文字稿

歐洲著名的埃特納火山正緩慢向大海滑動(dòng)。科學(xué)家們已證實(shí)，位于意大利西西里島的整個(gè)火山結(jié)構(gòu)正以每年14毫米的速度慢慢地向地中海方向挪動(dòng)。由英國(guó)科學(xué)家?guī)ьI(lǐng)的研究小組稱(chēng)，這種情況需要密切監(jiān)測(cè)，因?yàn)檫@可能會(huì)增加未來(lái)埃特納火山周?chē)貐^(qū)的危險(xiǎn)。

The Open University geologist John Murray has spent almost half a century studying Europe's premiervolcano.

In that time, he's placed a network of high-precision GPS stations around the mountain to monitor its behaviour. The instrumentation senses tiny changes in the shape of the volcanic cone; and with 11 years of data, it’s now obvious Etna is moving in an east-south-east direction.

The motion is small. But volcanoes that have shown this kind of trend can suffer catastrophic collapses on their leading flank. Dr Murray's team stress there is no evidence that this is about to happen at Etna, but say the slide will need close attention in the years ahead.

來(lái)自開(kāi)放大學(xué)的地質(zhì)學(xué)家約翰·穆雷花了近半個(gè)世紀(jì)的時(shí)間研究這座歐洲著名的火山。

期間，他在這座火山周?chē)O(shè)置了高精度的GPS定位站網(wǎng)絡(luò)，從而監(jiān)測(cè)它的動(dòng)向。該控制儀器可以感知火山錐形狀的細(xì)微變化；從11年間獲取的數(shù)據(jù)中可以看出，埃特納火山很顯然正在朝東南偏東方向滑動(dòng)。

它移動(dòng)的距離很小。但已顯示出這種趨勢(shì)的火山可能會(huì)引起火山移動(dòng)前坡的災(zāi)難性坍塌。穆雷博士的團(tuán)隊(duì)強(qiáng)調(diào)，目前沒(méi)有證據(jù)表明這種情況會(huì)在埃特納火山發(fā)生，但說(shuō)在未來(lái)時(shí)間里，需密切關(guān)注火山滑動(dòng)的情況。

1. 詞匯表

geologist 地質(zhì)學(xué)家
a network of 由…形成的網(wǎng)絡(luò)
high-precision 高精度的
instrumentation 儀器設(shè)備
volcanic cone 火山錐
motion 移動(dòng)
catastrophic 災(zāi)難性的
flank（火山）側(cè)面，坡
slide 滑動(dòng)

2. 閱讀理解：請(qǐng)?jiān)谧x完上文后，回答下列問(wèn)題 。

1. What did the geologist place around Mount Etna during his study?

2. How many years of data have the scientists acquired to establish that Mount Etna has slid?

3. True or false? According to the research team, there is no reason to believe that the volcano’s flank is about to collapse.

4. Which verb in the text means ‘regularly check and observe the progress of something’?

3. 答案

1. What did the geologist place around Mount Etna during his study?
The geologist placed a network of high-precision GPS stations around the mountain.

2. How many years of data have the scientists acquired to establish that Mount Etna has slid?
11 years.

3. True or false? According to the research team, there is no reason to believe that the volcano’s flank is about to collapse.
True. Dr Murray's team stress there is no evidence that Etna will suffer a catastrophic collapse on its leading flank.

4. Which verb in the text means ‘regularly check and observe the progress of something’?
Monitor.