Modelling tsunamis

　　模擬海嘯

　　The dangers of insularity

　　島國的危險(xiǎn)

　　Islands may amplify the biggest waves, not breakthem

　　島嶼可能會增強(qiáng)海嘯，而不會減弱海嘯

　　SURFERS shun beaches shielded by islands off the coast.

　　沖浪者不會去海中的島嶼的沙灘上去沖浪。

　　That, as generations of swarthy, golden-haired hulks will tell you, is because such islandscreate a natural breakwater.

　　一代又一代的金發(fā)膚色黝黑的沖浪者會告訴你，那是因?yàn)檫@類小島形成天然的防波堤。

　　Thisdampens waves and makes for a boringly calm surf best left to sunbathers.

　　這類島嶼的沙灘海浪較小，海面很平靜，最適合曬日光浴的人了。

　　The surfers reasoning is sound for the short-wave, wind-generated swells that they ride.

　　較短、由風(fēng)產(chǎn)生浪比較適合沖浪，對于這種浪來說，這種解釋很合理。

　　But Themistoklis Stefanakis, of the Ecole Normale Superieure in Cachan, France, warns itmay not be true for the longer wavelengths of tsunamis.

　　但是，來自法國卡尚高等師范學(xué)校Themistoklis Stefanakis警告說，對于波浪較長的海嘯來說，就不一樣了。

　　As he and his colleagues show in a paper posted on arXiv, an online repository, littoral islandsmay actually exacerbate, rather than diminish, the effects of these waves.

　　如Themistoklis Stefanakis跟他的同事在線數(shù)據(jù)庫arXiv發(fā)表的文章中所描述的的那樣：實(shí)際上沿海的島嶼可能會增強(qiáng)長波浪的強(qiáng)度，而不是減弱。

　　Anecdotal evidence for this counterintuitive assertion comes from episodes where thesame tsunami has battered different types of coastal topography.

　　這種違反直覺的判斷的軼事證據(jù)來自很少見的現(xiàn)象同一海嘯會造成不同的海岸地貌。

　　In 2010, for instance, when one hit the Mentawai islands in Indonesia, areas of coastlinedirectly behind islets bore the brunt of the damage, according to Costas Synolakis, atsunami expert at the University of Southern California who is one of the studys co-authors.

　　例如，2010年印度尼西亞明達(dá)威島遭遇的海嘯，明達(dá)威島后的海岸區(qū)域的破壞的最為嚴(yán)重，南加州大學(xué)的海嘯專家Costas Synolakis這樣說道，他是這篇文章的作者之一。

　　Dr Synolakis, Mr Stefanakis and their colleagues decided to try to put numbers on theirhunch.

　　博士Synolakis Mr Stefanakis及他們的同事，決定驗(yàn)證這個(gè)設(shè)想。

　　Rather than valiantly staking out seafront locales, though, they tested the idea with acomputer model.

　　他們想到用電腦模擬的方法來實(shí)驗(yàn)，而不是在海岸實(shí)驗(yàn)。

　　This is harder than it sounds.

　　實(shí)際做起來要比聽起來難很多。

　　Simulating the way waves behave as they make landfall means taking account of, literally,oceans of data.

　　要模擬當(dāng)海浪到大陸地時(shí)海浪的運(yùn)動就意味著要嚴(yán)格地考慮到海洋的信息。

　　To simplify the problem, the researchers looked at what happens when a computerisedwave encounters a cone-shaped island on a smoothly sloping seabed in front of a straightcyber-coastline with a beach that continues to rise smoothly as it progresses inland.

　　為了簡化問題，在帶有海灘的筆直虛擬海岸線可平滑上升的情況下，研究人員觀察當(dāng)模擬的的海浪在平滑的斜海床上與錐形島嶼相遇時(shí)，會發(fā)生什么。

　　These approximations allow a computer to cope with the problem, yet are sufficiently similarto many real places for the conclusions drawn from them to, as it were, hold water.

　　電腦在處理這類問題時(shí)，這種近似可以忽略，然而這跟之前認(rèn)為得減弱海浪的結(jié)論已經(jīng)很相似了.

　　The team made their virtual islet jut out of the ocean to an altitude of 100 metres, a typicalheight above sea level for such outcrops.

　　研究組將模擬的島嶼拉高到海平面100米的位置,許多島嶼超出海平面也就是100米。

　　They then looked at 200 combinations of gradients for the sides of the island, the seabed andthe beach; the distance between the island and the beach; and the wavelength of theencroaching tsunami.

