【英语时差8,16】海浪的形成原理

Those waves hitting the sand actually begin far out at sea. And it doesn’t take much to get them going. A little wind will do the trick. First the wind blows over the surface of the water, generating the little ripples¹ you can see just by blowing across a panful of water. If that’s all that happens, the ripples merely shimmer² around on the surface. But a stronger wind can cause these little ripples to merge³ with other ripples and become larger. Eventually these combinations grow large enough to become what most folks would call a wave. Small waves have the ability to combine with other waves that have a similar frequency. “Frequency” here just means the time it takes for the crest⁴ of a wave to pass and the next one to take its place. It’s pretty much a coincidence when one wave happens to meet another that matches its frequency. But once you have a match, the two combine to form a single, larger wave. Just keep up this process to see how even a moderate amount of wind can make waves.

 

1 ripples   

逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The moon danced on the ripples. 月亮在涟漪上舞动。
• The sea leaves ripples on the sand. 海水在沙滩上留下了波痕。

2 shimmer   

v./n.发微光，发闪光；微光

参考例句：

• The room was dark,but there was a shimmer of moonlight at the window.屋子里很黑，但靠近窗户的地方有点微光。
• Nor is there anything more virginal than the shimmer of young foliage.没有什么比新叶的微光更纯洁无瑕了。

3 merge   

v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体

参考例句：

• I can merge my two small businesses into a large one.我可以将我的两家小商店合并为一家大商行。
• The directors have decided to merge the two small firms together.董事们已决定把这两家小商号归并起来。

4 crest   

n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖

参考例句：

• The rooster bristled his crest.公鸡竖起了鸡冠。
• He reached the crest of the hill before dawn.他于黎明前到达山顶。