Japan is looking into installing toilets and emergency drinking water in buildings' lifts in case people are trapped after earthquakes.

日本考虑在大楼电梯内配装马桶，并提供紧急饮用水，以备有人在地震后被困电梯时使用。

Officials from the country's infrastructure ministry met industry representatives to discuss the proposals in the aftermath of Saturday's 7.8-magnitude undersea quake, which was felt across the country, the Kyodo news agency reports. One idea is that lifts could be fitted with portable toilets featuring a waterproof bag or other absorbent material inside a collapsible cardboard structure.

据日本共同社报道，在5月30日日本海域发生7.8级地震后，日本国土交通省官员紧急会见了工业界代表，商讨上述提议。此次地震在日本全国都有震感。商讨中提出的一个安装想法是，电梯内可安装配有防水袋或其它类型高吸水性材料的便携马桶，整个马桶用可折叠纸板结构制成。

In the capital, Tokyo, almost 20,000 lifts stopped after Saturday's quake, with 14 of them trapped between floors. In one case, people were stuck inside for more than an hour before being rescued. After the country's devastating 2011 earthquake, some people were trapped in lifts for more than nine hours. About 60% of Japanese lifts are designed to detect tremors and stop at the closest floor before automatically opening their doors.

上周地震发生后，日本首都东京约有两万部电梯停止工作，其中有14部停在了楼层中间。有乘客被困于电梯中一个多小时才获救。在2011年日本灾难性大地震后，甚至有乘客被困电梯长达九个小时。日本约60%的电梯都具备地震探测功能，可在地震时快速停在最近的楼层并自动开门。

Japan is regularly shaken by earthquakes, but seismologists say it's likely the capital will be hit by a major quake - referred to as the "big one" - within the coming decades. The government estimates that as many as 17,000 people could be trapped inside lifts in the capital's high-rises if that happens.

日本常年遭受地震困扰，有地震学家称，未来十年内，东京可能会遭受一次十分剧烈的地震。日本当局估计，若大地震真的发生，可能将有多达1.7万名乘客会被困在首都高楼的电梯内。

Vocabulary

absorbent: 吸水的

collapsible: 可折叠的

high-rise: 高楼