first trial of the new policy. It has since moved on to other towns. During the past month it has done the same with 131 households in the city of Minamisoma, and late last month finished surveying more than 2,000 homes in the city of Fukushima, population 290,000.

　　7月份，作为新政策的首个试点，日本政府宣布伊达市的21,800户中有113户达到疏散标准。此后，试点在其他城镇推行。在上个月中，南相马市有131户符合疏散标准，上个月底完成了对人口有29万人的福岛市2,000多户的调查。

　　“The idea is that there are certain points where radiation levels are high, but if you avoid those points, you'll be fine,” explains Masato Kino, a spokesman at the government's nuclear-response center in Fukushima city.

　　政府驻福岛市核应急中心发言人Masato Kino解释说，主要的想法是某些地点的辐射水平很高，但如果你避开这些地点，你就不会有事。

　　But implementing such a strategy hasn't proven easy on the ground. The Japanese government says the ceiling for what it is calling safe -- 20 millisieverts of accumulated radiation exposure per year -- is one-fifth the level at which scientists see the first solid signs of health risk. A chest X-ray is about 0.05 millisievert. But 20 millisieverts a year is at the top of an internationally set range for safety in long-term-exposure situations. Officials say they're suggesting evacuation at lower levels for pregnant women and children, though they won't say precisely what those levels are.

　　不过，实施这样一种战略事实上证明并不容易。日本政府说，设定的安全标准（每年总辐射量不超过20毫西弗）是科学家认为的、首个切实健康风险迹象的辐射水平的五分之一。拍一次X光胸片的辐射量约为0.05毫西弗。不过，每年20毫西弗的辐射量是国际上对长期辐射环境下安全范围标准设定的上限。官员们说，他们建议孕妇和儿童在较低的水平就进行疏散，但没有透露具体的水平是多少。

　　Date residents complain the measurements aren't reliable, and that the line between who stays and who goes is fuzzy. Families who qualify for evacuation get breaks on property taxes, insurance premiums and medical fees -- assistance potentially worth thousands of dollars -- fanning jealousy among neighbors who get nothing. And many residents aren't convinced it is safe to stay behind.

　　伊达市民抱怨称，这种测量方法不可靠，留下和撤离之间的界限模糊不清。有资格撤离的家庭可得到财产税、保险保费和医疗费用的减免，大概相当于数千美元的援助，那些没有得到任何补偿的邻居不禁感到妒忌。很多市民并不相信留下来是安全的。

　　Most of Date's hot spots are clustered in the district of Oguni, a verdant, hilly area full of farms and forests. In June, inspectors hired by the government fanned out across the area, carrying portable radiation meters with silver probes to survey 485 houses. They were looking for amounts of radiation that could put residents at risk of accumulating more than 20 millisieverts of exposure a year, a level that worked out to about 3.2 microsieverts an hour.

　　伊达市的大多数辐射热点都聚集在小国町(Oguni)区内，这是一个遍布农田和林地的青葱翠绿的山区。今年6月，政府聘请的检查人员深入小国町，带着装有银质探测器的便携辐射仪对485个居所进行了实地考察，寻找可能使居民健康受威胁的每年累计超过20毫西弗的辐射量，换算下来相当于每小时约3.2微西弗。

　　At each house the inspectors measured two spots -- in the yard and at the front door -- at heights of about one meter. In choosing the spots, the inspectors were warned to stay away from areas such as drains, shrubbery and rainspouts, where radioactive elements tend to gather, potentially skewing results.

　　在每处居所，检查员都要在院内和前门距地面约1米处选取两个点测量辐射值。有关方面提醒检查员在选择测试点时，要远离下水道、灌木和排水口等地方，因为放射性物质往往会在这些地方聚集，可能会影响结果的准确性。

　　In July, letters started arriving at the 113 houses deemed hot spots.

　　部分市民7月收到了通知，共有113处住所被认定为辐射热点。

　　Lumber-company owner Morio Onami says his house didn't qualify for evacuation, even though his son's, just a few steps away, did.

　　木材公司老板Morio Onami说，他的房子不具备撤离资格，不过他儿子的房子就可以，虽然两者相距只有几步之遥。

　　'At first I thought it was a mistake,' says Mr. Onami, 69 years old.

　　69岁的Onami说，起初我以为弄错了。

　　His son, who lived with his wife and two children in a big, new house on the family plot, were told radiation levels were high enough to evacuate. But Mr. Onami and his wife, Sato, who lived in the family's original dwelling, got no such notice. The two houses got different readings -- 3.2 microsieverts an hour in the yard at Mr. Onami's son's house, versus 2.4 microsieverts at his. But the two households functioned as one, with everyone using the same bathtub, Japanese style.

　　Onami的儿子与儿媳带着两个孩子住在一所较大的新房子里，新房与他的旧房共建在一块家庭用地上。儿子接到了通知，说他的房屋辐射值过高，可以撤离。但住在旧房里的Onami与妻子却没有接到这类通知。两所房子的辐射值不同，儿子的院子每小时辐射为3.2微西弗，而Onami的院子只有2.4微西弗。但两家人共用一个日式浴缸。

　　Mr. Onami says he'll stay behind, while the rest of his family -- including his wife -- evacuates.

　　Onami说，他会留下来，而自己的家人(包括其妻子)会撤离。