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Understanding Earthquakes 直击地震

详细资料: 创建于 2010年5月20日; 最后更新于 2024年5月25日; 发布于 2012年4月30日; 作者：Mike Lee; 点击数：274

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If we know more about how quakes work, will it make us more prepared? 如果我们能多了解地震运作的方式，会不会就能更有所准备？

Haiti quake happened along fault line, experts say 专家指出，海地的地震发生于断层线上

Although earthquakes are typically associated with the West Coast, the Caribbean is actually a seismically active area, where plates and fault lines are still shifting below the surface.

虽然地震往往会让人联想到美国西岸（译注：West Coast不一定指美国西岸，例如加拿大也有West Coast，但本文指美国西岸），但加勒比海地区其实也是个地震活动相当活跃的地带，地表下的板块与断层线仍然不断变动中。

The earthquake that hit Haiti in January measured a 7.0 magnitude. It was centered just 15 miles from Port-au Prince, the capital city of nearly 1 million people.

在一月间袭击海地的地震强度达7.0，震央距首都太子港仅十五哩之隔，太子港有将近一百万人口。

While smaller quakes happen frequently in the Caribbean, none close to this size had been seen in Haiti in more than 25 years, geophysicist Dale Grant said. That was in June 1984, when a quake measuring 6.7 occurred about 150 miles away from Port-au Prince.

地球物理学家戴尔．葛兰特表示，加勒比海地区虽然经常发生小型地震，而上一次发生接近如此规模的地震是在一九八四年六月，当时规模达6.7级的地震在距离太子港约一百五十哩处发生。

What geologists think happened 地质学家推测地震成因

The actual quake appears to have occurred along the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault, a virtually immovable rock that runs from Montego Bay in Jamaica to the southern part of the island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic. That vertical fault is pushed by the Caribbean Plate, an unsettled land mass that moves about 20 millimeters east each year.

实际的地震似乎沿着恩里基洛一大蕉园断层发生，这道断层是道近乎稳固不动的岩石层，从牙买加蒙特戈湾一路延伸到海地与多米尼加共和国共有的希斯巴纽拉岛南部。挤压这道垂直断层的加勒比海板块，是个不稳定的陆块，每年会往东移动二十公厘左右。

According to Paul Mann, a research scientist at the University of Texas in Austin, the plates have been pushing against the fault since a major quake in 1760. What the plate did to the fault is akin to a human trying to move a grand piano across a floor, said Florida International University professor Grenville Draper, an expert in Caribbean geology. The person will push and push with no effect – then, the piano will suddenly slip forward.

奥斯汀德州大学的研究科学家保罗．曼恩指出，自一七六０年的一场大地震后，板块就一再推挤着断层。加勒比海地区地质专家，也是佛罗里达国际大学教授的葛伦维尔．德雷波表示：板块对断层造成的作用，就像是一个人把一架平台钢琴推过地面一样──这个人一再用力推却都不见效果──然后钢琴才会突然间往前滑动。

Such movement is relatively small compared with plates underground in California, Draper said. The effect would be less-frequent earthquakes, but relatively large ones when they do occur.

德雷波指出，和在加州地底下移动的板块相比，加勒比海板块的移动幅度并不大，而这种情形所造成的结果就是，地震频率不高，但一旦发生时，规模相对来说就会比较大。

The slip in Haiti appears to have occurred around six miles below the earth, Draper said, resulting in the large earthquake. The closer the slip is to the surface, the bigger the quake.

德雷波表示，海地（板块）滑动发生在地表下六哩左右之处，结果导致了这场大地震。（板块）滑动愈接近地表，地震规模就会愈大。

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fault line 断层线 a crack in the earth’s surface where the rock is divided into two parts that can move against each other in an earthquake

fault [fɔlt] n. (地壳的)断层

seismically active 地震活动的 related to activity that is caused by earthquakes or earth tremors

seismically [ˋsaɪzmɪkəlɪ] adj. 因地震而引起地

plate [plet] n. 板块 one of the large sections of the surface of the Earth that move separately

magnitude [ˋmægnə͵tjud] n. 震级

centered [ˋsɛntɚd] adj. 位于中心的

Port-au Prince [͵portoˋprɪns] n. 太子港（海地共和国首都）

geophysicist [͵dʒioˋfɪzɪsɪst] n. 地球物理学家

plantain [ˋplæntɪn] n.【植】大蕉

unsettled [ʌnˋsɛt!d] adj. 不稳定的；动荡的；易变的

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Quake in Caribbean has been predicted for years 多年来专家早已预测加勒比海地区会发生地震

When news spread of the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, most of us probably said: “What? They have earthquakes in the Caribbean?”

