英语听力：自然百科 海啸揭秘（一）

 Tsunamis² infamously³ ignore international boundaries and so it is that tsunami¹ science needs to ignore international boundaries. This is not the only one of its kind, don’t be surprised if another one happens. 

 

 

 

Tsunamis are caused by major earthquakes out to sea. This happened in places where tectonic plates crashed together.

 

 

 

Tsunamis tend to occur at subduction zones and we can see subduction zones rimming⁴ the Pacific Ocean. We have the Cascadia subduction zone here, Middle America Trench⁵ down here and of course the Peru-Chile Trench down here, which generated the largest subductions on earthquake ever recorded in 1960. 

 

 

 

You have a tectonic plate, one of the parts of earth's outer shell that moves, relative to another part. One tectonic plate diving at a gentle angle under another, but the plates stuck together where the overriding⁶ plate has its leading edge. So that the overriding plate stuck gets bulged⁷ up in between times and then during the earthquake kicks the seafloor and that helps to drive a Tsunami. It warps⁸ the seafloor. 

 

 

 

When such huge waves hit beaches, they scoop⁹ up vast amounts of sand which is left behind in layers stretching far inland. 

 

 

 

The 2004 Tsunamis was generated offshore¹⁰ Sumatra and also the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, north of Sumatra. 

 

 

 

It was known that an earthquake this big measuring 9.2 on the Richter scale and releasing a huge amount of penned-up energy had not happened in the Indian Ocean for at least 200 years. Now, Nature publishes the work of geologists¹¹ who uncovered massive tsunamis which hit the same region about 700 and 1,400 years ago. 

 

 

 

The wave hit Sumatra first along with the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The next place that was hit was Sri Lanka, followed by the Maldives and East Africa, Kenya and even the Madagascar.

 

 

 

Brian McAdoo and his colleagues surveyed the devastated¹² areas of Sumatra, very soon after the tsunami hit. 

 

 

 

So about two or three kilometers of beach here is still dealing¹³ with at least 90% of infrastructure¹⁴ destroyed by a rather solid meter high above ground wave which maybe, two or three meters above sea level, even a kilometer under sail inland.) 

 

 

 

Have you noticed the palm tree there? Looks like it’s been wiped pretty much clean till you get to the point that's about ten meters up. It's a big wave that came through here again to trip to southwest. 

 

I saw the first wave coming with the tsunami, up to around two meters you look at from here. And it just started to destroy this place. And you can run away, because when the first wave was coming, the people shouted, "Run, run, run, run away, run away!" Something like that. 

 

Imagine a wall of water, coming edge is about ten meters high, turns out it’s about ten meters per second as the wave comes in. Hussein Bolt just won the 100 meter dash in the Olympics in just over nine seconds. If you were Hussein Bolt, you could maybe outrun this wave, but then imagine a wave comes in for one kilometer.

 

Brian Atwater and Maria Martin joined the geological team in Thailand, a country also badly hit in 2004. What they’ve found there makes them particularly concerned for the safety of people in their own very vulnerable parts of the Pacific, northwest of America. 

 

Today, a company by David Holly¹⁵ from the Ireland County Department of Emergency Management, they demonstrated for Nature just how tsunami geologists work. They hoped to confirm work already done by scientists from Texas and British Columbia. 

 

According to the work that was done here by Harry¹⁶ Williams and Ian Hutchison, throughout this area and down the road a bit, they mapped a pair of sand layers. 

 

The first place they dug quickly revealed the proof.

 

That feels sandy, huh? Okay, the best guess is this from the year AD 400 and this is close to the year AD 700.

 

Not as spectacular as the Thai layers, but it's still something real, huh?

1 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。

2 tsunamis   

n.海啸( tsunami的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our oceans are alive with earthquakes, volcanoes, and more recently, tsunamis. 海中充满着地震、火山，包括最近发生的海啸。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年2月号
• Please tell me something more about tsunamis! 请您给我讲讲海啸吧！ 来自辞典例句

3 infamously   

不名誉地

参考例句：

• They will not have much cause of triumph when they see how infamously I act. 当他们看到我演得那么糟糕时，他们就不会有多少理由感到胜利了。

4 rimming   

n.（沸腾钢）结壳沸腾作用

参考例句：

• Converter rimming steel over-oxidation is analyzed and solution raised. 本文就转炉沸腾钢过氧化问题进行了原因分析，制订了解决措施。 来自互联网
• In the case of rimming steel, no or some deoxidation is carried out before casting. 沸腾钢在铸锭前不脱氧或轻度脱氧。 来自互联网

5 trench   

n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕

参考例句：

• The soldiers recaptured their trench.兵士夺回了战壕。
• The troops received orders to trench the outpost.部队接到命令在前哨周围筑壕加强防卫。

6 overriding   

a.最主要的

参考例句：

• Development is of overriding importance. 发展是硬道理
• My overriding concern is to raise the standards of state education. 我最关心的是提高国民教育水平。

7 bulged   

凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 )； 充满； 塞满（某物）

参考例句：

• His pockets bulged with apples and candy. 他的口袋鼓鼓地装满了苹果和糖。
• The oranges bulged his pocket. 桔子使得他的衣袋胀得鼓鼓的。

8 warps   

n.弯曲( warp的名词复数 )；歪斜；经线；经纱v.弄弯，变歪( warp的第三人称单数 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾，

参考例句：

• This wood warps easily in damp conditions. 这种木料受潮容易变形。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Matt Lauer: Renewable biofuels. Park Ranger Rick Marshall Close. Time warps. 马特·劳尔：“可再生生物燃料。”瑞克：“不说了，时间都扭曲了。” 来自互联网

9 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

10 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

11 geologists   

地质学家，地质学者( geologist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Geologists uncovered the hidden riches. 地质学家发现了地下的宝藏。
• Geologists study the structure of the rocks. 地质学家研究岩石结构。

12 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

13 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

14 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

15 holly   

n.[植]冬青属灌木

参考例句：

• I recently acquired some wood from a holly tree.最近我从一棵冬青树上弄了些木料。
• People often decorate their houses with holly at Christmas.人们总是在圣诞节时用冬青来装饰房屋。

16 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。