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VOA慢速英语2012 SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Wreckage from Japanese Tsunami Reaching Western United States

时间:2012-08-02 03:30:08

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SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Wreckage1 from Japanese Tsunami2 Reaching Western United States

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Shirley Griffith.

MARIO RITTER: And I’m Mario Ritter. This week, we tell about tsunamis3 - the deadly sea waves often caused by earthquakes.

(MUSIC)

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Tsunami is a two-character Japanese word. “Tsu” means “harbor,” and “”nami” means “wave.” So, the Japanese call tsunamis, “harbor waves.” Tsunamis happen after an earthquake strikes, either near or under the ocean floor. The earthquake displaces a large amount of water. Waves then move inland quickly and powerfully, often causing death and destruction.

Scientists say strong earthquakes under the sea are responsible for eighty to ninety percent of all tsunamis. Volcanic4 explosions can also cause a tsunami, as can a large piece of land sliding into the water. Tsunamis might also happen when a rock from space strikes the ocean. There have been three major tsunamis worldwide in the past eight years. A major tsunami usually happens only once every ten years.

A tsunami is not just one wave, but a series of waves. Some of the waves can be huge. Scientists say the first wave is often not the largest. That is usually the third or fourth wave. The waves can be from five minutes to one hour apart.

(MUSIC)

MARIO RITTER: Let us look now at what causes a tsunami wave. The land underneath5 the ocean is made up of “tectonic plates.” These large areas are always moving. Usually the plates just rub up against each other on a crack, called a “fault line.” Sometimes, one plate slides under another plate. This is called “subduction.”

Over time, a large amount of pressure builds up on the plate that has slid under the other. It then suddenly “springs up,” resulting in an earthquake. These large “subduction zone” earthquakes are responsible for most of the ocean-wide tsunamis, such as the tsunami in Japan last year.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Scientists can measure the strength and position of earthquakes because there are hundreds of seismic6 monitoring stations around the world. If it is a strong quake and it happens in or near the ocean, computers quickly measure the length, depth and location of a quake. These measurements help to show how strong a resulting tsunami might be.

When a tsunami forms, the wave can spread out quickly. As it gets close to land, the force of the water builds. People near the ocean may hear a loud “sucking” sound, or a noise similar to a train or airplane. Then, a “drawback” may happen: Suddenly, a large area of coastline has very little water because the water is quickly being pulled away from land. But sometimes there is no drawback, and waves as high as thirty meters come speeding toward the land. 

MARIO RITTER: Tsunamis cause damage to coastal7 areas in two ways. First, buildings and trees are crushed by the force of so much water moving so quickly. Then, the water moves over the land and washes away anything in its path. The tsunami that hit northeastern Japan destroyed homes, office buildings, cars, trucks, and even large boats. Thousands of people were killed. But many more would have died if not for a tsunami warning from the Japanese Meteorological Agency. That warning came just three minutes after the nine-point-zero magnitude earthquake struck. It was the strongest to hit the country and the fourth-most powerful earthquake ever measured worldwide.

The tsunami waves that followed the earthquake came almost immediately, and were reported to have reached as high as nine meters in some areas. Japan has concrete sea walls that wrap around forty percent of its coastline. But those walls were not built for such high waves. In fact, in some areas the sea walls were as low as three meters.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Japan has one of the best tsunami early warning systems in the world. There are more than four thousand Seismic Intensity8 Meters in place across the country to measure earthquakes. These meters provide information within two minutes of an earthquake striking. Information about the strength and the epicenter of the earthquake can be learned in less than three minutes.

Earthquakes often strike Japan. Some of those earthquakes cause tsunamis. Japan has suffered hundreds of tsunamis over the years. But few were as powerful as the tsunami that struck on March eleventh, twenty eleven.

(MUSIC)

MARIO RITTER: Last month, pieces of wreckage from the Japanese tsunami began reaching the western United States. A concrete and metal dock was found along the Oregon coast, about one hundred seventy kilometers southwest of Portland. It had taken almost fifteen months for the twenty-meter long object to make the eight thousand kilometer trip across the ocean.

Experts say they expect more wreckage –- scientists call it marine9 debris10 -- to wash up on American coastlines over the next few years. Nancy Wallace directs the Marine Debris Program at NOAA --America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric11 Administration.

NANCY WALLACE: “There’s a lot of uncertainties12. I think that’s what we’re learning throughout this process, is that it’s very hard to determine how much debris is still floating in the water, what type of debris that is and where it will be coming ashore13. But we are concerned, absolutely, it could have a big impact in terms of we want to make sure that we’re protecting our habitat, we’re protecting folks who are out at sea and not getting engaged in any lines or nets that could be out there or debris.”

Japan’s government estimates the tsunami last year created twenty-five million tons of debris. Experts believe most of the debris is not radioactive because it came from a wide area along Japan’s northeast coast. Only a small amount came from the area near the damaged Fukushima power station. Radiation began leaking from the nuclear reactor14 into the sea days or weeks after the tsunami. This leads experts to believe that little of the wreckage is radioactive. 

