文字稿

歐洲著名的埃特納火山正緩慢向大海滑動。科學家們已證實，位于意大利西西里島的整個火山結構正以每年14毫米的速度慢慢地向地中海方向挪動。由英國科學家帶領的研究小組稱，這種情況需要密切監測，因為這可能會增加未來埃特納火山周圍地區的危險。

The Open University geologist John Murray has spent almost half a century studying Europe's premiervolcano.

In that time, he's placed a network of high-precision GPS stations around the mountain to monitor its behaviour. The instrumentation senses tiny changes in the shape of the volcanic cone; and with 11 years of data, it’s now obvious Etna is moving in an east-south-east direction.

The motion is small. But volcanoes that have shown this kind of trend can suffer catastrophic collapses on their leading flank. Dr Murray's team stress there is no evidence that this is about to happen at Etna, but say the slide will need close attention in the years ahead.

來自開放大學的地質學家約翰·穆雷花了近半個世紀的時間研究這座歐洲著名的火山。

期間，他在這座火山周圍設置了高精度的GPS定位站網絡，從而監測它的動向。該控制儀器可以感知火山錐形狀的細微變化；從11年間獲取的數據中可以看出，埃特納火山很顯然正在朝東南偏東方向滑動。

它移動的距離很小。但已顯示出這種趨勢的火山可能會引起火山移動前坡的災難性坍塌。穆雷博士的團隊強調，目前沒有證據表明這種情況會在埃特納火山發生，但說在未來時間里，需密切關注火山滑動的情況。

1. 詞匯表

geologist 地質學家
a network of 由…形成的網絡
high-precision 高精度的
instrumentation 儀器設備
volcanic cone 火山錐
motion 移動
catastrophic 災難性的
flank（火山）側面，坡
slide 滑動

2. 閱讀理解：請在讀完上文后，回答下列問題 。

1. What did the geologist place around Mount Etna during his study?

2. How many years of data have the scientists acquired to establish that Mount Etna has slid?

3. True or false? According to the research team, there is no reason to believe that the volcano’s flank is about to collapse.

4. Which verb in the text means ‘regularly check and observe the progress of something’?

3. 答案

1. What did the geologist place around Mount Etna during his study?
The geologist placed a network of high-precision GPS stations around the mountain.

2. How many years of data have the scientists acquired to establish that Mount Etna has slid?
11 years.

3. True or false? According to the research team, there is no reason to believe that the volcano’s flank is about to collapse.
True. Dr Murray's team stress there is no evidence that Etna will suffer a catastrophic collapse on its leading flank.

4. Which verb in the text means ‘regularly check and observe the progress of something’?
Monitor.