彭蒙惠英语：Newsworthy Clips

Newsworthy Clips

 

2

Lake of Warning System hindered Scientists

Who Saw Early Threat

 

By James Janega / © 2004, as first

appeared in Chicago Tribune. KRT.

Distributed by TMSI.

 

With a killer¹ tsunami² bearing down on Sri Lanka and India, an effort to save thousands of lives came down to a handful of overworked employees in Hawaii trying to telephone government officials they did not know and did not know how to reach.

 

For 40 years, governments around the Pacific Ocean have known the giant waves caused by massive undersea earthquakes could reach across thousands of miles of ocean and devastate³ coastal⁴ areas, and they had prepared accordingly. Not so around the Indian Ocean, where hundreds of thousands of people were killed recently.

 

Technology had given scientists a warning of the potential danger, but they had no way to get it to the people in the wave’s path. “We didn’t have a contact in place,” Dolores Clark, spokeswoman for the International Tsunami Information Center in Hawaii, said.

 

Within 13 minutes, the first speeding shock waves from the massive undersea earthquake had reached enough seismographs to pinpoint⁵ the shock’s epicenter—near Sumatra in the Indian Ocean—and reveal its strength: 9.0 on the Richter scale.

 

If the earthquake and subsequent destructive waves had originated in the Pacific Ocean, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric⁶ Administration’s (NOAA) Pacific Tsunami Warning Center would have taken just minutes to employ its extensive system of tide gauges—and a warning protocol⁸ dating to 1965—to issue an alert to 26 participating countries bordering the Pacific. In the Pacific Ocean, the United States uses a system of six deep-water buoys¹⁰ deployed¹¹ from the Alaskan coast to Mexico to confirm a tsunami has formed.

 

Even though no part of the Pacific basin was threatened, the Tsunami Information Center sent an advisory¹² to Pacific Rim¹³ countries within 15 minutes.

 

Vocabulary Focus

gauge⁷ (n) [^edV] a device for measuring the amount or size of something

buoy⁹ (n) [bCi] an object that floats on the water to mark a location or warn of danger

advisory (n) [Ed5vaizEri] an official announcement that contains advice, information or a warning

 

Specialized¹⁴ Terms

seismograph (n) 地震仪 a piece of equipment which measures and records the strength of an earthquake

epicenter (n) 震中 the point on the Earth’s surface directly above an earthquake or explosion

Richter scale (n phr) 芮氏地震仪 a system used to measure the strength of an earthquake

 

新闻剪辑

 

2

缺乏警报系统阻碍了早先发现危险的科学家的通报工作

在杀人海啸袭击斯里兰卡及印度之际，夏威夷一群筋疲力尽的工作人员尽力设法拯救成千上万的生命，他们试着用电话联络他们不认识或是不知道如何联络的政府官员。

40年来，太平洋沿岸的各国政府都知道，由海底大地震引起的巨浪会横越几千里的海洋而来，摧毁沿岸地区，而他们也已预做准备。但印度洋沿岸的政府则未采取任何防患措施，而这个地区成千上万的居民就在最近丧失了性命。

科学技术已使科学家们对这个潜在危险有所警觉，但他们无法将讯息传递给海啸所能波及到的人。夏威夷国际地震海啸信息中心发言人陶乐莉·克拉克说：“我们没有适当的联系渠道。”

在13分钟之内，海底大地震所引发的第一波高速海啸，已经让各处地震仪精确测出它的震中在靠近印度洋的苏门答腊，而它的震度是芮氏地震仪上的9级。

如果地震及后续的毁灭性海啸发生在太平洋，美国国家海洋与大气管理局的太平洋海啸警报中心，可以在短短几分钟就启动其大规模的潮水侦测系统以及起始于1965年的预警协议，对太平洋沿岸26个参与国发出警报。在太平洋，美国政府利用部署于阿拉斯加沿岸到墨西哥的6个深水浮标系统，来确认地震海啸的形成。

即使太平洋盆地没有受到威胁，地震海啸信息中心还是在15分钟之内对太平洋沿岸国家发出了通报。

 

1 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

2 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

3 devastate   

v.使荒芜，破坏，压倒

参考例句：

• A few days before,a fire had devastated large parts of Windsor Castle.几天前，温莎城堡的大部分被一场大火烧毁。
• Earthquakes can also cause tsunamis,which devastate coastal regions.地震还引发海啸，它直接破坏海岸地区。

4 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

5 pinpoint   

vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置

参考例句：

• It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
• I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。

6 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

7 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

8 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

9 buoy   

n.浮标；救生圈；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The party did little to buoy up her spirits.这次聚会并没有让她振作多少。
• The buoy floated back and forth in the shallow water.这个浮标在浅水里漂来漂去。

10 buoys   

n.浮标( buoy的名词复数 )；航标；救生圈；救生衣v.使浮起( buoy的第三人称单数 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• The channel is marked by buoys. 航道有浮标表示。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Often they mark the path with buoys. 他们常常用浮标作为航道的标志。 来自辞典例句

11 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

12 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

13 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

14 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。