　　他們將島嶼、海床、沙灘的外圍的傾斜度，島嶼和沙灘的距離，海嘯的波長做了200種組合來實(shí)驗(yàn)觀察。

　　In none of these did an island offer any succour to the coastline behind it. Instead, it actedas a lens, focusing the waves destructive power and amplifying its size by between 5% and70%.

　　沒有一類能有助于減弱海嘯。實(shí)際上，它好比一個(gè)透鏡，將海浪的破壞力聚集起來，并且擴(kuò)大5%-70%。

　　The upshot is that, far from shielding a coastline, offshore islands can make thingsworseinformation that should be incorporated into tsunami evacuation plans.

　　結(jié)果是。沿海的島嶼不會保護(hù)海岸區(qū)域不受破壞，反而會讓其更糟。這在海嘯救援中應(yīng)當(dāng)將其考慮在內(nèi)。

　　For if a big wave is coming, running from it is not enough. You also have to know how far torun before it is safe to stop.

　　如果海嘯來臨，跑是不夠的。還應(yīng)該知道跑多遠(yuǎn)才是安全的。

　　詞語解釋

　　1.make for 走向;前往;沖向

　　That could make for a fractious party.

　　這將會導(dǎo)致一個(gè)乖張固執(zhí)的政黨。

　　U. s. politics and volatile financial markets makefor strange times for the yuan.

　　美國的政治局勢和動蕩的金融市場使人民幣的日子有些不好過。

　　2.rather than 而不，與其倒不如

　　His film is propaganda rather than documentary.

　　說他的影片是政治宣傳而不是紀(jì)錄片。

　　He is an explorer rather than a sailor.

　　與其說他是一個(gè)海員，不如說他是一個(gè)探險(xiǎn)者。

　　3.come from 來自某處;出生于

　　Where does the study come from?

　　這項(xiàng)研究來自什么地方?

　　The findings come from a report compiled by 700 experts over five years.

　　上述發(fā)現(xiàn)出自于一份由700位專家歷時(shí)5年編寫的報(bào)告。

　　4.according to 根據(jù)，按照;據(jù)所說

　　Again this is according to recently declassified information.

　　這也還是根據(jù)最近解密的信息得知的。

　　It did not go according to plan.

　　這個(gè)妥協(xié)方案并沒有按計(jì)劃執(zhí)行。

　　Modelling tsunamis

　　模擬海嘯

　　The dangers of insularity

　　島國的危險(xiǎn)

　　Islands may amplify the biggest waves, not breakthem

　　島嶼可能會增強(qiáng)海嘯，而不會減弱海嘯

　　SURFERS shun beaches shielded by islands off the coast.

　　沖浪者不會去海中的島嶼的沙灘上去沖浪。

　　That, as generations of swarthy, golden-haired hulks will tell you, is because such islandscreate a natural breakwater.

　　一代又一代的金發(fā)膚色黝黑的沖浪者會告訴你，那是因?yàn)檫@類小島形成天然的防波堤。

　　Thisdampens waves and makes for a boringly calm surf best left to sunbathers.

　　這類島嶼的沙灘海浪較小，海面很平靜，最適合曬日光浴的人了。

　　The surfers reasoning is sound for the short-wave, wind-generated swells that they ride.

　　較短、由風(fēng)產(chǎn)生浪比較適合沖浪，對于這種浪來說，這種解釋很合理。

　　But Themistoklis Stefanakis, of the Ecole Normale Superieure in Cachan, France, warns itmay not be true for the longer wavelengths of tsunamis.

　　但是，來自法國卡尚高等師范學(xué)校Themistoklis Stefanakis警告說，對于波浪較長的海嘯來說，就不一樣了。

　　As he and his colleagues show in a paper posted on arXiv, an online repository, littoral islandsmay actually exacerbate, rather than diminish, the effects of these waves.

　　如Themistoklis Stefanakis跟他的同事在線數(shù)據(jù)庫arXiv發(fā)表的文章中所描述的的那樣：實(shí)際上沿海的島嶼可能會增強(qiáng)長波浪的強(qiáng)度，而不是減弱。

　　Anecdotal evidence for this counterintuitive assertion comes from episodes where thesame tsunami has battered different types of coastal topography.

　　這種違反直覺的判斷的軼事證據(jù)來自很少見的現(xiàn)象同一海嘯會造成不同的海岸地貌。

　　In 2010, for instance, when one hit the Mentawai islands in Indonesia, areas of coastlinedirectly behind islets bore the brunt of the damage, according to Costas Synolakis, atsunami expert at the University of Southern California who is one of the studys co-authors.

