新视野大学英语视听说教程 4 Unit 3-9

MODEL3   This is the island that disappeared
Script
Susan: Just look at that sky. Aren’t the twilight¹ colors beautiful?
John: Um. Even heard of the famous sunsets that followed the Krakatoa volcano eruption²?
Susan: Do you mean the Pacific island that blew up in the eighteen hundreds?
John: Yeah. Deep red sunsets appeared on the horizon for the three years after the explosion.
Susan: They were caused by the fine dust that spread through the earth’s atmosphere.
John: People 5,000 kilometers away from Krakatoa reported hearing the enormous blast.
Susan: And ashes even fell on Singapore, more than 500 kilometers to the north.
John: As I remember, two thirds of the island simply disappeared, blown to bits.
Susan: And then giant sea waves followed, killing³ more than 40,000 people who lived there.
John: Apparently⁴ the biggest of those waves traveled 4,000 kilometers in just 12 hours.
Susan: I don’t think there’s ever been another natural disaster quite like it, do you?
John: A mountain called Vesuvius erupted, burying the nearby town of Pompeii in ashes; but that was in a smaller scale.

1 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

2 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。

3 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。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。