时间:2018-12-08 作者:英语课 分类:VOA2004(下)--新闻盘点


英语课


By Jim Teeple


First there was Charley, then Frances, and now Ivan; three major hurricanes in a month that have destroyed lives, homes and property across the Caribbean and the southeastern United States.


Hurricane forecasters say people who live in the region affected 1 by hurricanes should not be surprised by the increased storm activity.


Scientists who study tropical weather patterns say beginning in 1995 air and water temperatures and circulation patterns in the Atlantic Ocean changed to become more favorable to the formation of more and much stronger storms. William Gray, an atmospheric 2 scientist at Colorado State University says this phenomenon, known as a thermohaline circulation, lasts for decades and is what determines the cycle of hurricane activity.


"When this thermohaline circulation, Atlantic Ocean circulation feature goes fast we have more major storms forming in the Atlantic," he said. "When it slows we have fewer ones. Now it was going slow the first decades of the 20th century, then it was fast from about the middle 20th century to the late 60s. From the late 60s to the middle 90s it was going very slow, with many fewer major storms. Now, since '95 this is the 10th year that we feel the thermohaline has been growing stronger and eight of these last 10 years have been very busy."


Mr. Gray, one of the world's leading hurricane researchers, says people who live in the region affected by hurricanes have actually been very lucky during the past 10 years not to have been hit by more storms. He says weather patterns this year have changed somewhat to push more storms ashore 4.


"There are probably two basic reasons; one is that we have had a very active season so far, and the second is that the steering 5 currents have been moving further west where they impact the United States and the Caribbean," he said.


William Gray also says the El Nino weather pattern that helps to move storms north into the mid 3 Atlantic was absent this year, although he says a mild El Nino pattern has begun to emerge, which should make the end of the 2004 hurricane season less active than the first half. The Hurricane season ends on November 30.


Scientists say they do not know how long the current thermohaline circulation pattern will continue, but Professor Gray says if the future is like the past, the current pattern will continue for another 20 or 30 years. He says that means not only will there be more hurricanes, but there will be more of the stronger hurricanes that cause the most destruction.


With many more people living in coastal 6 areas than there were during the last period of enhanced hurricane activity, Mr. Gray says the cost of hurricanes will be much higher.


"It is inevitable 7 that we will see damage on a scale we have never previously 8 seen, because if we are in this more active period it is not that we will have more storms than we had from the middle [19]'20s to the middle 1960s, but that there are so many more people and property in harms way, that it is inevitable that we see hurricane spawned 9 damage on a level we have never previously seen," he said.


Professor Gray says one thing that is not causing increased hurricane activity is global warming, which some scientists have pointed 10 to as a possible factor behind increased tropical storm activity.


Mr. Gray says hurricane activity follows a measurable pattern based on temperature changes and circulation patterns of air and water in the Atlantic Ocean. What is happening now, he says, is simply that pattern repeating itself, as it has done in the past, and will likely do in the future.


注释:
forecaster 预报员
property 财产
atmospheric 大气的
thermohaline [海洋]热盐的,温盐的
circulation 循环
measurable 可测量的



1 affected
adj.不自然的,假装的
  • 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。
2 atmospheric
adj.大气的,空气的;大气层的;大气所引起的
  • 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。
3 mid
adj.中央的,中间的
  • Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
  • He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。
4 ashore
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸
  • 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。
5 steering
n.操舵装置
  • He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
  • Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵,口吻也马上变得温和了。
6 coastal
adj.海岸的,沿海的,沿岸的
  • 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。
7 inevitable
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的
  • Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
  • The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。
8 previously
adv.以前,先前(地)
  • The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
  • Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿,解释原先发生了什么。
9 spawned
(鱼、蛙等)大量产(卵)( spawn的过去式和过去分词 ); 大量生产
  • The band's album spawned a string of hit singles. 这支乐队的专辑繁衍出一连串走红的单曲唱片。
  • The computer industry has spawned a lot of new companies. 由于电脑工业的发展,许多新公司纷纷成立。
10 pointed
adj.尖的,直截了当的
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
学英语单词
a catch to
acronicta gigasa
agent-relativity
agroindustry
Aschoff's node
barney
belly shaping press
boues
breathing action
bushing casing spider
capital stock account
Capobenate
cheyenne r.
Chiquintirca
clearance agent
combinant (lenz 1938)
compression indicator
creation set
daker-hen
debit clearing
drive - in restaurant
economic research method
Espiye
Eustrophin
every soul is a circus
extra-bed factor
fast copy data set program
geological circle
get on the nosebag
glossogobius circumspectus
graphis scripta(l.)ach.
Hasner's valves
Helixanthera
highlandss
hydrophilic gel
intracuti-reaction
isopropyl benzene oxidation unit
jetfighter
jila
justifiable digit time slot
krishnanagar (krishnagar)
labor across
lathe head stock
long period seismograph
loudspeaker efficiency
lubricative quality
mariner's needle
motion economy principle
much-publicized
musselshell
net name
nitrate nitrogen fertilizer
norba
ochracea
oilmen
p-adic rational invariant
parameter negotiation
Peillon
penujak
plastic flow
principal angle of incidence
productive system
prospect drilling
pyro conversion
qualis ab incepto
radio frequency head
reactionisms
receive clock
REGEDIT.EXE
relative peremability
road-trip
round bottom
round concrete bar
rykiel
Saint With's dance
Saussurea columnaris
Saussurea lingulata
schorl-rock
screw and double nut
selective removal method
series excitation coil
sick berth attendant
similar word
soft bearing balancing machine
stoichiometric excess
strong water
sub-teams
substantial convergence
synthesizing tower
tape-slides
telescopic type soaking pit crane
The devil take the hindmost.
thread fungus
to appear
tumo(u)r surgery
upper tray
upper-floor
value improvement
vertical polarization
victim-blamed
von neumann's ratio
xanthocyte