万物简史 第314期:地下的烈火(22)（在线收听） |
Almost the only person who believed that something really bad might happen was Jack Hyde, a geology professor at a community college in Tacoma. 几乎只有一个人认为真的快出大问题了，他就是塔科马一所社区学院的地质学教授杰克·海德。 He pointed out that St. Helens didn't have an open vent, as Hawaiian volcanoes have, 他指出，圣海伦斯火山没有夏威夷的火山那样敞开的喷发口，
so any pressure building up inside was bound to be released dramatically and probably catastrophically. 因此积聚在里面的压力势必要戏剧性地，很可能是灾难性地释放出来。
However, Hyde was not part of the official team and his observations attracted little notice. 然而，海德不是官方小组的成员。他的观测结果没有引起多大注意。
We all know what happened next. 我们大家都想得到接下来发生了什么。
At 8:32 A.M. on a Sunday morning, May 18, the north side of the volcano collapsed, 5月18日是个星期日，上午8时32分，火山北侧塌陷，
sending an enormous avalanche of dirt and rock rushing down the mountain slope at 150 miles an hour. 大雪崩似的尘土和岩石以每小时将近250公里的速度沿着山坡冲下来。
It was the biggest landslide in human history and carried enough material to bury the whole of Manhattan to a depth of four hundred feet. 这是人类历史上最大的滑坡，携带着足以把整个曼哈顿埋入120米深处的材料。
A minute later, its flank severely weakened, 1分钟以后，它的一侧已经非常单薄。
St. Helens exploded with the force of five hundred Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs, 圣海伦斯火山终于以500枚广岛原子弹的威力爆发了，
shooting out a murderous hot cloud at up to 650 miles an hour—much too fast, clearly, for anyone nearby to outrace. 炽热而危险的烟雾以每小时1050公里的速度向外喷射——速度太快，附近的人显然不是它的对手。
Many people who were thought to be in safe areas, often far out of sight of the volcano, were overtaken. 许多被认为是在安全地带——往往远在见不着火山的地方——的人逃之不及。
Fifty-seven people were killed. 57个人死亡。
Twenty-three of the bodies were never found. 其中23个人的尸体永远没有找到。
The toll would have been much higher except that it was a Sunday. 这一天是星期天，要不然死亡的人数还会多得多。
Had it been a weekday many lumber workers would have been working within the death zone. 在任何一个工作日，许多伐木工人本会在死亡地区作业。
As it was, people were killed eighteen miles away. 事实上，连在30公里外的地方也有人难保性命。 |
| 原文地址：http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/syysdw/wwwjs/416876.html |