海地发生惨重地震的消息传开之后，大多数人的反应大概都是：「什么？加勒比海地区也有地震？」

But it was no surprise to geologists. For years, they had been predicting a quake in Haiti – possibly as powerful as magnitude 7.2. The problem was they couldn’t say when.

不过，地质学家倒是一点都不意外。多年来，他们就一再预测海地将会发生地震──而且震级可能高达7.2。但问题是，他们没办法预测发生的时间。

“It could have been the next day, it could have been 10 years, it could have been 100,” said Miami geophysicist and earthquake expert Dr. Tom Dixon. “This is not an exact science.”

「可能是明天，可能十年后，也可能是一百年后，」迈阿密地球物理学家暨地震专家汤姆．狄克森博士表示：「（地震预测）并不是一种精确的科学。」

Geologists had long warned about seismic pressures building up along the Enriquillo Fault Line that runs from Jamaica eastward through Port-au Prince, Haiti, and into the Enriquillo Valley in the Dominican Republic. The fault line is part of the boundary between the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates.

长久以来，地质学家就一再对恩里基洛断层线沿线所累积的地震压力提出警告，这条断层线从牙买加往东穿越海地的太子港，直达多米尼加共和国的恩里基洛谷地。这道断层线是北美与加勒比海板块的分界之一。

Slow movement builds pressure 缓慢移动造成压力累积

The earth is divided into about a dozen tectonic plates that float and shift, moving past each other at geologically slow rates. The North American plate, which includes the United States and Canada, moves west relative to the Caribbean plate, at a rate of about an inch a year.

地球可划分为约十几个漂浮移动的地壳板块，以地质学上而言相当缓慢的速度漂移、行经彼此。美国与加拿大皆位于其上的北美板块，相对于加勒比海板块朝西向移动，每年以约一吋的速率移动。

And there was a chilling, if imprecise, prediction in a paper by a group of U.S. geologists presented at the 18th Caribbean Geological Conference in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in March 2008.

二００八年三月在多米尼加共和国圣多明各举行的第十八届加勒比海地质会议上，一群美国地质学家发表的论文，提出了容或不尽精确、但却令人忧心的预测。

That inch-per-year movement had built up to six lateral feet of unrelieved pressure since the last major quake, in the south-central Dominican Republic in 1751. In a reference to Port-au-Prince, the conference report said: “This means that the level of built-up stress and energy in the earth could one day be released resulting in an earthquake measuring 7.2 or more on the Richter scale. This would be an event of catastrophic proportions in a city with loose building codes and an abundance of shantytowns built in ravines and other undesirable locations.

上一次强震，是于一七五一年在多米尼加共和国中南部发生，此后每年一吋的移动速率足足累积了六呎尚未释放的横向压力。会议上所发表的报告，针对太子港指出：「这表示地层中累积的压力和能量的强度，可能有天会释放出来，造成芮氏规模7.2以上的地震，太子港这座城市不仅建筑法规松散，又有大量贫民窟建立在深谷及其他不良地区，（一旦遭到地震袭击）将导致惨重的后果。」

