英语听力文摘 English Digest 225 冰震

　　Ice Quake!
美国研究人员发现，南极洲冰流滑动能产生巨大震波，威力与地震相仿。这是研究人员首次在南极洲发现“冰震”。华盛顿大学教授道格拉斯·威恩斯从2001年开始在南极洲周边地区设置多台地震仪。从当年到2003年，地震仪监测到多次震波信号。威恩斯说：“起初我们不知道震波来自哪里，但最终我们确定震源为冰流。”监测数据显示，这块冰流宽约100公里，厚约800米。每次移动时，冰流发出的震波波及整个南极洲，最远甚至在澳大利亚都能监测到。浙江大学地球科学系教授陈汉林进一步解释了“冰震”现象。陈教授指出，这种“冰震”，就相当于大型的物体敲击水面，从而产生震波，与地震类似，而且，根据各种测定数据，也可以核算出震级来，这与炸药爆炸等产生一定震级的破坏力道理是一样的。当然，这种冰流的规模要够大，滑动时能产生足够大的能量，从而对下面的冰层乃至遥远的陆地产生一定的冲击波。

　　Over a hundred quakes have happened in the last decade. But they didn't occur near fault lines（断层线）. What were they near? Find out on this Moment of Science.
We’re used to thinking of earthquakes as (1)tremors¹（震动，颤抖） that happen along fault lines when tectonic plates （（地球表面的）构造板块）shift. They’re dramatic（吸引人注目的） events: a good-sized（相当大的，大型的） earthquake can bring buildings and bridges (2)toppling down（推翻；倒塌）.
Those destructive energy bursts are high frequency（高频） ground vibrations²（震动）, and that’s the range of vibrations seismologists（地震学家） most actively³ study. Just recently, though, a geophysicist（地球物理学者） at Harvard University named G?ran Ekstr?m studied low-frequency（低频的） vibrations instead, and discovered something interesting.
He found over a hundred quakes have happened in the last decade that aren’t along any fault line. What are they near instead? Ice.
A glacier⁴（冰川） can be thought of as a very (3)slow-moving（动作缓慢的） stream. It’s made of solid ice, but over long periods of time it can flow gradually over the land, sometimes carving⁵ deep (4)trenches（沟，沟渠） and (5)bulldozing（推土） up rock and soil. Just because it takes centuries to rearrange(重新排列) things, though, doesn’t mean a glacier isn’t enormously powerful at any given moment.
By carefully measuring seismic(地震的) signals, Ekstr?m was able to spot numerous low-frequency quakes in Greenland that hadn’t been identified. He also found that they mostly occurred during July, August, and September. Those warmer months melt lots of glacial ice.
Ekstr?m suspects that liquid water is （6）pooling（淤积） underneath⁷ the glacial ice to the point where the thin （7）veneer⁸（外表） of water at the base of the glacier allows the whole mass to slip（滑动） a little, the way your foot can skid（打滑） on a slick（光滑的） road.
The quakes he recorded, he believes, are the vibrations set up by all that ice–in one case, six cubic（立方的） miles of it–skidding as much as forty-two feet in under a minute. When that much ice scrapes（刮掉，擦掉）, the earth itself shakes.
Notes:
(1)tremors ['trem?z] n.震动；颤抖（tremor的复数）v.颤动（tremor的三单形式）
1.They got only blushes, ejaculations, tremors, and titters, in return for their importunity⁹.
她们只是用脸红、惊叫、颤抖和傻笑来回答他们的要求。
2.Rescuers are continuing into a third day the hunt for survivors¹⁰ of the earthquake that hit Peru's central coast, as fresh tremors shake the area.
救援一直持续到了第三天，搜寻发生在秘鲁中部海岸的地震后的幸存者，这次地震又引起了这个地区的震动。
(2)topple down 推翻；倒塌
The wounded soldier toppled down time after time.
伤兵一次又一次地跌倒。
(3)slow-moving ['sl?u'mu:vi?] adj.滞销的；动作缓慢的
We looked like a bunch of awkward kids riding a slow-moving carousel¹¹.
我们看起来就像一群骑在旋转木马上的笨拙的孩子。
(4)trench⁶ [trent?] n.沟,沟渠；战壕；堑壕 vt. 掘沟 vi.挖战壕；侵害
1.The soldiers trenched an outpost.
士兵们用战壕防御前哨。
2.A long narrow trench or furrow¹² dug in the ground, as for irrigation, drainage, or a boundary line.
沟渠，排水沟，''。'水道'。''在地面上狭长的沟渠或细沟，用于灌溉、排水或用作分界线。
(5)bulldoze ['buld?uz] vt. 强迫；恫吓；用推土机清除
1.The workers bulldozed the building site.
工人们用推土机把建筑工地推平。
2.His normal style when confronted with an obstacle was to bulldoze it into submission¹³.
在前进的道路上碰到障碍时，他通常的做法是铲平障碍，继续前进。
(6)pooling n.联营，合并；池化 v.积水成池；淤积（pool的ing形式）
1.The road was deeply rutted and pooled with rain.
道路坎坷不平，到处是坑坑洼洼的雨水。
2.Object pooling is a good example.
对象池就是一个很好的例子。
(7)veneer [v?'ni?] n.外表；虚饰；饰面；胶合板的一层；薄木片 vt.胶合；虚饰；给…镶以饰片
1.Civilization is a thin veneer over a very ancient structure.
文明是建立在古老结构上的一层薄薄的外表。
2.Book-matched and quartered cherry veneer recessed¹⁴ panel in base.
预订匹配和驻扎樱桃饰面休会小组在基地。

