英语听力：自然百科 海啸揭秘（二）

 So our Thai colleagues began soon after the 2004 tsunami¹ with a survey to map out the areas that had been covered by the tsunami. It must have been a horrible job for them because they're going into an area of such disaster and the so much loss of life. I think all of them were geologists² dealing³ with tsunami for the first time.

 

"On this paper the lead author is Koran Junk from Thailand, her colleagues Montry in Turku, Brian and myself from the US, Yoki SoWa from Japan, Namy Padergrass from Australia. We go out to these beach-ridge⁴ swales, these low water areas and we dig holes and see what we found. We didn't find anything and so we moved to the next area, dig holes again and try again. And finally we went to a place with the large wet swale and when we dug there, we found the 2004 deposit well preserved and a layer below it. And as we worked towards the wettest part of the swale, we found more and more layers and we ended up finding at least three other layers besides 2004 in this area."

 

Here on the island of Phra Thong⁵, the top level is sand deposited in 2004. Carbon dating reveals layers in this marsh⁶ going back 2,800 years, and the most recently historical times dates from about 700 years ago.

 

"How do we know that the sand came from the sea, ok, At Phra Thong Island? How do we know it's not a river flood? Well, the island is a beach ridge plain. There are no rivers. There is no way that a river from the upland can ever get there. And so just by context, the only place the sand could have come from is the sea, unless it was blown there by wind, but the island is delicately striped by the berms of the former beaches. There are dozens and dozens of these beautifully preserved, they haven't been overprinted by the landforms of windblown sand."

 

"Sand layer we found in these parts in Aceh started off very coarse close to the ocean and got finer as you go inland. So as the wave comes in that is a very turbulent wave board coming in. As it slows down, it drops out the heaviest grits⁷ first and soon it wipes the fine grits that continue to move inland."

 

Working with Bryan in Aceh Sumatra, Katrin Monecke led an international team which not only found sand layers matching as in Thailand, but also found evidence of a slightly smaller tsunami which hit the country in 1907. But in one place most people actually survived the wave in 2004, why?

 

"Do they have the story about the 1907? ""Yeah."

 

"This is a small island off the coast of Sumatra called Simeulue Island. And the people there were strongly affected⁸ by the earthquake that occurred in 1907, and this event to write out the significant part of the population as recorded by stories in memory of these people."

 

The stories of that 1907 tsunami have been passed down through several generations.

 

"So when the earthquake occurred in 2004, they knew how to react. They actually went to preordained meeting places; they ran high ground for the tsunami arrival. Only 8 people out of the population almost 90,000 died during the 2004 tsunami."

 

So, education is key. The Thailand team found a way to communicate their findings in a telling way. 

 

"We were already scheduled to meet with a group of people in the nearby village to tell them why we were there. We scrunched⁹ up a piece of corrugated¹⁰ steel roofing from a building that had been destroyed by the tsunami, and pressed it against the wall of the pit and cut the thing out and propped¹¹ it down to the ground and cleaned it up, loaded it down to the tractor for the two kilometer bumpy¹² ride back to this *** meeting and then laid it out on the table and showed people, ok, here is a record of 2004. You all know about this, because most of them had probably lost family members too and then over here just down below it was sign of an earlier one. "

 

2004 was really a watershed¹³ event because it was so unprecedented¹⁴ in scale, I mean, almost a quarter of million people died in that event. It really was a wake-up call for whether this could occur in other places. Probably the biggest earthquake that can occur would occur offshore¹⁵ or again in Washington or Cascadia subduction zone and would probably be on the order for magnitude 9 to 9.5 earthquake.

 

Yeah, we are guessing maybe a hundred and fifty kilometers from tsunami source for a Cascadia tsunami if it's generated directly off Strait ***, maybe 150 kilometers from there to here.

 

But there is 80 muzzle¹⁶ of the coast.

 

Everybody along here had a tsunami break. 

 

Really? 

 

But from this intervale, you wouldn’t be surprised to see another big Cascadia earthquake happen tomorrow. 

 

Anything that we as emergency managers can gain from these studies to pass on to the folks that live along the beaches here and have settled in the northwest. It’s certain that's concrete and tangible¹⁷. If you follow my signs, you are gonna get a diagram, aren't you?

 

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 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。

3 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。

4 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

5 thong   

n.皮带；皮鞭；v.装皮带

参考例句：

• He fastened the dog to the post with a thong.他用一根皮带把狗拴到柱子上。
• If I switch with Harry,do I have to wear a thong?如果我和哈里调换，我应该穿皮带吗？

6 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

7 grits   

n.粗磨粉；粗面粉；粗燕麦粉；粗玉米粉；细石子，砂粒等( grit的名词复数 )；勇气和毅力v.以沙砾覆盖（某物），撒沙砾于( grit的第三人称单数 )；咬紧牙关

参考例句：

• The sands [grits] in the cooked rice made my tooth ache. 米饭里的砂粒硌痛了牙。 来自辞典例句
• This process also produces homing and corn grits. 此法也产生玉米麸(homing)和玉米粗粉。 来自辞典例句

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 scrunched   

v.发出喀嚓声( scrunch的过去式和过去分词 )；蜷缩；压；挤压

参考例句：

• The snow scrunched underfoot. 雪在脚下发出嘎吱嘎吱的声音。
• He scrunched up the piece of paper and threw it at me. 他把那张纸揉成一个小团，朝我扔过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 corrugated   

adj.波纹的；缩成皱纹的；波纹面的；波纹状的v.（使某物）起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• a corrugated iron roof 波纹铁屋顶
• His brow corrugated with the effort of thinking. 他皱着眉头用心地思考。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 propped   

支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sat propped up in the bed by pillows. 他靠着枕头坐在床上。
• This fence should be propped up. 这栅栏该用东西支一支。

12 bumpy   

adj.颠簸不平的，崎岖的

参考例句：

• I think we've a bumpy road ahead of us.我觉得我们将要面临一段困难时期。
• The wide paved road degenerated into a narrow bumpy track.铺好的宽阔道路渐渐变窄，成了一条崎岖不平的小径。

13 watershed   

n.转折点，分水岭，分界线

参考例句：

• Our marriage was at a watershed.我们的婚姻到了一个转折关头。
• It forms the watershed between the two rivers.它成了两条河流的分水岭。

14 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。

15 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。

16 muzzle   

n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默

参考例句：

• He placed the muzzle of the pistol between his teeth.他把手枪的枪口放在牙齿中间。
• The President wanted to muzzle the press.总统企图遏制新闻自由。

17 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。