时间:2019-01-03 作者:英语课 分类:2017年VOA慢速英语(九)月


英语课

 


The earthquake that struck near Mexico City Tuesday came exactly 32 years after an 8.0 magnitude quake hit the area.


The 1985 earthquake killed nearly 10,000 people.


Mexican officials say more than 200 people are confirmed dead following Tuesday’s quake. Many buildings were damaged, while others were destroyed.


Rescue workers searched the capital and other areas on Wednesday in hopes of finding survivors.


Mexican Interior Minister Miguel Osorio Chong says his country’s armed forces and police will continue working until they explore all possibilities of finding more people alive.


Civilians joined the search and rescue teams shortly after the quake. They used heavy machinery and, in some cases their hands, to clear away wreckage from homes, schools and other buildings.


Scientists say the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.1. The United States Geological Survey defines magnitude as a number that represents the relative size of a quake.


The quake’s epicenter was near the city of Puebla, 120 kilometers southeast of Mexico City.


Ken Hudnut is a science adviser with the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena, California. He told VOA that the land on which the buildings were set up could be a reason for the collapses.


"Some of the buildings are on old lake beds, and that can amplify the shaking and cause the shaking to last longer, and that can make for more damage.”


On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump sent a message of support on Twitter. He wrote, “God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you.”


On Wednesday, Israel announced plans to send 70 people to Mexico to help with rescue efforts. A military spokesman said the team will help examine buildings to identify their damage and safety levels.


The earthquake hit less than two weeks after another quake killed more than 90 people in southern Mexico. The U.S. Geological Survey said the two quakes appeared to be unrelated.


The Earth’s outermost surface is made up of large tectonic plates. As many as 20 tectonic plates cover the planet. They move slowly, sometimes sliding under one another. When that happens, earthquakes can take place.


Ken Hudnut says the two recent quakes in Mexico have similarities.


“So both of them occurred within the plate that's going down underneath the plate that is overriding up on top. And both of them had some extensional movement, which is unusual. The more typical thing is like the 1985 earthquake that did much more damage in Mexico City than either of these…”


I’m Ashley Thompson.


Words in This Story


lake – n. a large, inland body of standing water


amplify – v. to expand; to make larger or greater


tectonic plate – n. large pieces of the Earth’s outer shell


occur – v. to happen; to exist or appear


typical – adj. normal for someone or something



标签: VOA慢速英语
学英语单词
Accadia
acceptor exhaustion
Adelshofen
afterview
amlapura
antineoplastic drug
appeal against finding
applicature
articular crescent
Batmaniac
beechlike
Bennebroek
beretta
birnbaum-raymond-zuckerman inequality
blancmange
ca1(cornu ammonis 1)
camber ratio
Camellia omeiensis
Cantharellus cinnabarinus
constructive criticism
Dabilja
double aperture core
finance department
Fleischmann's follicle
gite
glowing cloud
ground stake
Harvard Monthly Index Chart
hendawi
herrman
hot driving
hydrocarbon black
i and
in someone's fingers
ingemar
injection therapy of internal hemorroid
international economic order
isurus paucuss
laminar flow extent
legal consultancy service
long-branched
lower ... guard
magnetotelephone set
mardies
mecodium okadai shieh
mesobacterium
muffiny
mulitiparous cyme
needle-leaf forest
net-veined leaf
NSPN
null-hypothesis
OMS (overpressure mitigation system)
on-board modem
ordinal adjective
Ouakaro
overchlorinated
parabolic transformation
Pastia's lines
peak suction
phycoporphyrin
physaloptera massino
playshops
playsong
prepartory grinding
private Idahos
pyramid roof
questionmasters
range of possibility
ratio intelligence quotient
reconsulting
red liquor
River Cocytus
roast chicken
rociclovir
Rokitansky's disease
sandfort
sea crawfish
sebileau's band
shearing effect
silicate binder
silverbells
Simplex stern tube stuffing box
single leaf spring
soldat
sport utilities
steady brace
stepped reflector
stratifications
systemic toxic symptoms
systemise
telarc
transilluminating
transportins
trifocal spectacle
unsuccessive
untweetable
ven? pulmonales
verge escapement
vertical mining
Winside
Yuzuruha-san