【英语时差8,16】智利地震如何使白天变短-上

 Powerful earthquakes-like the ones in Haiti and Chile in 2010-leave destruction in their wake. Buildings collapse¹, many people are injured and killed. But the chaos² created by massive quakes isn’t limited to the regions where they happen. The Chilean earthquake, for example, was so powerful that it tilted³ the earth’s axis⁴ a few centimeters. What’s even more astonishing is that the quake shook time itself, causing our days to become a little shorter. How Is This Possible? As you may know, earthquakes happen when the tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s crust collide and grind against each other.

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

3 tilted   

v. 倾斜的

参考例句：

• Suddenly the boat tilted to one side. 小船突然倾向一侧。
• She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。

4 axis   

n.轴，轴线，中心线；坐标轴，基准线

参考例句：

• The earth's axis is the line between the North and South Poles.地轴是南北极之间的线。
• The axis of a circle is its diameter.圆的轴线是其直径。