Take Away English-Earthquake Hits Britain 英国遭遇地震

The earthquake came as a surprise to people in Britain

On 27th February 2008, something very unusual happened in the UK; there was a rather large earthquake.

It was the biggest earthquake in 25 years in the UK. There have been very small tremors¹ in the past but they pale into insignificance² compared to this one.

It was felt in a large area across the country too, from as far north as Edinburgh in Scotland to as far south as Plymouth on the south coast of England.

The epicentre of the earthquake was in a small town in Lincolnshire, which is an area about two and a half to three hours north of London by car. A magnitude of 5.2 was registered on the Richter scale.

There were lots of reports in the news from people who felt the earth move. One man said, "We had loads of vibrating and wall shaking and stuff, noise coming off the roof. I came outside – the chimney's on the floor!"

A collapsed³ chimney was the cause of what was probably the worst injury from the earthquake; a man broke his pelvis when the chimney fell on him.

Another man who spoke⁴ to the BBC described the moment the earthquake occured, "Everything was shaking. As soon as it happened we all went outside and saw everyone else down the street, coming out and just realised it was an earthquake."

The huge rumble⁵, that was felt by a lot of people, surprisingly caused very little structural⁶ damage to property.

Most British people would be surprised to learn that there are 200-300 earthquakes in Britain every year, but most of them are so small, they go unnoticed.

The magnitude of this earthquake is fairly small in comparison to some other natural disasters that have made international news, but for the people affected⁷, it certainly came as quite a surprise.

GLOSSARY 词汇表 

 

tremors 震动 epicentre 震中 the Richter scale 里氏震级 and stuff 等等，还有其它东西的震动 collapsed 倒塌 pelvis 骨盆 rumble 隆隆声 go unnoticed 未被察觉的，不被注意到的

pale into insignificance 显得无关紧要，没有这个地震这么强烈 magnitude （地震）级数 vibrating 震动 chimney 烟囱 injury 伤亡，受伤 occured 发生 structural damage 建筑构造上的破坏 natural disasters 自然灾害

 

1 tremors   

震颤( tremor的名词复数 )； 战栗； 震颤声； 大地的轻微震动

参考例句：

• The story was so terrible that It'sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。
• The story was so terrible that it sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。

2 insignificance   

n.不重要；无价值；无意义

参考例句：

• Her insignificance in the presence of so much magnificence faintly affected her. "她想象着他所描绘的一切，心里不禁有些刺痛。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• It was above the common mass, above idleness, above want, above insignificance. 这里没有平凡，没有懒散，没有贫困，也没有低微。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

3 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 rumble   

n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说

参考例句：

• I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
• We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定，天要下雨了。

6 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。