高中英語雙語閱讀Unit4EarthquakesWhenTheEarthQuakes當?shù)卣鸢l(fā)生時素材新人教版必修1

WhenTheEarthQuakes當?shù)卣鸢l(fā)生時OnthenightofAugust17,1959,atabout20minutesbeforemidnight,thegroundinthevicinityofYellowstoneNationalParkbeganshakingviolently.Atthetimetherewasarumblingsound,somethinglikeahugetruckwouldmake.Boththeheavingofthegroundandthenoisewereveryfrighteningbutlastednotquite45seconds.1959年8月17日的晚上，大約午夜前20分鐘，黃石國家公園旁邊大地起先猛烈搖動。同時，大地發(fā)出猶如重型卡車發(fā)出的轟響。大地的升降和嘯叫都令人特別膽怯 ，但是一切不超過45秒。Whatwasevenmorefrighteningwasthesoundofhugeboulderswhichbeganrollingdownthesteepmountain.InonepartoftheupperreachesoftheMadisonRiver,awholemountainbeganshifting,thencamecrashingdowntofillthedeepvalleyanddamthegreatriverwithmillionsoftonsrockandtrees.更令人膽怯 是巨石起先從陡峭的山上滾下來的聲音。在麥迪生河上游的一條支流處，一整座山起先移動，之后，它倒塌下來填滿深深的山谷，上百萬噸巖石和大樹如壩般阻攔住大河。Adozenormorecampersalongtheriverwereburieddeepbeneaththegreatlandslide.Otherswereabletoclimbtosafety,someofthembadlyhurt,butweretrappedbytheslide.Finallythesepeopleweresaved,manyofthembyhelicopter.十幾個，或許更多沿河的露營者被深埋在大滑坡下。幸存的野營者開始爬向較平安的地方，其中一些人傷得很重，仍舊時常陷入滑坡。最終這些人都獲救了，其中很多人得救于直升飛機。ThisearthquakenearYellowstoneParkwasjustoneofnearlyamillionthathappeneveryyearallovertheworld.Andasbadasthisquakewas,manyhavebeenworse.在黃石公園旁邊發(fā)生的地震，僅僅是每年全世界發(fā)生的上百萬次地震中的一次。若就地震災難而論，有很多地震甚至更嚴峻。EarthquakeexpertssaythattheYellowstonequakeof1959wasaboutasbadastheonewhichhitSanFranciscoin1906.ButtheSanFranciscoquakecausedmoredamagebecauseitstruckinaplacewherethereweresomanypeopleliving.InSanFrancisco700personlosttheirlives.地震專家說，1959年的黃石的地震，差不多相當于1906年發(fā)生在舊金山的地震。舊金山地震造成更多的破壞，它發(fā)生在人口密集地方。在舊金山約700人丟失生命。AnearthquakeinJapanin1923took160,000lives.InChinain1920anearthquaketook200,000lives.Itiseasytounderstandwhyearthquakearesofeared.1923年發(fā)生在日本的地震奪走了16萬人的生命。1920年一場大地震發(fā)生在中國，20萬人死亡。因此，很簡單理解人們?yōu)槭裁刺貏e恐驚地震。Whatcausestheseterribleshakesoftheverygroundonwhichwelive?是什么緣由造成我們生活的這塊土地發(fā)生可怕的搖動?Toanswerthatquestionwemustfirstunderstandsomethingsabouttheearthitself.要回答這個問題，必需首先要了解關于地球自身的某些事物。Fortymilesdeepintheearthistheedgeoftheoutercrustoftheearth,andthereitissohotthatinsteadofhardrockthereismaterialmuchlikethehotlavathatavolcanoerupts.地表面下40英里深，是地球外殼的邊緣：此處特別之熱，猶如火，山噴出的巖漿般的物質代替了堅硬的巖石。Itistheearth's40miledeepcrustwithwhichweareconcernedwhenweseekthecauseofearthquake.若我們尋求地震的起因，這40英里地殼恰恰是我們應當關切的地帶。Theearth'scrustisformedofmanydifferentlayersofrocks.Thelayersofrocksarenotlaidevenly,asabricklayerwouldbuildawall.Instead,theearth'scrustismadeofrocklayersthatareoftenunevenandnotperfectlybalanced.