专家警告：美国加州可能发生下一次地震！

The U.S. West Coast could be the next area shaken by a big earthquake, experts warned today.
专家警告称：美国西海岸可能成为下一次大地震的发生地。

The earthquakes last Friday in Japan, last month in New Zealand and last year in Chile all happened along the ‘Ring of Fire’ that encircles much of the Pacific Ocean. Scientists believe the West Coast could be hit as part of a cluster of earthquakes, with a Pacific Northwest fault having similar characteristics to the one underneath Japan. Experts can't be certain where or when the next earthquake will be but the West Coast risk has increased because it is in the same volatile geological system.
上周五的日本地震、上个月的新西兰地震以及去年的智利地震统统都发生在环太平洋地区，也就是所谓的“火焰圈”上。科学家相信美国西海岸有可能成为系列地震的其中之一，特别是由于太平洋东北部分和日本有着类似的地质断层结构。专家并不能确定下次地震将在何时、何地发生，但西海岸地区由于相同的地理构造、发生地震的风险增高。

‘The Pacific Northwest - what we call the Cascadia Subduction Zone - has the same kind of characteristics as the fault beneath Japan,’ seismologist James Gaherty told CBS. ‘We're worried about a large subduction zone similar to Japan,’ Mr Gaherty, of the Lamont Research Center at Columbia University, told CBS.
哥伦比亚大学雷蒙德研究中心的地震学家James Gaherty告诉CBS记者说：“太平洋的东北部地区被我们称为‘卡迪亚断层带’。此处的断层结构与日本地表下的断层是同一种。我们担心这里的缓冲带和日本也非常类似。”

The Ring of Fire is a chain of large faults associated with the Pacific plate’s interaction with surrounding plates, which can produce earthquakes and volcanoes.
所谓的“火焰圈”是一个大型地质断层，形成于太平洋板块和其他版块交界处，由于地质活动频繁，常导致地震和火山。

‘If you think of the Pacific plate as a square, we have had a major earthquake in the Northwestern side of that square (in Japan),’ author Simon Winchester told MSNBC. ‘On February 22 we had Christchurch in New Zealand in the Southwest of the square. Last year we had a major earthquake in Chile in the Southeast of that square.
作者Simon Winchester告诉MSNBC记者称：“如果你把整个太平洋板块看作是一个方框，那么主要的地震都集中在西北部分，也就是日本。2月22日，方框西南部分的新西兰基督城发生地震，而去年，方框东南的智利也发生了地震。”

‘The fourth leg of the square, the fourth side, is where the San Andreas and the Cascadia forms. That hasn't ruptured - if either (does) there could be major problems.’
“方框的第四个角，也就是圣安德列斯和卡迪亚断层带的所在处。目前它们还没有断裂。但它们一旦断裂，则有可能造成巨大的问题。”

The last time California’s San Andreas Fault ruptured was in 1906, when the area of San Francisco was devastated by an earthquake and fires. ‘California has significant risk - the San Andreas Fault,' he said. '(But) California, we're not going to get a big tsunami producing event. Pacific Northwest, we might.’
上一次加州该地区发生地震是在1906年，整个旧金山被地震和火焰夷为平地。Simon Winchester说：“加州的风险很高，就处在圣安德列斯断层上。不过在加州即便地震后也不太可能发生海啸，不过在太平洋西北方（也就是日本）就不一样了。”