原版英文小故事 42. Here It Comes

It was early morning, January 17, 1994. John Evans and his wife were asleep in their house in Northridge, California. Suddenly, the loudest thunder they’d ever heard seemed to explode right out of the ceiling, the floor, and the walls. They were thrown onto the floor. The dresser, on the other side of the bed, crashed onto the bed, which was shaking and bouncing¹ violently. Paintings and a mirror flew off the bedroom walls. Their bedroom windows broke and the walls cracked as the foundation² of the house moved.

The Northridge quake was “only” 6.8 on the Richter scale (10 is maximum). There have been many earthquakes stronger than the Northridge one. The strongest quake ever recorded, 9.5, occurred in Chile in 1960.

Each whole number on the Richter scale equals ten times the energy of the previous number. That is, a 3.0 quake is ten times as powerful as a 2.0 quake. Quakes are measured on instruments called seismograms.

Earthquakes usually occur where tectonic plates meet. About 30 of these plates cover the Earth. They are several miles thick and huge in area—most of the Pacific Ocean sits on just one plate.

Earthquakes occur when one plate strikes another or slides beneath another. Either action produces a huge amount of energy that travels upwards³ to the surface of the land or upwards to the surface of the ocean floor. A powerful earthquake on the ocean floor produces a tsunami⁴.

It is well-known that various kinds of animals act oddly⁵ just before an earthquake occurs. Researchers hope to discover how these animals can actually detect⁶ an earthquake. They’ll use that knowledge to try to create an early warning system to save human lives. We’ll never be able to take the power out of an earthquake, but maybe someday we can take out the surprise.

 

1 bouncing   

adj.精力充沛的；精神饱满的；活泼的vt.“bounce”的现在分词

参考例句：

• a bouncing baby boy 茁壮的男婴
• He kept bouncing up and down like a yo-yo . 他像个悠悠球似的蹦蹦跳跳。

2 foundation   

n.[pl.]地基；基础；基金会；建立，创办

参考例句：

• The foundation of the university took place 600 years ago.这所大学是600年前创办的。
• The Foundation gives money to help artists.那家基金会捐款帮助艺术家。

3 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

4 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

5 oddly   

adv.奇怪地，古怪地；奇妙地；额外地，附加地；零碎地，单数地oddly enough的变体

参考例句：

• She's been behaving very oddly lately. 她最近行为极其反常。
• His Indian robes contrasted oddly with his fluent English. 他的印度长袍与他流利的英语形成奇特的对照。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 detect   

vt.察觉，发现；探测

参考例句：

• I can detect signs of improvement in your thinking.我可以察觉出你思考问题方面的进步。
• Their instruments can detect the slightest vibration.他们的仪器能探测出极微弱的震动。