美国国家公共电台 NPR--The world's biggest active volcano, Hawaii's Mauna Loa, erupts after 38 years

The world's biggest active volcano, Hawaii's Mauna Loa, erupts after 38 years

Transcript¹

The Mauna Loa volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii is erupting for the first time in nearly four decades, and it's impossible to predict when it may stop.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

For almost 40 years, Mauna Loa has been dormant². But early Monday morning, the Hawaiian volcano began erupting. Jennifer Sullivan (ph) lives nearby.

JENNIFER SULLIVAN: I felt like I had almost fallen out of my bed a little bit. And it was probably about, like, 2 in the morning. And it felt like there had been, like, a little bit of an earthquake.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Her home is in an old fishing village on the slopes of Mauna Loa, which is the largest active volcano in the world.

SULLIVAN: I looked up into the sky. And it was just red, glowing - this deep red coming from the top of the mountain. And it was intense. It was surreal.

INSKEEP: But not unexpected. Wendy Stovall is a volcanologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. She says the volcano has been showing signs of unrest for a couple of months.

WENDY STOVALL: As magma moves into the volcano, it fractures earth. And that fracturing of the earth is what is recorded as earthquakes.

MART?NEZ: Just like the one that woke Jennifer Sullivan in the middle of the night. And though her house isn't in danger now, she's packing a few bags just in case.

INSKEEP: Volcanologist Wendy Stovall says it's hard to make predictions about what might happen next with this eruption³.

STOVALL: We can never speak in absolutes because the volcano is going to behave how it is going to behave.

MART?NEZ: And it's disrupting life for Sullivan and her neighbors. Ash and volcanic⁴ air pollution have blocked out the sun.

SULLIVAN: Most of us get our energy from solar power. So I am at a - almost like a negative point on any kind of energy right now.

INSKEEP: But Sullivan says for all the inconvenience, she's excited to witness history.

SULLIVAN: It's almost transfixing. It has, like, a weird⁵ energy about it. It's an amazing thing to witness.

MART?NEZ: Visitors and locals can now visit not one but two erupting volcanoes on the island. Kilauea, just 20 miles away, has been erupting for more than a year now.

(SOUNDBITE OF SABZI'S "CITY JEWELS")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 dormant   

adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的

参考例句：

• Many animals are in a dormant state during winter.在冬天许多动物都处于睡眠状态。
• This dormant volcano suddenly fired up.这座休眠火山突然爆发了。

3 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。

4 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

5 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。