VOA慢速英语--拉帕尔马岛变成了火山学家的露天实验室

Scientists from around the world are going to La Palma to see a volcanic¹ eruption², where melted rock and gas is released from the earth. La Palma is one of Spain's Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. They are using advanced technologies to study the eruption from land, sea, air, and even space.

The goal of the study is to better understand volcanic eruptions³: how they form, develop, as well as how and when they end.

Even with recent advances in technology and science, the researchers can only estimate what happens underground. The magma melts any human made equipment.

Pedro Hernández is an expert with the Canary Island's volcanology institute, Involcan. He said there has been a lot of progress in understanding how the Earth works in the last 30 to 40 years, "but it's still difficult to know for sure what happens at 40 to 80 kilometers of depth."

"We are probably beginning to know the stars better than what happens under our feet," he said.

Volcanic eruptions happen in the Canary Islands once, or at most, twice in a person's life. Some of the Canary Islands are still increasing their land area from this activity.

When signs of growing amounts of magma happened, scientists began looking for signs, like earthquakes, of an upcoming eruption. They did not know the exact time of the eruption. But their studies permitted officials to begin the first evacuations just hours before the eruption took place on September 19.

One man died in November when he fell while cleaning volcanic ash, but there have been no deaths directly linked to the eruption.

Much of that is due to new technologies in volcanology.

Involcan has been producing daily reports that help officials on La Palma decide to order an evacuation or issue lockdowns when the air becomes unbreathable. This means studying extremely large amounts of information from important locations.

Most of the scientists' work has been predicting the effects of the volcano's damage to the community. It has already lost thousands of farms, roads, houses, and crops. But the question of when the eruption will end has been ongoing⁴.

Hernández said it would take two weeks of steady studying to establish if the volcano's activity is slowing.

Esteban Gazel is a geochemist with Cornell University in New York. He said the Canary Islands are closely connected to activity going all the way to the center of the earth. It makes it even more difficult to make predictions.

"It's like treating a patient," he said. "You can monitor how (the eruption) evolves, but saying exactly when it will die is extremely difficult."

Words in This Story

erupt – v. to send out rocks, ash, lava⁵ in a sudden explosion

magma – n. hot liquid rock below the surface of the Earth

evacuate⁶ – v. to remove (someone) from a dangerous place

monitor – v. to watch, observe, listen to, or check (something) for a special purpose over a period of time

evolve – v. to change or develop slowly often into a better, more complex, or more advanced state

1 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。

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 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

4 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

5 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。

6 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。