1 tremors   

震颤( tremor的名词复数 )； 战栗； 震颤声； 大地的轻微震动

参考例句：

• The story was so terrible that It'sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。
• The story was so terrible that it sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。

2 vibrations   

n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 )；震动；感受；（偏离平衡位置的）一次性往复振动

参考例句：

• We could feel the vibrations from the trucks passing outside. 我们可以感到外面卡车经过时的颤动。
• I am drawn to that girl; I get good vibrations from her. 我被那女孩吸引住了，她使我产生良好的感觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

4 glacier   

n.冰川，冰河

参考例句：

• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。
• The upper surface of glacier is riven by crevasses.冰川的上表面已裂成冰隙。

5 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

6 trench   

n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕

参考例句：

• The soldiers recaptured their trench.兵士夺回了战壕。
• The troops received orders to trench the outpost.部队接到命令在前哨周围筑壕加强防卫。

7 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

8 veneer   

n.(墙上的)饰面，虚饰

参考例句：

• For the first time her veneer of politeness began to crack.她温文尔雅的外表第一次露出破绽。
• The panel had a veneer of gold and ivory.这木板上面镶饰了一层金和象牙。

9 importunity   

n.硬要，强求

参考例句：

• They got only blushes, ejaculations, tremors, and titters, in return for their importunity. 她们只是用脸红、惊叫、颤抖和傻笑来回答他们的要求。 来自辞典例句
• His importunity left me no alternative but to agree. 他的强硬要求让我只能答应而没有别的选择。 来自互联网

10 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

11 carousel   

n.旋转式行李输送带

参考例句：

• Riding on a carousel makes you feel dizzy.乘旋转木马使你头晕。
• We looked like a bunch of awkward kids riding a slow-moving carousel.我们看起来就像一群骑在旋转木马上的笨拙的孩子。

12 furrow   

n.沟；垄沟；轨迹；车辙；皱纹

参考例句：

• The tractor has make deep furrow in the loose sand.拖拉机在松软的沙土上留下了深深的车辙。
• Mei did not weep.She only bit her lips,and the furrow in her brow deepened.梅埋下头，她咬了咬嘴唇皮，额上的皱纹显得更深了。

13 submission   

n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出

参考例句：

• The defeated general showed his submission by giving up his sword.战败将军缴剑表示投降。
• No enemy can frighten us into submission.任何敌人的恐吓都不能使我们屈服。

14 recessed   

v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的过去式和过去分词 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭

参考例句：

• My rooms were large, with deeply recessed windows and painted, eighteenth-century panellin. 我住的房间很宽敞，有向里凹陷很深的窗户，油漆过的十八世纪的镶花地板。 来自辞典例句
• The Geneva meeting recessed while Kennety and Khrushchev met in Vienna. 肯尼迪同赫鲁晓夫在维也纳会晤时，日内瓦会议已经休会。 来自辞典例句