外媒看中国 动物变身南京市地震预报员

Chinese scientists are using animals to try to predict when an earthquake may strike, it's reported.

据报道，中国科学家正在尝试用动物预报地震。

Seismologists in Nanjing, the capital of eastern Jiangsu province, have set up seven observation centres at zoos and animal parks in the region, the Modern Express website reports. They'll be watching for changes in behaviour among thousands of animals, which might be a sign of an imminent tremor. An ecological park in the city's Yuhuatai district has become one of the seismic monitoring sites, with 2,000 chickens, 200 pigs and 2 sq km (0.8 sq miles) of fish ponds, the report says. Cameras have been installed around the park, and staff will report back to the seismological bureau on the animals' behaviour twice a day.

南京是中国东部的江苏省的省会，据《现代快报》报道，那里的地震学家在动物园里开设了7个观测中心。他们将对数千动物的行为进行观测，这些行为可能为即将到来的地震提供线索。记者报道，这些地震观测点之一的南京雨花台区一座生态公园里有2000只鸡、200只猪以及2平方公里的鱼塘。公园里到处都装上了摄像头，工作人员每天将向地震局汇报两次动物的行为。

易词解词

seismologist(seismo- 地震， -log=-logy …学，-ist …专家，…专业人员)

n. 地震学家，地震专家

ecological(ecolog =  ecology，eco家→栖息地→环境，-logy …学;ecology研究生物与环境关系的科学→生态;生态学，-ical与…有关的，构成以-y结尾或-logy结尾的名词相关的形容词后缀)

n. 1. 生态的;生态学的;2. 关注生态环境的;主张生态保护的

imminent(im- 在，min突出，与mountain中的mount词源上相关，-ent形容词后缀;在…突出→悬在…之上→)

a. 即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

"Animals sometimes become stressed before an earthquake," says Zhao Bing, Nanjing Seismological Bureau's chief of scientific monitoring. But the occasional bit of oddness from one chicken doesn't necessarily spell trouble, so groups of animals are being observed, "so that their behaviour can be cross-checked", he explains. A member of staff at Hongshan Forest Zoo, another monitoring site, says animals can be just as effective as specialist technology when trying to predict a quake. "Birds can become 'nervous' - if their tails are wagging like a dog's, you should pay attention," Shen Zhijun tells the paper.

南京地震局科技监测处处长赵兵说：“有时地震前动物会变得紧张。但是，一只鸡偶尔的反常不足以预报地震，因此需要对大量动物进行观测，“以便彼此应证。另一个观测站位于红山森林公园，那里的一名工作人员称，在预测地震上，动物可以和专业科技一样有效。沈志军告诉《现代快报》，“鸟类会变得紧张。如果它们的尾巴像狗一样摆动，就要加以注意了。

It has long been thought that animal behaviour could provide an early warning of seismic activity. In 2011, scientists said animals may be able to detect chemical changes in groundwater which precede a quake. Their study was prompted by a colony of toads abandoning its pond in the Italian city of L'Aquila days before it was devastated by a 6.3magnitude quake. Another study observed changes in wild animal behaviour in the three weeks before Peru's 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 2011.

很久以来，人们就认为动物的行为能够为地震提供早期预警。2011年，一些科学家称动物或许能够察觉到地震前地下水里化学物质的变化。一场6.3级的地震摧毁了意大利拉奎拉地区的一座城市，那里的一群蟾蜍在地震前离开了它们栖息的池塘。这一现象推动了这些科学家们的研究。另一项研究发现，秘鲁7级地震前三周里，野生动物的行为发生了变化。