保罗·汤普森 南希·斯坦贝克
1980年5月18日，这个美丽的星期天早晨，在华盛顿州艾伦士博小镇上，15岁的司各特·约翰逊正在他家附近看书。他12岁的妹妹莱斯莉在玩篮球。
当司各特读书时，他抬头看见西边天空远远地有一大片黑云。可能要下雨了，他想。不久，他听到了好像大炮的声响。这声响似乎渐渐变得越来越大。他再次抬起头。这回，他看见一大片云正迅速穿过天空。
两个孩子看着天变黑。云开始挡住阳光。司各特再次看起书。他注意到书上有某种奇怪的东西。看起来很像细小的灰尘。多么不可思议，他想。天在下灰尘！
司各特和莱斯莉跑进屋，告诉父母他们所见之事。他们打开电视，看到了圣海伦斯山爆发的最早的报道。开始覆盖天空的云是火山灰，是从三百多公里远的火山迅速来到艾伦士博镇的。
现在云几乎覆盖了天空。司各特看着最后一小块蓝天慢慢消失。片刻，天像夜晚一样黑。空气中有股刺鼻的化学品味道。
灰末非常迅速地、大量地落下。司各特、莱斯莉和他们的父母继续看电视报道。专家们说他们不知道将会发生什么。
司各特再次向屋外看去。灰末现在覆盖了地面。这是一段可怕的经历。他想：“灰末会不会把我们埋葬？”
当地时间早8：32，落在约翰逊兄妹身上的灰末开始飞过天空。华盛顿州美丽的圣海伦斯山已经爆发了。这次爆发约比第一批原子弹的爆炸力强350倍。
火焰、岩石和火山气体以每小时480公里的威力从火山飞出。一团火山灰在不到15分钟的时间里直冲到2万多米的高空。在以后15天里，火山灰在大气上层环绕地球了一周。
这次爆发引起了有史以来最大的一次山体滑坡。400多米高的山顶消失了。火山附近的人当场死亡。成千上万的走兽、飞鸟和鱼也都死了。
片刻时间里，35000公顷的森林木材被毁。热辐射如此强烈，它杀死了附近地区所有的生物，甚至是细菌。
美国华盛顿州的印第安原住民仍用印第安名字称呼圣海伦斯山：路维特（LOOWIT），意思是“火夫人”。1980年5月18日早晨，这座山再次变成了一位“火夫人”。
此前，这座火山已经发出了3个月的“警报”。这些警报就是许多次的小型地震。
在3月27日，一次小规模爆发崩掉了山顶上的冰雪。蒸汽从火山顶喷出。
到5月17日，已经测出了1万多次地震。这些地震使山的北面延伸出140多米。火山专家们称这是证明炽热岩浆已在火山内部上升到很高的有力证据。这是在大爆发的前一天。
几周前，政府官员已经发布了紧急情况。他们禁止人们进入圣海伦斯山地区。在山附近旅行需要特殊许可。官员们还强制附近居民离开他们的家。许多人愤怒了，要求允许回家。
一些人违反政府法令，去到圣海伦斯山地区。他们不认为火山真的很危险。在山附近种树的工人拿到了允许他们继续工作的文件。科学家们也在山上研究着火山。
当火山爆发时，这些人中有许多人丧生。57人死亡是这次爆发的结果。
火山爆发长达8小时之久。随后爆发的威力慢慢减弱。但是圣海伦斯山没有停息。在1980年夏秋，连续发生了5次较小规模的爆发。每一次爆发都产生灰末，上升到天空12至14千米。
在此后的25年里，有过数次关于这座山的小规模爆发、地震和其它火山事件的报道。最近的一次始于去年10月。但是没有一次事件比得上5月18日的爆发，虽然如此，专家们仍称在未来圣海伦斯山会再次爆发。
美国国会于1982年创建了圣海伦斯山纪念馆。该馆位于圣海伦斯山地区，占地总面积44500公顷。包括了圣海伦斯山和周边很多地区。
美国森林署管理该地区。但控制该地区的却是大自然。树林、走兽、鱼、花和植物都处在自然恢复过程中。不允许人类提供帮助。
几乎被完全摧毁的圣海伦斯山周围未开垦的地区正在由大自然重建。许多科学家一直研究着在这个天然实验室里所发生的事情。他们发现大自然能非常迅速地治愈由大爆发造成的损伤。
自圣海伦斯山25年前爆发以来，科学家们已经了解了许多有关火山活动的情况。从1980年到1986年，在这座火山上观测到20多次较小规模的爆发。科学家们也一直在观注着那里近期的活动。
他们了解到的情况之一是，火山能够没有任何前兆地连续爆发。同时，他们还了解到，火山活动能够持续几年而不发生爆发。
美国地质勘测署负责发布火山爆发的警告。它管理5个由政府机构和大学提供帮助的火山观测中心。
上月下旬，地质勘测署的科学家发表了一篇关于国内169座活火山的报告。该报告对美国最危险的火山做了评估。它也讨论了当前对预测未来火山活动所用方法的一些问题。
科学家们提出一项改善火山观测的计划，以便提供有关火山活动的更准确的信息。他们说，当火山活动不会导致爆发时，该机制能帮助防止采取不必要的、昂贵的安全措施。他们还说，该机制也会向飞机发出大气中可能存在危险灰末的警告。过去，火山灰已对飞机和其他航空器造成了上百万美元的损失。
前面，我们已经提到25年前司各特·约翰逊曾担心他们家可能被圣海伦斯山的灰末覆盖。这件事没有发生，尽管镇上一些地区灰末很深。不得不把灰末从街上和房顶上清除。有几天，几乎不能出门。
今天，司各特·约翰逊已成为华盛顿州西雅图市的一名工程师。莱斯莉·约翰逊则做了俄勒冈州波特兰市的一名内科医生。他们两人都说，圣海伦斯山的爆发是他们永远不会忘记的一段经历。
附原文
Learning From a Volcano, 25 Years After Mount St. Helen’s Exploded