　　例如，2010年印度尼西亞明達(dá)威島遭遇的海嘯，明達(dá)威島后的海岸區(qū)域的破壞的最為嚴(yán)重，南加州大學(xué)的海嘯專家Costas Synolakis這樣說道，他是這篇文章的作者之一。

　　Dr Synolakis, Mr Stefanakis and their colleagues decided to try to put numbers on theirhunch.

　　博士Synolakis Mr Stefanakis及他們的同事，決定驗(yàn)證這個(gè)設(shè)想。

　　Rather than valiantly staking out seafront locales, though, they tested the idea with acomputer model.

　　他們想到用電腦模擬的方法來實(shí)驗(yàn)，而不是在海岸實(shí)驗(yàn)。

　　This is harder than it sounds.

　　實(shí)際做起來要比聽起來難很多。

　　Simulating the way waves behave as they make landfall means taking account of, literally,oceans of data.

　　要模擬當(dāng)海浪到大陸地時(shí)海浪的運(yùn)動就意味著要嚴(yán)格地考慮到海洋的信息。

　　To simplify the problem, the researchers looked at what happens when a computerisedwave encounters a cone-shaped island on a smoothly sloping seabed in front of a straightcyber-coastline with a beach that continues to rise smoothly as it progresses inland.

　　為了簡化問題，在帶有海灘的筆直虛擬海岸線可平滑上升的情況下，研究人員觀察當(dāng)模擬的的海浪在平滑的斜海床上與錐形島嶼相遇時(shí)，會發(fā)生什么。

　　These approximations allow a computer to cope with the problem, yet are sufficiently similarto many real places for the conclusions drawn from them to, as it were, hold water.

　　電腦在處理這類問題時(shí)，這種近似可以忽略，然而這跟之前認(rèn)為得減弱海浪的結(jié)論已經(jīng)很相似了.

　　The team made their virtual islet jut out of the ocean to an altitude of 100 metres, a typicalheight above sea level for such outcrops.

　　研究組將模擬的島嶼拉高到海平面100米的位置,許多島嶼超出海平面也就是100米。

　　They then looked at 200 combinations of gradients for the sides of the island, the seabed andthe beach; the distance between the island and the beach; and the wavelength of theencroaching tsunami.

　　他們將島嶼、海床、沙灘的外圍的傾斜度，島嶼和沙灘的距離，海嘯的波長做了200種組合來實(shí)驗(yàn)觀察。

　　In none of these did an island offer any succour to the coastline behind it. Instead, it actedas a lens, focusing the waves destructive power and amplifying its size by between 5% and70%.

　　沒有一類能有助于減弱海嘯。實(shí)際上，它好比一個(gè)透鏡，將海浪的破壞力聚集起來，并且擴(kuò)大5%-70%。

　　The upshot is that, far from shielding a coastline, offshore islands can make thingsworseinformation that should be incorporated into tsunami evacuation plans.

　　結(jié)果是。沿海的島嶼不會保護(hù)海岸區(qū)域不受破壞，反而會讓其更糟。這在海嘯救援中應(yīng)當(dāng)將其考慮在內(nèi)。

　　For if a big wave is coming, running from it is not enough. You also have to know how far torun before it is safe to stop.

　　如果海嘯來臨，跑是不夠的。還應(yīng)該知道跑多遠(yuǎn)才是安全的。

　　詞語解釋

　　1.make for 走向;前往;沖向

　　That could make for a fractious party.

　　這將會導(dǎo)致一個(gè)乖張固執(zhí)的政黨。

　　U. s. politics and volatile financial markets makefor strange times for the yuan.

　　美國的政治局勢和動蕩的金融市場使人民幣的日子有些不好過。

　　2.rather than 而不，與其倒不如

　　His film is propaganda rather than documentary.

　　說他的影片是政治宣傳而不是紀(jì)錄片。

　　He is an explorer rather than a sailor.

　　與其說他是一個(gè)海員，不如說他是一個(gè)探險(xiǎn)者。

　　3.come from 來自某處;出生于

　　Where does the study come from?

　　這項(xiàng)研究來自什么地方?

　　The findings come from a report compiled by 700 experts over five years.

　　上述發(fā)現(xiàn)出自于一份由700位專家歷時(shí)5年編寫的報(bào)告。

　　4.according to 根據(jù)，按照;據(jù)所說

　　Again this is according to recently declassified information.

　　這也還是根據(jù)最近解密的信息得知的。

　　It did not go according to plan.

　　這個(gè)妥協(xié)方案并沒有按計(jì)劃執(zhí)行。