英语听力文摘 English Digest 520、火山与水

 　　Volcanos and Water

 

　　Firefighters use water to battle a towering inferno¹.You might wonder if water could also stifle² an erupting volcano. Actually, this experiment happens every time a volcano erupts at the bottom of the ocean. What happens when a volcano erupts underwater? We'll find it out on today's moment of science.

 

　　Most of the world’s volcanic³ action happens an average of eight thousand five hundred feet underwater. Deep beneath the waves there are an estimated one million volcanos. As with land volcanos, molten lava⁴ pushes up from beneath the sea floor at thousands of degrees Fahrenheit⁵.

 

　　Ocean water can’t “put out” the volcano the way firefighters put out a fire, but it does have a profound effect on what happens to the lava once it’s out of the ground. The biggest difference between undersea and land volcanos has nothing to do with water’s wetness, but with its pressure.

 

　　At these depths, the water pressure can be two hundred and fifty times more powerful than air pressure at the Earth’s surface. This prevents bubbles from forming in the lava, eliminating the likelihood of an explosive eruption⁶ like some land eruptions⁷ are.

 

　　Instead, lava squeezes out of the ground like toothpaste out of a tube, forming glassy rock formations that look like long, stacked pillows. The pressure is so high that steam never even forms where lava touches water. You could be in a boat over a giant, erupting volcano, and never even know it was there.

 

　　So,you can’t put out a volcano with water. But on our next program, we’ll find out what happened to a town that tried to do this anyway–and in a way succeeded!

1 inferno   

n.火海；地狱般的场所

参考例句：

• Rescue workers fought to get to victims inside the inferno.救援人员奋力营救大火中的受害者。
• The burning building became an inferno.燃烧着的大楼成了地狱般的地方。

2 stifle   

vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止

参考例句：

• She tried hard to stifle her laughter.她强忍住笑。
• It was an uninteresting conversation and I had to stifle a yawn.那是一次枯燥无味的交谈，我不得不强忍住自己的呵欠。

3 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。

4 lava   

n.熔岩，火山岩

参考例句：

• The lava flowed down the sides of the volcano.熔岩沿火山坡面涌流而下。
• His anger spilled out like lava.他的愤怒像火山爆发似的迸发出来。

5 Fahrenheit   

n./adj.华氏温度；华氏温度计(的)

参考例句：

• He was asked for the boiling point of water in Fahrenheit.他被问到水的沸点是华氏多少度。
• The thermometer reads 80 degrees Fahrenheit.寒暑表指出华氏80度。

6 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。

7 eruptions   

n.喷发，爆发( eruption的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year. 今年火山爆发了好几次。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Over 200 people have been killed by volcanic eruptions. 火山喷发已导致200多人丧生。 来自辞典例句