地震時刻:When The Earth Quakes自然災害領域中英說法

When The Earth Quakes

當地震發生時

On the night of August 17, 1959, at about 20 minutes before midnight, the ground in the vicinity of Yellowstone National Park began shaking violently. At the time there was a rumbling sound, something like a huge truck would make. Both the heaving of the ground and the noise were very frightening but lasted not quite 45 seconds.

1959年8月17日的晚上，大約午夜前20分鐘，黃石國家公園附近大地開始猛烈搖動。同時，大地發出如同重型卡車發出的轟響。大地的升降和 嘯叫都令人非常害怕，但是一切不超過45秒。

What was even More frightening was the sound of huge boulders which began rolling down the steep mountain. In one part of the upper reaches of the Madison River, a whole mountain began shifting, then came crashing down to fill the deep valley and dam the great river with millions of tons rock and trees.

更令人害怕是巨石開始從陡峭的山上滾下來的聲音。在麥迪生河上游 的一條支流處，一整座山開始移動，之後，它崩塌下來填滿深深的山谷，上 百萬噸岩石和大樹如壩般阻擋住大河。

A dozen or more campers along the river were buried deep beneath the great landslide. Others were able to climb to safety, some of them badly hurt, but were trapped by the slide. Finally these people were saved, many of them by helicopter.

十幾個，或許更多沿河的露營者被深埋在大滑坡下。倖存的野營者開 始爬向較安全的地方，其中一些人傷得很重，仍然不時陷入滑坡。最後這些 人都獲救了，其中很多人得救於直升飛機。

This earthquake near Yellowstone Park was just one of nearly a million that happen every year all over the world. And as bad as this quake was, many have been worse.

在黃石公園附近發生的地震，僅僅是每年全世界發生的上百萬次地震 中的一次。若就地震災害而論，有許多地震甚至更嚴重。

Earthquake experts say that the Yellowstone quake of 1959 was about as bad as the one which hit San Francisco in 1906. But the San Francisco quake caused more damage because it struck in a place where there were so many people living. In San Francisco 700 person lost their lives.

地震專家說，1959 年的黃石的地震，差不多相當於1906年發生在舊金山的地震。舊金山地震造成更多的破壞，它發生在人口密集地方。在舊金山約700人喪失生命。

An earthquake in Japan in 1923 took 160,000 lives. In China in 1920 an earthquake took 200,000 lives. It is easy to understand why earthquake are so feared.

1923 年發生在日本的地震奪走了16萬人的生命。1920年一場大地震發生在中國， 20萬人死亡。因此，很容易理解人們爲什麼非常恐懼地震。

What causes these terrible shakes of the very ground on which we live?

是什麼原因造成我們生活的這塊土地發生可怕的搖動?

To answer that question we must first understand some things about the earth itself.

要回答這個問題，必須首先要了解關於地球自身的某些事物。

Forty miles deep in the earth is the edge of the outer crust of the earth, and there it is so hot that instead of hard rock there is material much like the hot lava that a volcano erupts.

地表面 下40英里深，是地球外殼的邊緣：此處非常之熱，如同火，山噴出的岩漿般的 物質代替了堅硬的岩石。

It is the earth's 40 mile deep crust with which we are concerned when we seek the cause of earthquake.

若我們尋求地震的起因，這40英里地殼恰恰是我們應該關心的地帶。

The earth's crust is formed of many different layers of rocks. The layers of rocks are not laid evenly, as a bricklayer would build a wall. Instead, the earth's crust is made of rock layers that are often uneven and not perfectly balanced.

地殼由很多不同岩石層構成。而岩層並不像建築工人建的 牆一樣均勻地平整鋪開，相反的，岩層構成的地殼也往往是不均勻且不是完 美平衡的。

Because of the great weight pressing down on them, these layers tend to fold downward at weak spots, and this finally causes an actual break in the crust. When this break occurs, or when the sides of an old break slip, the earth quakes, or shakes, while the crust is settling into a new position.

由於巨大重量向下壓岩層，使它趨於在它的薄弱點處往下摺疊，這最後將造成地殼裏的某處斷裂。當斷裂發生時，或者舊的斷裂塊滑動時， 地球震動、搖動，以使地殼安排它進入—個新位置。

Sometime these faults are very small, and we then feel only little tremor. The tremor may even be so light that only the most delicate machine will record it. Most earthquakes are of this weak kind. Sometimes a break in the earth's crust comes about, which starts such a landslide as that which occurred in Madison Canyon.

有些時候這些斷裂非常小，我們僅僅能感到微小的顫動。這種顫動甚 至輕到最精密的設備纔可能記錄它們。大多數地震屬於這種類型。也有些時 候地殼的一個斷裂發生了，引起如同在麥迪生峽谷發生的大滑坡。

It then takes not one, but many shakes for the earth to heal the fault and settle. That is why many after-shocks follow a major earthquake. Sometimes these go on for several years.

這種大地震往往不是一次，而是很多次的移動，使地球去修補裂縫和調整(岩層的) 姿態。這就是爲什麼很多餘震緊跟在—個大地震之後。有時這種情況要持續 多年。

Some parts of the earth are more likely to have quakes then others. This is usually true of mountainous country, because there the layers of rocks which make up the earth's crust are not at all even. But quakes may often be felt in level country, too, because the waves which come from the center of a quake run often for thousands of miles.

地球的某些部分比其它部分更容易發生地震。山地國家往往這樣。山 地區域構成地殼的岩層特別不均勻。但是，平原國家也會經常感覺到地震， 因爲從震源發出的震波往往可以傳出上千英里。

It is easy to understand why man is so frightened by an earthquake. People used to think that when there was an earthquake, the ground opened, swallowed great numbers of people, then closed, leaving no trace of those who perished. We know now this does not happen.

很容易理解爲什麼人特別害怕地震。人們過去認爲，當某個地方發生 了地震，即大地裂開，吞下大量的人，然後又合上，人們被不留痕跡地毀滅。現在我們知道這一切從來不曾發生。

What we need to fear most are the after-effects of a bad earthquake: fires, flood, and landslides.

實際上我們需要更多擔心的是一個大地震的震後影響：火災、洪水、 和滑坡。

Since the Yellowstone earthquake some people have said that they would never go to that area for fear of being caught in a landslide such as occurred after the earthquake. That is foolish. Such a fear would keep us from mountains the rest of our lives.

自從黃石地震後，一些人說，他們因爲害怕被髮生在地震後的大滑 坡傷害，再也不會去那個地方。這是愚蠢的。這種恐懼將使我們終生遠離大山。

Even though earthquakes happen every day, an occurrence like the Madison River landslide does not happen very often. We can realize gratefully that few of us will suffer because of such disaster. At the same time we can understand the need of being ready to help those who do suffer such trouble.

儘管地震每天都在發生，像麥迪生河大滑坡似的事件卻不是經常發生。 我們能夠意識到，只有我們中的極少數可能受到地震災害的傷害。同時，我們也能理解，遭受那種災害傷害的人正需要其它人的幫助。