by Paul Thompson and Nancy Steinbach
May eighteenth, nineteen eighty, was a beautiful Sunday morning in the small town of Ellensburg, Washington. Fifteen-year-old Scott Johnson was reading a book near his home. His twelve-year-old sister Leslie was playing with a basketball.
As Scott read, he looked up to see a huge, black cloud far away to the west. It might rain, he thought. Soon, he heard what sounded like a big gun. The sound seemed to grow louder. He looked up again. This time, he saw a huge cloud moving quickly across the sky.
The two children watched as the sky grew darker. The cloud began to block light from the sun. Scott again looked at his book. He noticed something unusual on the book. It looked like very fine dust. How strange, he thought. It is raining dust!
Scott and Leslie ran into the house and told their parents about what they saw. They turned on the television. They saw the first reports about the explosion of Mount Saint Helen's. The cloud beginning to cover the sky was ash from the volcano. It had quickly reached Ellensburg from the volcano more than three hundred kilometers away.
The cloud had now almost covered the sky. Scott watched the last small part of blue sky slowly disappear. Within moments, it was as black as night. A strong chemical smell was in the air.
Ash fell very quickly and in huge amounts. Scott, Leslie and their parents continued to watch television reports. Experts said they did not know what would happen.
Scott looked outside the house again. The ash now covered the ground. It was a frightening experience. He wondered, “Will the ash bury us?”
The ash that fell on Scott and Leslie Johnson in Ellensburg began flying through the air at eight thirty two in the morning, local time. Washington State’s beautiful Mount Saint Helen's had exploded. The explosion was about three hundred fifty times more powerful than the explosions of the first nuclear bombs.
Fire, rock and volcanic gas flew out of the volcano with a force of four hundred eighty kilometers an hour. A cloud of ash went straight up more than twenty kilometers into the air in less than fifteen minutes. Within fifteen days, ash from the volcano traveled around the Earth in the upper atmosphere.
