《经济学人》双语：土耳其大地震与地壳运动

原文标题：
Seismology
Stuck in the middle
Turkey sits at the crossroads of tectonic plates as well as civilisations
地震学
夹在中间
土耳其位于地壳板块交界处，也处在文明的十字路口

The recent quake was the first magnitude-seven event on the East Anatolian fault in modern times
最近大地震是现代东安那托利亚断层发生的第一次7级大地震

[Paragraph 1]
THE EARTHQUAKES that ripped across southern Turkey and northern Syria in the small hours of February 6th were among the most devastating of this century.
2月6凌晨土耳其南部和叙利亚北部发生了大地震，这是本世纪最具破坏性的地震之一。

Within three days of the disaster, the reported death toll surpassed 10,000.
据报道地震发生后3天内，死亡人数超过了1万人。

This horrifying impact stems largely from shoddy construction practices and from the timing of the quake, which occurred while people were sleeping.
破坏力之大很大程度上是因为建筑缺陷和地震发生的时间。地震发生时，人们正在睡觉。

But any seismic event this powerful—the biggest quakes were of magnitude 7.8 and 7.5—would inflict grave damage.
但是，任何7.8级和7.5级这样强震都会造成严重破坏。

Worldwide, only around 15 earthquakes of magnitude seven or greater happen each year.
在世界范围内，每年只发生了15次左右的7级及以上地震。

[Paragraph 2]

Although Turkey is far from the Pacific “ring of fire” that generates most of the world’s strongest earthquakes, its neighbourhood is unusually seismically active.

虽然土耳其远离太平洋“火环”带（世界上最强烈的地震都发生在太平洋“火环”带），但土耳其周边地区的地震带也异常活跃。

Quakes tend to occur along the boundaries between tectonic plates, the segments of Earth’s crust that get moved around by convection currents in the hot mantle below.

地震往往发生在地壳板块之间的边界地带。地壳板块通过地壳下方的地幔热对流而移动。

Along the fault lines that separate plates, crustal rocks move slowly past each other, often sticking and jamming. This causes strain to accumulate until the fault slips, causing an earthquake.
地壳岩石沿着断层线（板块的分割线）彼此缓慢移动，经常发生粘连和堵塞。这使得岩层承受的压力慢慢累积，最终断层滑动断裂，引发地震。

[Paragraph 3]
The eastern Mediterranean has a particularly complex tectonic structure involving several “microplates”, including the Anatolian plate, on which most of Turkey sits.
东地中海的板块结构特别复杂，涉及几个“微板块”，包括土耳其大部分地区所在的安纳托利亚微板块。

A mere 100m years ago, this plate comprised part of the southern shore of a sea called Tethys, which separated Africa from Eurasia.
不过在1亿年前，这块板块就构成了特提斯海（古地中海）南海岸的一部分。特提斯海将非洲大陆与欧亚大陆隔开。

As this body of water closed up, leaving the Aral, Black, Caspian and Mediterranean seas as its only remnants, the Anatolian plate drifted north.
由于这片水域关闭，只留下咸海、黑海、里海和地中海的残留海域，安纳托利亚板块向北漂移。

It then got squeezed between four others, including the Arabian plate to the south-east (which is migrating north) and the Eurasian plate to the north (which is moving south).
然后，安纳托利亚板块在4个板块中被挤压，包括东南部的阿拉伯板块（向北移动）和北部的欧亚板块（向南移动）。

Both of these plates are still pushing into their small Anatolian neighbour today.
这两板块如今也仍在挤压隔壁的安纳托利亚微板块。

[Paragraph 4]

In the wake of a catastrophic earthquake near Istanbul in 1999, Turkish leaders vowed to improve seismic preparedness.

1999年伊斯坦布尔附近发生了灾难性大地震，土耳其领导人随即发誓要加强防震减灾的准备措施。

That tremor originated in the North Anatolian fault, the Anatolian plate’s boundary with the Eurasian plate, which has been the source of most of Turkey’s large quakes.

那次地震的震中位于北安纳托利亚断层（安纳托利亚板块与欧亚板块的边界带）这是土耳其大型地震的频发地带。

In contrast, the East Anatolian fault, where it rubs up against the Arabian plate, had not seen a quake of at least magnitude seven since modern monitoring systems began in the late 19th century.
相比之下，自19世纪末现代监测系统开始以来，与阿拉伯板块相邻的东安纳托利亚断层从未发生过7级以上的大地震。

[Paragraph 5]
Many other active fault systems, such as the Cascadia subduction zone in the north-western United States and south-western Canada, have gone centuries without an earthquake.

许多其他断层带，如美国西北部与加拿大西南部之间的卡斯卡迪亚俯冲带，几百年来都没有发生过地震。

Such relative quiet does not necessarily indicate low seismic risk.

相对不活跃地带并不一定意味着地震风险低。

Strain along the East Anatolian fault had been building up year after year, making the fault ripe for a cataclysm.
东安纳托利亚断层承受的压力一年年加剧，直到大灾难的爆发。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量465左右）
原文出自：2023年2月11日《The Economist》Graphic detail版块。

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene

本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
土耳其位于欧亚板块、安纳托利亚板块、阿拉伯板块和非洲板块四个板块的交汇处，因此地震频发。

高压藏地震成因理论:地球内部特别是在地壳，由于断裂作用、褶皱作用、沉积作用、溶岩作用等可以形成许多地质空间。地球内部的高压熔融体和气液体顺着断裂或其他通道就会进入地质空间形成高压藏，在高压作用下，空间隔层或空间围岩就会发生弹起和撞击作用，形成内力地震。断层线在地震之前就存在，是断层沿线的压力导致了地震。岩层承受的压力慢慢累积，最终断裂，于是就会发生地震。

特提斯海（Tethys）是位于北方劳亚古陆和南方冈瓦纳古陆间长期存在的古海洋  。1893 年奥地利地质学家E.修斯创用特提斯一词，其源于古希腊神话中河海之神妻子的名字。由于类似其残存的现代欧洲与非洲间的地中海，故又称古地中海。现代地中海是特提斯海的残留海域。

1999年8月17日凌晨，土耳其中部和西部地区发生里氏7.4级强烈地震。11月12日晚，土西部地区又发生里氏7. 2级强烈地震。两次大地震造成重大人员伤亡和财产损失，共有1.8万人丧生，4.3万多人伤残，60万人无家可归，经济损失达200亿美元。震后共发生33次4级以上余震，最大5．3级。

卡斯卡迪亚俯冲带（CSZ）是一个约1100公里的太平洋断层，大致从南加利福尼亚州的门多西诺角开始，到加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省的温哥华岛北部。

【重点句子】（3 个）
This horrifying impact stems largely from shoddy construction practices and from the timing of the quake, which occurred while people were sleeping.
破坏力之大很大程度上是因为建筑缺陷和地震发生的时间。地震发生时，人们正在睡觉。

Along the fault lines that separate plates, crustal rocks move slowly past each other, often sticking and jamming. This causes strain to accumulate until the fault slips, causing an earthquake.
地壳岩石沿着断层线（板块的分割线）彼此缓慢移动，经常发生粘连和堵塞。这使得岩层承受的压力慢慢累积，最终断层滑动断裂，引发地震。

Such relative quiet does not necessarily indicate low seismic risk.
相对不活跃地带并不一定意味着地震风险低。