美国国家公共电台 NPR Days, Weeks, Years? Scientists Say Hawaii Volcano Eruption Has No End In Sight

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The eruption¹ at Hawaii's Kilauea volcano is continuing. The lava² has now destroyed more than two dozen homes. Scientists have been tracking this event since it started, and NPR's Merrit Kennedy has more on what they've learned.

MERRIT KENNEDY, BYLINE³: For more than 30 years, the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island has been erupting. Lava levels rose in recent weeks. Then, last week, they plummeted⁴. Wendy Stovall is with the U.S. Geological Survey.

WENDY STOVALL: So the whole bottom of the crater⁵ floor dropped out, and the magma completely drained away from that system.

KENNEDY: Stovall is one of the researchers from around the country tracking this volcano. Scientists don't know what started this latest event, but there are two possibilities.

STOVALL: Either there's an increase in magma supply or something blocked the system. Something blocked the pathway out of the system.

KENNEDY: In other words, either more molten rock suddenly shot up from deep inside the earth or there was a clog⁶. Whatever the cause, the magma turned away from the crater, heading east underground, flowing into spaces between the rock. Stovall says scientists tracked the flow as it set off earthquakes and deformed⁷ the ground.

STOVALL: Honestly, it was pretty frightening to see where the magma was going.

KENNEDY: That's because it was headed toward a neighborhood, Leilani Estates, a lush residential⁸ area of more than 1,700 people. Video on social media shows lava gushing⁹ out, destroying homes and causing havoc¹⁰.

ERIK KLEMETTI: It's sort of like a leaky pipe or a burst pipe, where the magma is moving down the conduit system. And it just reaches a point where the pressure builds enough that you start cracking the surface above.

KENNEDY: That's Denison University volcanologist Erik Klemetti. There are now at least 12 of these burst points, or fissures¹¹, in the ground in and around Leilani Estates. Scientists are tracking earthquakes and the composition of gas coming out of the cracks in the ground, which hints at whether the eruption will intensify¹². But what will happen longer term is much more difficult to predict says Bill Chadwick, a volcanologist at NOAA.

BILL CHADWICK: We can't really peer through the ground and see it exactly in all its details and intricacies.

KENNEDY: And without those details, they can't predict when this eruption will end.

CHADWICK: Yeah. It could last days, weeks, years. All that's possible (laughter). It's hard to say, unfortunately.

KENNEDY: That makes it extremely difficult for the residents of Leilani Estates to know what their future holds, which worries Klemetti.

KLEMETTI: When a house today might look like it's perfectly¹³ safe, it might get taken out by a lava flow five years from now if the eruption keeps on going.

KENNEDY: Unlike a hurricane or an earthquake, this disaster has no clear end in sight. Merrit Kennedy, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF RED SNAPPER'S "4 DEAD MONKS")

1 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

2 lava   

n.熔岩，火山岩

参考例句：

• The lava flowed down the sides of the volcano.熔岩沿火山坡面涌流而下。
• His anger spilled out like lava.他的愤怒像火山爆发似的迸发出来。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

6 clog   

vt.塞满，阻塞；n.[常pl.]木屐

参考例句：

• In cotton and wool processing,short length fibers may clog sewers.在棉毛生产中，短纤维可能堵塞下水管道。
• These streets often clog during the rush hour.这几条大街在交通高峰时间常常发生交通堵塞。

7 deformed   

adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的

参考例句：

• He was born with a deformed right leg.他出生时右腿畸形。
• His body was deformed by leprosy.他的身体因为麻风病变形了。

8 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

9 gushing   

adj.迸出的；涌出的；喷出的；过分热情的v.喷，涌( gush的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话

参考例句：

• blood gushing from a wound 从伤口冒出的血
• The young mother was gushing over a baby. 那位年轻的母亲正喋喋不休地和婴儿说话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

11 fissures   

n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 )；裂伤；分歧；分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Rising molten rock flows out on the ocean floor and caps the fissures, trapping the water. 上升熔岩流到海底并堵住了裂隙，结果把海水封在里面。 来自辞典例句
• The French have held two colloquia and an international symposium on rock fissures. 法国已经开了两次岩石裂缝方面的报告会和一个国际会议。 来自辞典例句

12 intensify   

vt.加强；变强；加剧

参考例句：

• We must intensify our educational work among our own troops.我们必须加强自己部队的教育工作。
• They were ordered to intensify their patrols to protect our air space.他们奉命加强巡逻，保卫我国的领空。

13 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。