VOA标准英语2009年-Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System Tested

By Steve Herman
New Delhi
14 October 2009
 
People participate in tsunami¹ drill in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, 14 Oct 2009
Eighteen countries participated Wednesday in an unprecedented² tsunami drill, as the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System was tested for the first time.

Sirens wailed³ along the Indian Ocean beaches and crowds fled inland, as part of a multi-national drill to gauge⁴ preparedness for the next time killer⁵ waves strike the region.

In the course of 12 hours, bulletins were sent out from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in the U.S. state of Hawaii and relayed by Japan's Meteorological Agency.

Stewart Weinstein was the scientist on duty sending out the bulletins at the warning center in Hawaii.

"What this means for us is that it's really testing our abilities to communicate with these 18 countries," Weinstein explained. "For them, can they receive bulletins in a timely fashion from the Warning Center? But it's also for them to test their internal procedures and their standard operating procedures for how they deal with a tsunami emergency."

Some participating countries, including Indonesia and Sri Lanka, took the exercise down to the community level, conducting limited evacuations of communities.

In other nations, such as India, the drill was limited to table-top exercises for government agencies.

The scenario⁶ is meant to replicate⁷ the magnitude 9+ earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, which struck in December, 2004. That tsunami affected⁸ countries from Australia to South Africa, killing⁹ about 200,000 people.

This drill comes just two weeks after another tsunami struck the Samoan islands and Tonga, killing at least 183 people.

The exercise also included seismological stations and ocean sensors¹⁰ linked to analysis centers on shore which are supposed to quickly determine whether a public alert needs to be issued.

When an earthquake triggers a tsunami, the waves can travel as fast as 1,000 kilometers per hour. 

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 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

3 wailed   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She wailed over her father's remains. 她对着父亲的遗体嚎啕大哭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The women of the town wailed over the war victims. 城里的妇女为战争的死难者们痛哭。 来自辞典例句

4 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。

5 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。

6 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

7 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

8 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。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

10 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句