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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
What caused Monday's major earthquake in Turkey? Here's what we know
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The earthquake that struck Turkey this week did not surprise many seismologists who study the region and its fault lines. So why was the region not better prepared? NPR's Geoff Brumfiel has more.
GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE2: To understand what just happened, here's the big picture. The Arabian Peninsula is making its way north into the Eurasian Plate, and the entire nation of Turkey is getting squeezed aside. Michael Steckler is at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory3 at Columbia University.
MICHAEL STECKLER: Arabia is slowly moving north and has been colliding with Turkey. And Turkey is moving out of the way to the west.
BRUMFIEL: This earthquake occurred at the junction4 of several faults involved with that tectonic push.
STECKLER: It's a pretty busy and complicated area.
BRUMFIEL: But Turkish seismologists had suspected that at some point, there was going to be a big quake in this region.
FATIH BULUT: This is not surprise for us.
BRUMFIEL: Fatih Bulut is a seismologist at Bogazici University in Istanbul. Bulut says stress has been building up in this part of Turkey for hundreds of years. His team and others have been predicting an earthquake about this size, though they couldn't say exactly when it would happen. The quake was the kind that occurs when two parts of the earth slide past each other. As a result, the damage has spread along the fault line.
BULUT: It is quite large. know. Like, 10 cities are affected5, structurally6 affected, in Turkey.
BRUMFIEL: Turkey and Syria have been at the epicenter of earthquakes for a millennia7, including a quake that flattened8 the Syrian city of Aleppo in 1138. Turkey now has seismic9 codes to try and keep buildings standing10. But Bulut says because this area hadn't been hit hard for centuries, it's quite possible that some of the buildings predate the codes.
BULUT: Sometimes there are very old things built before these rules exist.
BRUMFIEL: Steckler adds that he believes some construction in Turkey circumvents11 the rules.
STECKLER: I know, certainly in Istanbul, there's a lot of illegal construction that goes on that - and people not following the building codes.
BRUMFIEL: Strong aftershocks are continuing to rock the region. Steckler says he expects they may go on for a while.
STECKLER: That whole area - all the pieces of the earth will slowly adjust and break and rupture12 and come to a new equilibrium13.
BRUMFIEL: While the people above struggle to come to grips with the devastating14 aftermath of this powerful quake.
Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News.
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1 transcript | |
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
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2 byline | |
n.署名;v.署名 | |
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3 observatory | |
n.天文台,气象台,瞭望台,观测台 | |
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4 junction | |
n.连接,接合;交叉点,接合处,枢纽站 | |
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5 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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6 structurally | |
在结构上 | |
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7 millennia | |
n.一千年,千禧年 | |
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8 flattened | |
[医](水)平扁的,弄平的 | |
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9 seismic | |
a.地震的,地震强度的 | |
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10 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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11 circumvents | |
n.设法克服或避免(某事物),回避( circumvent的名词复数 );绕过,绕行,绕道旅行v.设法克服或避免(某事物),回避( circumvent的第三人称单数 );绕过,绕行,绕道旅行 | |
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12 rupture | |
n.破裂;(关系的)决裂;v.(使)破裂 | |
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13 equilibrium | |
n.平衡,均衡,相称,均势,平静 | |
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14 devastating | |
adj.毁灭性的,令人震惊的,强有力的 | |
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