单词发音

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seismic [ˋsaɪzmɪk] adj. 地震的；因地震而引起的 of, subject to, or caused by an earthquake or earth vibration

build up 积累, 聚集, 增加, 逐渐增强

tectonic [tɛkˋtɑnɪk] adj.【地】地壳构造上的

if [ɪf] 虽然也许..，虽然可能.. although possibly

imprecise [͵ɪmprɪˋsaɪz] adj. 不准确的; 含糊的

lateral [ˋlætərəl] adj. 侧面的；横的，横向的 relating to the sides of an object or to sideways movement

reference [ˋrɛfərəns] n. 参考，参照；参考文献；出处

Richter [ˈrɪktɚ] scale 李氏地震分等标准 a system used to measure the strength of an earthquake

proportions [prəˋporʃənz] n-plural（通常指极其巨大的事物的）大小，尺寸 dimensions; size

shantytown [ˋʃæntɪ͵taʊn] n. 以简陋小屋形成之市镇；贫民窟 a section of a city or town, characterized by crudely built houses, usually made from pieces of wood, metal or cardboard, in which poor people live

ravine [rəˋvin] n. 沟壑，深谷

undesirable [͵ʌndɪˋzaɪrəb!] adj. 不良的

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As far back as 1998, Dixon, a professor of geophysics at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, says he and five colleagues published a paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research warning of seismic trouble brewing in Haiti. But again, they couldn’t say when.

在罗森斯岱海洋暨大气科学学院担任地球物理学教授的狄克森表示，早在一九九八年，他和五名同僚就曾经在《地球物理研究期刊》发表过一篇论文，对于海地酝酿中的地震问题提出警告。不过，他们同样无法预测地震发生的时间。

One geologist, Patrick Charles, formerly of the Geological Institute of Havana, called the danger imminent.

曾在哈瓦那地质学院任职的地质学家派崔克．查尔斯，曾表示危机迫在眉睫。

Not a lot we can do 人力所及有限

Even then, what could Haiti have done?

尽管如此，海地又能怎么办呢？

Long beset by poverty, political unrest, HIV and chronic hurricanes and floods, Haiti lacked both the technical expertise and the resources to study earthquakes, let alone take action to withstand them, Dixon said.

狄克森表示，海地长久以来饱受贫穷、政治动乱、艾滋病与频繁的飓风和水灾所苦，缺乏足够的专业技术和资源来研究地震，更别说是采取措施来抵御地震了。

Dr. Amy Wilentz, author of The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier, agrees.

《雨季：杜瓦利埃以来的海地》（译注：Duvalier家族的Francois和儿子Jean-Claude先后担任过海地总统，以独裁高压手段统治该国）作者爱咪．威伦兹博士也同意上述说法。

“A lot of the buildings are made of bricks and cement and tin roofs,” she said.

「许多建筑都是以砖块、水泥和铁皮（译注：tin指锡，但一般通称铁皮）屋顶盖成，」她说。

“It’s hard to envision programs like the ones we have in California to reinforce buildings and do earthquake stabilization, much less projects to make new buildings safe. It’s hard enough to put up a building at all.”

「很难想象海地能够推行像加州这样的计划来强化建筑结构增进地震稳定性；更别说是推行能让新建筑确保安全的新方案了。因为光是要盖一栋建筑就已经够困难了。」

Susan Purcell, director of the Center for Hemisphere Policy at the University of Miami, asked: “This is the poorest country in the hemisphere; what are they supposed to do and with what resources? …. Most of them are dirt-poor and living in makeshift houses.”

迈阿密大学半球政策中心主任苏珊．波塞尔问道：「这是北半球最贫穷的国家；他们能做什么？又有什么资源能够实行任何措施？……那里的人民大部分都穷得要命，只能住在临时搭建的房子里。」

Richer countries can do a lot to mitigate damage from earthquakes, but even they can’t entirely prevent it, experts say. In California, building codes have become stricter after each earthquake, said Jeanne Perkins, an earthquake consultant for the Association of Bay Area Governments in San Francisco. Even then, she said, insurance-company estimates say that if a 7.0 quake like the one that hit Port-au-Prince happened today in San Francisco, it would render 150,000 buildings uninhabitable and kill hundreds or thousands of people.

专家表示，富有国家可以采取许多措施以减轻地震的损害，但即使是这些国家也无法完全预防地震。旧金山的湾区政府协会地震顾问吉妮．珀金斯指出，加州的建筑法规每经过一次地震就修改得更加严格，但尽管如此，保险公司的估计仍然指出，发生在太子港的7.0强震如果出现在今日的旧金山，还是可能会导致十五万栋建筑因此毁损至无法居住的程度，并且导致数百或数千人丧生。

−by Robert Samuels

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