【轻松英文阅读】地震的预兆

 You may have already seen reports of giant “sea serpents” washing ashore¹ in California. They are a deep-sea fish known as oarfish and can grow as long as 50 feet long. In fact, they are the largest bony fish in the world. Two oarfish, one 18 feet long and the other 14 feet long, were discovered within the same week in Southern California.

 

Some are concerned that the appearance of these oarfish could be harbingers of a major earthquake. According Japanese legend, oarfish come ashore to warn of coming earthquakes. Some scientists believe these deep-sea fish may be highly sensitive to seismic² activity on the ocean floor.

 

In March of 2010, there were several oarfish sightings by fisherman in Japan. The sightings came right after the magnitude-8.8 quake in Chile and almost exactly one year before the 8.9- earthquake in the Tohoku region of Japan.

 

However, there has been no thorough scientific study of a link between the phenomena³ and it could be just a coincidence according to some scientists.

 

What do you think? Does it worry you?

1 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

2 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。

3 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。