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is watching the marine debris as part of its efforts to protect America’s coastlines and natural resources. It predicts more debris will reach the west coast next year and circle back to the Hawaiian Islands, arriving between twenty-fourteen through twenty-sixteen.

NOAA spends forty million dollars a year in an effort to protect the United States from tsunamis. The country has two tsunami warning centers – one on the Hawaiian island of Oahu and another in Palmer, Alaska. NOAA officials use equipment on the seafloor and on the ocean’s surface to measure tsunamis.

MARIO RITTER: NOAA officials say tsunamis can move much faster than anyone can run. They say people in coastal areas need to recognize signs of a possible tsunami.

Officials say the safest thing you can do is move to higher ground at once, or go to the top of a tall, strong building. You should not wait to hear a tsunami warning. And, once a tsunami wave has reached land, you should not return to the coast until local officials say it is safe. That is because tsunamis are often made up of many waves, and later waves can be higher than the first one. There can be as much as an hour between waves.

(MUSIC)

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: On December twenty-sixth, two thousand four, a powerful earthquake and tsunami struck the Indian Ocean. Two hundred thirty thousand people were killed on two continents, most of them in Indonesia. After the tsunami, NOAA and the United States Geological Survey were given more money to help release tsunami warnings more quickly. NOAA has reduced the time to provide tsunami warnings from an average of fifteen minutes to six. In some areas, NOAA can provide these warnings in less than three minutes. That can help save many lives.

MARIO RITTER: But such information is of little use without a way to provide it to people who could be affected15 by a tsunami. So, local officials need to have a warning system in place. They also should have a plan for removing people from threatened areas. Officials are responsible for broadcasting warnings as fast as they can, by any method they can. 

The Indian Ocean tsunami of two thousand four was among the worst ever reported. But the Pacific Ocean has experienced more of the deadly waves than other oceans. Experts estimate sixty percent of tsunamis take place there. NOAA says a tsunami cannot be prevented. But the harm that a tsunami causes can be lessened16 by people being prepared, by timely warnings and by an effective plan of action.

(MUSIC)

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Christopher Cruise. Our producer was June Simms. I’m Shirley Griffith. 

MARIO RITTER: And I’m Mario Ritter. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 wreckage nMhzF     
n.(失事飞机等的)残骸,破坏,毁坏
参考例句:
  • They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
  • New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。
2 tsunami bpAyo     
n.海啸
参考例句:
  • Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
  • Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。
3 tsunamis a759fe8c9bbe15580d54b753ecec1e73     
n.海啸( tsunami的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Our oceans are alive with earthquakes, volcanoes, and more recently, tsunamis. 海中充满着地震、火山,包括最近发生的海啸。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年2月号
  • Please tell me something more about tsunamis! 请您给我讲讲海啸吧! 来自辞典例句
4 volcanic BLgzQ     
adj.火山的;象火山的;由火山引起的
参考例句:
  • There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
  • Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。
5 underneath VKRz2     
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面
参考例句:
  • Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
  • She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣,里面套着一条连衣裙。
6 seismic SskyM     
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。
7 coastal WWiyh     
adj.海岸的,沿海的,沿岸的
参考例句:
  • The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
  • This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。
8 intensity 45Ixd     
n.强烈,剧烈;强度;烈度
参考例句:
  • I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
  • The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。
9 marine 77Izo     
adj.海的;海生的;航海的;海事的;n.水兵
参考例句:
  • Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
  • When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时,他自愿参加了海军陆战队。
10 debris debris     
n.瓦砾堆,废墟,碎片
参考例句:
  • After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
  • Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上,导致蛀牙。
11 atmospheric 6eayR     
adj.大气的,空气的;大气层的;大气所引起的
参考例句:
  • Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
  • Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。
12 uncertainties 40ee42d4a978cba8d720415c7afff06a     
无把握( uncertainty的名词复数 ); 不确定; 变化不定; 无把握、不确定的事物
参考例句:
  • One of the uncertainties of military duty is that you never know when you might suddenly get posted away. 任军职不稳定的因素之一是你永远不知道什么时候会突然被派往它处。
  • Uncertainties affecting peace and development are on the rise. 影响和平与发展的不确定因素在增加。 来自汉英非文学 - 十六大报告
13 ashore tNQyT     
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。
14 reactor jTnxL     
n.反应器;反应堆
参考例句:
  • The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
  • Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里,大分子裂变为小分子。
15 affected TzUzg0     
adj.不自然的,假装的
参考例句:
  • She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
  • His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
16 lessened 6351a909991322c8a53dc9baa69dda6f     
减少的,减弱的
参考例句:
  • Listening to the speech through an interpreter lessened its impact somewhat. 演讲辞通过翻译的嘴说出来,多少削弱了演讲的力量。
  • The flight to suburbia lessened the number of middle-class families living within the city. 随着迁往郊外的风行,住在城内的中产家庭减少了。

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