地殼由很多不同巖石層構成。而巖層并不像建筑工人建的墻一樣勻稱地平整鋪開，相反的，巖層構成的地殼也往往是不勻稱且不是完美平衡的。Becauseofthegreatweightpressingdownonthem,theselayerstendtofolddownwardatweakspots,andthisfinallycausesanactualbreakinthecrust.Whenthisbreakoccurs,orwhenthesidesofanoldbreakslip,theearthquakes,orshakes,whilethecrustissettlingintoanewposition.由于巨大重量向下壓巖層，使它趨于在它的薄弱點處往下折疊，這最終將造成地殼里的某處斷裂。當斷裂發(fā)生時，或者舊的斷裂塊滑動時，地球振動、搖動，以使地殼支配它進入—個新位置。Sometimethesefaultsareverysmall,andwethenfeelonlylittletremor.Thetremormayevenbesolightthatonlythemostdelicatemachinewillrecordit.Mostearthquakesareofthisweakkind.Sometimesabreakintheearth'scrustcomesabout,whichstartssuchalandslideasthatwhichoccurredinMadisonCanyon.有些時候這些斷裂特別小，我們僅僅能感到微小的抖動。這種抖動甚至輕到最精密的設備才可能記錄它們。大多數(shù)地震屬于這種類型。也有些時候地殼的一個斷裂發(fā)生了，引起猶如在麥迪生峽谷發(fā)生的大滑坡。Itthentakesnotone,butmanyshakesfortheearthtohealthefaultandsettle.Thatiswhymanyafter-shocksfollowamajorearthquake.Sometimesthesegoonforseveralyears.這種大地震往往不是一次，而是很多次的移動，使地球去修補裂縫和調整(巖層的)姿態(tài)。這就是為什么很多余震緊跟在—個大地震之后。有時這種狀況要持續(xù)多年。Somepartsoftheeartharemorelikelytohavequakesthenothers.Thisisusuallytrueofmountainouscountry,becausetherethelayersofrockswhichmakeuptheearth'scrustarenotatalleven.Butquakesmayoftenbefeltinlevelcountry,too,becausethewaveswhichcomefromthecenterofaquakerunoftenforthousandsofmiles.地球的某些部分比其它部分更簡單發(fā)生地震。山地國家往往這樣。山地區(qū)域構成地殼的巖層特殊不勻稱。但是，平原國家也會常常感覺到地震，因為從震源發(fā)出的震波往往可以傳出上千英里。Itiseasytounderstandwhymanissofrightenedbyanearthquake.Peopleusedtothinkthatwhentherewasanearthquake,thegroundopened,swallowedgreatnumbersofpeople,thenclosed,leavingnotraceofthosewhoperished.Weknownowthisdoesnothappen.很簡單理解為什么人特殊膽怯 地震。人們過去認為，當某個地方發(fā)生了地震，即大地裂開，吞下大量的人，然后又合上，人們被不留痕跡地毀滅?，F(xiàn)在我們知道這一切從來不曾發(fā)生。Whatweneedtofearmostaretheafter-effectsofabadearthquake:fires,flood,andlandslides.事實上我們須要更多擔憂的是一個大地震的震后影響：火災、洪水、和滑坡。SincetheYellowstoneearthquakesomepeoplehavesaidthattheywouldnevergotothatareaforfearofbeingcaughtinalandslidesuchasoccurredaftertheearthquake.Thatisfoolish.Suchafearwouldkeepusfrommountainstherestofourlives.自從黃石地震后，一些人說，他們因為膽怯 被發(fā)生在地震后的大滑坡?lián)p害，再也不會去那個地方。這是愚蠢的。這種恐驚將使我們終生遠離大山。Eventhoughearthquakeshappeneveryday,anoccurrenceliketheMadisonRiverlandslidedoesnothappenveryoften.Wecanrealizegratefullythatfewofuswillsufferbecauseofsuchdisaster.Atthesametimewecanunderstandtheneedofbeingreadytohelpthosewhodosuffersuchtrouble.盡管地震每天都在發(fā)生，像麥迪生河大滑坡似的事務卻不是常常發(fā)生。我們能夠意識到，只有我們中的