A power failure swept the west side of Manhattan on the evening of July 13th, at one point leaving more than 70,000 citizens without electricity. Power was restored to all customers just before midnight.

7月13日傍晚，一场大规模的停电席卷曼哈顿西部，波及七万多民众。在午夜来临前，电力终于恢复供应。

Officials say a transformer fire may have caused the outage at 6:47 p.m., plunging subway stations, Broadway theaters, and businesses in the heart of New York City into darkness. Traffic signals shut off, more than 400 elevators stalled trapping people inside, and the incandescent lights of Time Square dimmed. The power company, Con Edison, said the five-hour outage stemmed from a “disruption” that affected six Manhattan substations.

此次停电从当晚6点47分开始，官方认为是由一场变压器火灾引发。停电之时，纽约的地铁站，百老汇剧院，以及核心商务区的办公楼都陷入了黑暗。交通信号灯熄灭，超过400多台电梯停驶，不少乘客受困其中，时代广场的霓虹灯影也消失不见。根据电力公司爱迪生联合电气的说法，这场长达5小时的停电事故因为连锁效应波及到了六座变电站，而耗时甚久。

The outage stretched between Fifth Avenue and the Hudson River, and from 30th and 72nd streets. It occurred in a dense swath of Manhattan home to Times Square, the Theater District, and other major tourist attractions. Several Broadway shows were forced to cancel their evening performances due to the power loss.

此次停电的范围是从第五大道到哈德孙河，以及第30至第72街围起来的一块区域，这里是曼哈顿著名的旅游区，世界中心“时代广场”和剧院区均坐落于此。多场计划上演的百老汇演出因为停电而被迫取消。

The blackout crippled the subway system with disruptions in service between Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. NYPD officers helped rescue some 2,800 straphangers who were stranded on trains stuck in tunnels. The roads fared no better with officials closing lanes of traffic in the influenced area. New Yorkers stepped in to help direct traffic, when the traffic lights blacked out.

这次停电还给涉及曼哈顿、布鲁克林、皇后区和布朗克斯区的地铁交通带来严重影响。纽约警方当晚光是疏散被困车厢内的旅客就高达2800多人。地面上的交通也陷入瘫痪，受影响区域的车道被临时关闭，不少纽约市民走到路口，指挥剩余车辆有序行驶。

 42 Years Ago, On the Same Day… 

 42年前的这一天… 

In one of those bizarre coincidences that is almost too strange to be true, this blackout in Midtown Manhattan happened on the 42nd anniversary of the massive citywide power outage of 1977.

无独有偶，42年前的同一天，也就是1977年7月13日，同样是纽约市，经历了一场史无前例的城市大停电。

That blackout began around 9:30 p.m. on July 13, 1977, and power wasn’t restored for 25 hours. Unlike this outage—which was confined to one section of Manhattan—that blackout plunged much of the city into darkness.

这场严重的停电事故从当天早上9点30分左右开始，经历了漫长的25小时后终于恢复供电。与42年前的那场停电相比，本月的这场停电只能说是小巫见大巫——那场大停电波及整个纽约市，停电时间也长得多。

The skyline went entirely dark, and the lights went out nearly everywhere: in the subways; at major transit hubs like Grand Central Terminal, stranding commuters; at places like Shea Stadium, where the teams were forced to stop a football game; and in many of the city’s neighborhoods. In some places—perhaps most memorably, Bushwick and parts of the Bronx—the extended power outage led to looting and instances of arson.

大停电当晚，往日灯光璀璨的城市天际线陷入一片黑暗，所有的灯光都被熄灭：地铁内漆黑一片；大型交通枢纽，如中央车站，积压了大量旅客；原定在谢亚球场内进行的橄榄球赛被迫取消；居民用电也受到大幅影响。在部分区域，如布鲁克林的布希维克和布朗克斯等地，停电还引发了抢劫和纵火，造成了不小的社会影响。