新西兰英语 173 Effects of the earthquake

　　Listen again to July 18th 2009 . The earthquake of July 16th caused only minor¹ damage. One effect though, that scientists have learnt is that the southwest of the South Island has now moved 300mm closer to Australia.
New Zealand, like Japan, sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire which means that earthquakes can happen here. This earthquake happened where the Australia plate meets the Pacific plate. They press together with a lot of force.
Scientists used GPS, Global Positional System from a satellite, to see the changes to the land. Dunedin has moved only 10mm west and Te Anau has moved 100mm.

1 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。