地震科学已是摇摇欲坠?

短语讲解：

1. But even when there's reason to think an earthquake could be around the corner, scientists still can't make good predictions.

around the corner在拐角处；即将到来
例句：Spring is just around the corner.
春天快到了。

2. It’s been 200 years since big earthquakes rocked the New Madrid Seismic Zone, a fault system that runs down the central U.S. through parts of Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee.

run down撞倒, 撞沉; 停止走动, 用完
例句：It was so foggy that the steamship almost ran down a small boat leaving the port.
雾很大, 汽艇差点把一只正在离港的小船撞沉。

3. And it came up to the surface beneath the river and actually created a stair step in the river bottom, to where it set up waves that went coursing back upstream.

set up引起, 产生
例句：The crowd set up a shout as the winner neared the post.
优胜者接近终点时, 人群中发出一片喊叫声。

4. According to Hough, much of what we know about those early quakes comes from first-hand accounts, like this one written by future United States president Zachary Taylor, who felt the shaking 370 kilometers away in Louisville, Kentucky.

come from来自某处, 源自
例句：Knowledge comes from practice.
知识来自于实践。

5. “Now, normally the way earthquakes work is that you store up energy, the ground deforms before a big earthquake - kind of like stretching a spring - and then it snaps, and you have an earthquake,” Stein says.

store up 储存; 积攒
例句：He has been storing up food for the winter.
他一直在储藏过冬食品。

6. That warping of the ground has been measured in California, Alaska, Oregon, and Washington - along every U.S. fault where we think a big earthquake is on the way.

on the way在途中,接近
例句：Winter is on the way.
冬天就要来到了

7. Stein says part of the explanation could be that seismic zones in the middle of a continent seem to behave differently from those in places like California, where the huge plates that make up the earth’s surface thrust up against each other.

make up组成, 构成
例句：How many countries make up the Common Market?
(欧洲)共同市场由多少国家组成?

8. “Faults in the middle of the continents will be active for short periods of time geologically, maybe a few thousand years, and then they’ll turn off and be inactive for times, and then start up again," he says.

turn off 变成某种状态
例句：The weather turned off warm.
天气变热了。
start up (使)开始运转
例句：She started the car up.
她发动了汽车。

9. “There’s been some great science done, with geologists digging into these 1811, 1812 sand blows, and then, lo and behold, discovering evidence for older sand blows caused by earthquakes of about the same magnitude as the 1811, 1812 sequence,” Williams says.

dig into调查, 刻苦钻研
例句：The detectives are digging into this whole business.
侦探们彻底地调查了整个事件。

10. “We can’t predict earthquakes. So the geologic record is really the strongest piece of evidence we have to remain concerned about earthquakes there in the New Madrid region.”

concern about使(自己)关心…
例句：There is no need for you to concern yourself about where I was last night.
你没必要关心我昨晚在哪儿。