The explosion caused a landslide on the side of the mountain that became one of the largest such events in recorded history. More than four hundred meters of the top of the mountain disappeared. People near the volcano died immediately. Thousands of animals, birds and fish also were killed.
In just a short period, thirty-five thousand hectares of forest timber was destroyed. The heat was so fierce it killed every living thing in the immediate area, even bacteria.
The Native American Indians in Washington State still call Mount Saint Helen's by its Indian name: Loowit. It means “Lady of Fire.” On the morning of May eighteenth, nineteen eighty, the mountain again became a “Lady of Fire.”
The volcano had been giving warnings for three months. These warnings were in the form of many small earthquakes.
On March twenty-seventh, a small explosion blew away the ice and snow at the very top of the mountain. Steam burst from the top of the volcano.
By May seventeenth, more than ten thousand earthquakes had been measured. These earthquakes had caused the north face of the mountain to push out more one hundred forty meters. Volcano experts say this was strong evidence that hot liquid rock had risen high into the volcano. It was the day before the major explosion.
Several weeks earlier, government officials had declared an emergency. They barred people from entering the Mount Saint Helen's area. A special permit was needed to travel near the mountain. Officials also forced people who lived near the mountain to leave their homes. Many were angry, and demanded permission to return.
Some people violated government rules and visited the Mount Saint Helen's area. They did not think the volcano represented a real danger. Workers who planted trees near the mountain were given documents that permitted them to continue their work. Scientists also were at the mountain, studying the volcano.
Many of these people were killed when the volcano exploded. Fifty-seven people died as a result of the explosion.
The volcano exploded for more than eight hours. Then the explosions slowly began to decrease in force. But Mount Saint Helen's was not finished. Five smaller explosions followed during the summer and autumn of nineteen eighty. Each explosion produced ash that rose twelve to fourteen kilometers into the sky.
In the twenty-five years since then, small explosions, earthquakes and other volcanic events were reported at the mountain. The most recent began in October of last year. But none of the events is comparable to the May eighteenth explosion. Still, experts say Mount Saint Helen's will explode again sometime in the future.
The United States Congress created the Mount Saint Helen's Monument in nineteen eighty-two. The monument covers a total of forty-four thousand five hundred hectares of the Mount Saint Helen's area. It includes the mountain and much of the land around it.
The United States Forest Service supervises the area. But nature controls it. Trees, animals, fish, flowers and plants were left to a natural recovery process. Humans were not permitted to help.
The natural area around Mount Saint Helen's that was almost completely destroyed is being rebuilt by nature. Many scientists have studied what happened in this natural laboratory. They found that nature is very quick to heal the wounds caused by the huge explosion.
Scientists have learned much about volcanic activity since Mount Saint Helen's exploded twenty-five years ago. More than twenty smaller explosions were observed at the volcano between nineteen eighty and nineteen eighty-six. Scientists also have been watching recent activity there.
One thing they have learned is that a volcano can come very close to exploding without giving any warning. They also learned that volcanic activity can continue for years without any explosions taking place.
The United States Geological Survey is responsible for providing warnings of possible volcanic explosions. It operates five volcano observation centers with the help of government agencies and universities.
Late last month, scientists with the Geological Survey released a report on the nation’s one hundred sixty-nine active volcanoes. The report rates the most dangerous volcanoes in the United States. It also discusses problems with current methods of estimating future volcanic activity.
The scientists proposed a plan to improve volcano observations and provide better information about volcanic activity. They said the system could help prevent unnecessary and costly safety measures when such activity will not result in an explosion. They said it also would help warn airplanes of the possibility of dangerous ash in the atmosphere. Volcanic ash has caused millions of dollars in damage to planes and other aircraft in the past.
Earlier, we told how Scott Johnson was concerned twenty-five years ago that the ash from Mount Saint Helen's might cover his home. That did not happen, although the ash was deep in some parts of town. It had to be removed from streets and from tops of houses. Travel was almost impossible for several days.
Today, Scott Johnson is an engineer in Seattle, Washington. Leslie Johnson is a medical doctor in Portland, Oregon. Both say the Mount Saint Helen's explosion was an experience they never will forget.
