【英语时差8,16】让地球转起来（下）

 What’s true for skaters is also true for planets. Our Earth doesn’t have arms, but it does have a lot of oceans, which tend to bulge¹ out at the equator. This weight distribution is like a skater with arms out, spinning slowly. In the past century, however, we’ve changed the way Earth’s water is distributed. By making reservoirs, we’ve effectively moved some ten trillion tons of water closer to the poles in the last forty years. Closer to the poles means closer to the axis² of rotation³–like a skater drawing her arms in, this has increased our Earth’s rotation. It’s an extremely small—but still measurable–amount. Reservoirs have made each day eight millionths of a second faster than it was forty years ago!

1 bulge   

n.突出，膨胀，激增；vt.突出，膨胀

参考例句：

• The apple made a bulge in his pocket.苹果把他口袋塞得鼓了起来。
• What's that awkward bulge in your pocket?你口袋里那块鼓鼓囊囊的东西是什么？

2 axis   

n.轴，轴线，中心线；坐标轴，基准线

参考例句：

• The earth's axis is the line between the North and South Poles.地轴是南北极之间的线。
• The axis of a circle is its diameter.圆的轴线是其直径。

3 rotation   

n.旋转；循环，轮流

参考例句：

• Crop rotation helps prevent soil erosion.农作物轮作有助于防止水土流失。
• The workers in this workshop do day and night shifts in weekly rotation.这个车间的工人上白班和上夜班每周轮换一次。