CNN 2010-04-23

We've been talking a lot about this volcano in Iceland and all the problems it's caused for travelers in Europe. Well, our Gary Tuchman is actually in Iceland where that volcano is. And he took a helicopter trip over the erupting volcano that has caused all these problems. And he got some video and a vantage point you have just got to see.

GARY TUCHMAN：When you're on the wrong side of the Iceland volcano, the ash turns a sunny day into a dark, foreboding adj预感的, 不祥之兆的 one. This is what we saw during a drive just to the east of the volcano.It all depends on which way the wind blows. When we flew to the west of the volcano, we were just a few hundred feet away from it. But the skies were clear. The wind was blowing the other way.

Looking at this volcano eruption¹ this close up is both awe-inspiring and frightening. It has been quiet。 This volcano stopped in and had been doing so for about two years. It's hard to imagine the economic catastrophe² n.大灾难，灾祸 if it lasted that long now.

We then paid a visit to the south side of Iceland where we went to a farm and saw the volcano's huge plume³ heading menacingly adv. 胁迫地，恐吓地towards us. Farmer Olafur Eggertsson wasn't sure what to expect.

Eggertsson: I don't know. You don't know. There is no way to know.

TUCHMAN: But Olafur and his family had to evacuate⁴ v.疏散，撤出. And now, they do know. Olafur's 2,500 acre farm is now covered in ash. And it's not a fine granular a.粒状的，含颗粒的 ash; it's muck n.堆肥，淤泥 and mud that blankets the fields where he was about to plant his wheat and oats n.[ pl.]燕麦. It covers what used to be the red roofs of his house and barns.n.谷仓，牲口棚

EGGERTSSON: Why would this happen to such a beautiful place? What are we being punished for?

TUCHMAN: Every speck⁵ of Olafur's farm is now under ash, the only way to characterize how much ash there is to describe it in tons. Olafur's family has owned this farm for 104 years. The volcano has been quiet for about 190 years. So they've never experienced anything like this before.

Olafur doesn't know what it will take to make this farm workable again. He's grateful his cattle seem to be healthy. But knows there's not much he can do now to clean up the mess, because the ash could come back at any time.

EGGERTSSON:This has been in my family for three generations; me, my father, my grandfather. That's why it hurts so much.

TUCHMAN: Government assistance will be available but probably only after the crisis is over. Olafur and his family always knew the nearby volcano could hurt them. They just hoped it would be quiet for another century or two.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Hvolsvollur, Iceland.

1 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

2 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

3 plume   

n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰

参考例句：

• Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
• He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。

4 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

5 speck   

n.微粒，小污点，小斑点

参考例句：

• I have not a speck of interest in it.我对它没有任何兴趣。
• The sky is clear and bright without a speck of cloud.天空晴朗，一星星云彩也没有。