PS感谢爸爸帮忙修改此文。
1980年5月18日，这个美丽的星期天早晨，在华盛顿州艾伦士博小镇上，15岁的司各特·约翰逊正在他家附近看书。他12岁的妹妹莱斯莉在玩篮球。
当司各特读书时，他抬头看见西边天空远远地有一大片黑云。可能要下雨了，他想。不久，他听到了好像大炮的声响。这声响似乎渐渐变得越来越大。他再次抬起头。这回，他看见一大片云正迅速穿过天空。
两个孩子看着天变黑。云开始挡住阳光。司各特再次看起书。他注意到书上有某种奇怪的东西。看起来很像细小的灰尘。多么不可思议，他想。天在下灰尘！
司各特和莱斯莉跑进屋，告诉父母他们所见之事。他们打开电视，看到了圣海伦斯山爆发的最早的报道。开始覆盖天空的云是火山灰，是从三百多公里远的火山迅速来到艾伦士博镇的。
现在云几乎覆盖了天空。司各特看着最后一小块蓝天慢慢消失。片刻，天像夜晚一样黑。空气中有股刺鼻的化学品味道。
灰末非常迅速地、大量地落下。司各特、莱斯莉和他们的父母继续看电视报道。专家们说他们不知道将会发生什么。
司各特再次向屋外看去。灰末现在覆盖了地面。这是一段可怕的经历。他想：“灰末会不会把我们埋葬？”
当地时间早8：32，落在约翰逊兄妹身上的灰末开始飞过天空。华盛顿州美丽的圣海伦斯山已经爆发了。这次爆发约比第一批原子弹的爆炸力强350倍。
火焰、岩石和火山气体以每小时480公里的威力从火山飞出。一团火山灰在不到15分钟的时间里直冲到2万多米的高空。在以后15天里，火山灰在大气上层环绕地球了一周。
这次爆发引起了有史以来最大的一次山体滑坡。400多米高的山顶消失了。火山附近的人当场死亡。成千上万的走兽、飞鸟和鱼也都死了。
片刻时间里，35000公顷的森林木材被毁。热辐射如此强烈，它杀死了附近地区所有的生物，甚至是细菌。
美国华盛顿州的印第安原住民仍用印第安名字称呼圣海伦斯山：路维特（LOOWIT），意思是“火夫人”。1980年5月18日早晨，这座山再次变成了一位“火夫人”。
此前，这座火山已经发出了3个月的“警报”。这些警报就是许多次的小型地震。
在3月27日，一次小规模爆发崩掉了山顶上的冰雪。蒸汽从火山顶喷出。
到5月17日，已经测出了1万多次地震。这些地震使山的北面延伸出140多米。火山专家们称这是证明炽热岩浆已在火山内部上升到很高的有力证据。这是在大爆发的前一天。
几周前，政府官员已经发布了紧急情况。他们禁止人们进入圣海伦斯山地区。在山附近旅行需要特殊许可。官员们还强制附近居民离开他们的家。许多人愤怒了，要求允许回家。
一些人违反政府法令，去到圣海伦斯山地区。他们不认为火山真的很危险。在山附近种树的工人拿到了允许他们继续工作的文件。科学家们也在山上研究着火山。
当火山爆发时，这些人中有许多人丧生。57人死亡是这次爆发的结果。
火山爆发长达8小时之久。随后爆发的威力慢慢减弱。但是圣海伦斯山没有停息。在1980年夏秋，连续发生了5次较小规模的爆发。每一次爆发都产生灰末，上升到天空12至14千米。
在此后的25年里，有过数次关于这座山的小规模爆发、地震和其它火山事件的报道。最近的一次始于去年10月。但是没有一次事件比得上5月18日的爆发，虽然如此，专家们仍称在未来圣海伦斯山会再次爆发。
美国国会于1982年创建了圣海伦斯山纪念馆。该馆位于圣海伦斯山地区，占地总面积44500公顷。包括了圣海伦斯山和周边很多地区。
美国森林署管理该地区。但控制该地区的却是大自然。树林、走兽、鱼、花和植物都处在自然恢复过程中。不允许人类提供帮助。
几乎被完全摧毁的圣海伦斯山周围未开垦的地区正在由大自然重建。许多科学家一直研究着在这个天然实验室里所发生的事情。他们发现大自然能非常迅速地治愈由大爆发造成的损伤。
自圣海伦斯山25年前爆发以来，科学家们已经了解了许多有关火山活动的情况。从1980年到1986年，在这座火山上观测到20多次较小规模的爆发。科学家们也一直在观注着那里近期的活动。
他们了解到的情况之一是，火山能够没有任何前兆地连续爆发。同时，他们还了解到，火山活动能够持续几年而不发生爆发。
美国地质勘测署负责发布火山爆发的警告。它管理5个由政府机构和大学提供帮助的火山观测中心。
上月下旬，地质勘测署的科学家发表了一篇关于国内169座活火山的报告。该报告对美国最危险的火山做了评估。它也讨论了当前对预测未来火山活动所用方法的一些问题。
科学家们提出一项改善火山观测的计划，以便提供有关火山活动的更准确的信息。他们说，当火山活动不会导致爆发时，该机制能帮助防止采取不必要的、昂贵的安全措施。他们还说，该机制也会向飞机发出大气中可能存在危险灰末的警告。过去，火山灰已对飞机和其他航空器造成了上百万美元的损失。
前面，我们已经提到25年前司各特·约翰逊曾担心他们家可能被圣海伦斯山的灰末覆盖。这件事没有发生，尽管镇上一些地区灰末很深。不得不把灰末从街上和房顶上清除。有几天，几乎不能出门。
今天，司各特·约翰逊已成为华盛顿州西雅图市的一名工程师。莱斯莉·约翰逊则做了俄勒冈州波特兰市的一名内科医生。他们两人都说，圣海伦斯山的爆发是他们永远不会忘记的一段经历。
附原文
Learning From a Volcano, 25 Years After Mount St. Helen’s Exploded
by Paul Thompson and Nancy Steinbach
