TED演讲:海地的工程灾难(2)

 　　This is the Ministry¹ of Justice.  这是司法部。

　　Behind that door is the National Judicial² Archives. 那扇门后是国家司法档案馆。

　　The fellow in the door, Andre Filitrault --  门旁站着的是安德烈·菲利亚特罗，

　　who's the director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Earthquake Engineering Research at the University of Buffalo³ -- 他是布法罗大学跨学科地震工程研究中心的负责人，

　　was examining it to see if it was safe to recover the archives. 他正在检查这栋建筑，以确认是否可以安全的重建档案馆。

　　Andre told me,  安德烈告诉我，

　　after seeing these buildings fail again and again in the same way, that there is no new research here. 在看到这些建筑不断的以同种方式倒下后，这儿没什么新的发现了。

　　There is nothing here that we don't know.  没什么我们不知道的了。

　　The failure points were the same:  问题的根源是相同的--

　　walls and slabs⁵ not tied properly into columns --  墙和楼板之间没有用柱子正确的连接起来--

　　that's a roof slab⁴ hanging off the building -- cantilevered structures, 这是挂在建筑上的天台楼板--悬臂式结构，

　　or structures that were asymmetric⁶, that shook violently and came down, 或是非对称结构，剧烈摇晃并垮塌，

　　poor building materials, not enough concrete, not enough compression in the blocks, rebar that was smooth, 低劣的建筑材料，没有足够的混凝土，块与块之间没有足够的压缩空间，螺纹钢表面光滑，

　　rebar that was exposed to the weather and had rusted⁷ away.  螺纹钢暴露在空气中并已经生锈了。

　　Now there's a solution to all these problems. 现在对所有这些问题有个解决方案。

　　And we know how to build properly.  我们知道如何进行适当的建设。

　　The proof of this came in Chile, almost a month later, 证明来自智利，大约一个月后，

　　when 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit Chile. 当时8.8级的地震袭击了智利。

　　That is 500 times the power of the 7.0 that hit Port-au-Prince -- 五百倍与7.0级地震的力量袭击了太子港--

　　500 times the power, yet only under a thousand casualties. 五百倍的能量，然而只造成了低于一千的伤亡。

　　Adjusted for population density,  考虑到人口密度，

　　that is less than one percent of the impact of the Haitian quake. 这次地震造成的影响小于海地地震的百分之一。

　　What was the difference between Chile and Haiti? 智利与海地之间有什么不同？

　　Seismic⁸ standards and confined masonry⁹, 抗震标准和砖石结构，

　　where the building acts as a whole walls and columns and roofs and slabs tied together to support each other instead of breaking off into separate members and failing.  建筑物作为一个整体-- 墙、柱子、屋顶和楼板连接在一起，相互支撑， 以免断裂成块，坠落下来。

　　If you look at this building in Chile, it's ripped in half, but it's not a pile of rubble¹⁰. 你看看智利的这栋建筑， 它裂成两半，但并没有变成一堆瓦砾。

　　Chileans have been building with confined masonry for decades. 智利人用砖混结构建筑房屋已经有几十年了。

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

3 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

4 slab   

n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上

参考例句：

• This heavy slab of oak now stood between the bomb and Hitler.这时笨重的橡木厚板就横在炸弹和希特勒之间了。
• The monument consists of two vertical pillars supporting a horizontal slab.这座纪念碑由两根垂直的柱体构成，它们共同支撑着一块平板。

5 slabs   

n.厚板，平板，厚片( slab的名词复数 )；厚胶片

参考例句：

• The patio was made of stone slabs. 这天井是用石板铺砌而成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The slabs of standing stone point roughly toward the invisible notch. 这些矗立的石块，大致指向那个看不见的缺口。 来自辞典例句

6 asymmetric   

a.不对称的

参考例句：

• Most people's faces are asymmetric. 大多数人的脸不对称。
• We have made no reference to asymmetric carbon atoms. 我们未曾涉及不对称碳原子。

7 rusted   

v.（使）生锈( rust的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I can't get these screws out; they've rusted in. 我无法取出这些螺丝，它们都锈住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My bike has rusted and needs oil. 我的自行车生锈了，需要上油。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 seismic   

a.地震的，地震强度的

参考例句：

• Earthquakes produce two types of seismic waves.地震产生两种地震波。
• The latest seismic activity was also felt in northern Kenya.肯尼亚北部也感觉到了最近的地震活动。

9 masonry   

n.砖土建筑；砖石

参考例句：

• Masonry is a careful skill.砖石工艺是一种精心的技艺。
• The masonry of the old building began to crumble.旧楼房的砖石结构开始崩落。

10 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。