冰岛火山喷发 被困游客免费泡温泉

With its geothermal assets put in the spotlight by the volcano ash that has grounded much of Europe's air traffic, Iceland on Saturday urged visitors stranded there to take a free dip in its thermal pools.

"We have bubbling hot waters, spas, saunas and heated water pools to swim in," Svanhildur Konradsdottir, chairwoman of the Icelandic Tourist Council, said.

The tourist body said it had offered all stranded visitors free access to the capital Reykjavik's eight pools, which have temperatures ranging from 29 to 42 C (84 to 108 degrees Farenheit). Konradsdottir said the uptake had been tremendous.

"There are loads of people out and about, the response has been incredible," she told the reporters, adding that despite the volcano spewing soot into the atmosphere, the skies were sunny and blue over the city.

The eruption is taking place under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, normally a popular hiking ground about 120 km (75 miles) southeast of the capital.

A cloud of ash from the volcano has drifted southeast across Europe, grounding thousands of flights and stranding passengers worldwide.

Flights are operating on regular schedules between Iceland and the United States but service from the island nation to other destinations is limited by the airport shutdowns caused by the ash plume.

冰岛火山喷发形成的大量火山灰致使欧洲大量航班停飞，而该国的地热资源也因此成为人们关注的焦点。冰岛有关部门于上周六表示，被困在冰岛境内的游客可前往该国的温泉池免费泡温泉。

冰岛旅游局主席斯万赫德．康拉德斯图蒂尔女士说：“我们有泡泡温泉、水疗、桑拿和温水泳池。”

据冰岛旅游局介绍称，首都雷克雅未克的8个温泉池都免费向被困游客开放，这些温泉池的水温在摄氏29度至42度之间（华氏84度至108度之间）。康拉德斯图蒂尔称，该消息发布后，吸引了大量游客前来泡温泉。

她在接受记者采访时说：“很多游客前往温泉池泡温泉，反响十分热烈。”她说，尽管火山持续喷出烟灰，但首都的天空依然晴朗湛蓝。

目前，艾雅法拉冰原下的一座火山仍在喷发，这里位于首都东南部约120公里（75英里）处，平常是一处颇受欢迎的徒步旅行地。

火山灰云已向东南方向漂移，遍布整个欧洲，已造成全球数千架航班停飞，大量旅客滞留。

冰岛至美国的航班仍照常飞行，但由于火山灰尘导致机场关闭，该岛国至其它目的地的航空服务受到了限制。

Vocabulary:

geothermal：of or pertaining to the internal heat of the earth（地热的）

ground：to restrict (an aircraft or the like) to the ground because of bad weather, the unsatisfactory condition of the aircraft, etc.使停飞，阻止……起飞）

uptake: 摄入；摄取

out and about：进行户外活动，遍游某地

hiking：a long walk or march（徒步旅行）