May eighteenth, nineteen eighty, was a beautiful Sunday morning in the small town of Ellensburg, Washington. Fifteen-year-old Scott Johnson was reading a book near his home. His twelve-year-old sister Leslie was playing with a basketball.
As Scott read, he looked up to see a huge, black cloud far away to the west. It might rain, he thought. Soon, he heard what sounded like a big gun. The sound seemed to grow louder. He looked up again. This time, he saw a huge cloud moving quickly across the sky.
The two children watched as the sky grew darker. The cloud began to block light from the sun. Scott again looked at his book. He noticed something unusual on the book. It looked like very fine dust. How strange, he thought. It is raining dust!
Scott and Leslie ran into the house and told their parents about what they saw. They turned on the television. They saw the first reports about the explosion of Mount Saint Helen's. The cloud beginning to cover the sky was ash from the volcano. It had quickly reached Ellensburg from the volcano more than three hundred kilometers away.
The cloud had now almost covered the sky. Scott watched the last small part of blue sky slowly disappear. Within moments, it was as black as night. A strong chemical smell was in the air.
Ash fell very quickly and in huge amounts. Scott, Leslie and their parents continued to watch television reports. Experts said they did not know what would happen.
Scott looked outside the house again. The ash now covered the ground. It was a frightening experience. He wondered, “Will the ash bury us?”
The ash that fell on Scott and Leslie Johnson in Ellensburg began flying through the air at eight thirty two in the morning, local time. Washington State’s beautiful Mount Saint Helen's had exploded. The explosion was about three hundred fifty times more powerful than the explosions of the first nuclear bombs.
Fire, rock and volcanic gas flew out of the volcano with a force of four hundred eighty kilometers an hour. A cloud of ash went straight up more than twenty kilometers into the air in less than fifteen minutes. Within fifteen days, ash from the volcano traveled around the Earth in the upper atmosphere.
The explosion caused a landslide on the side of the mountain that became one of the largest such events in recorded history. More than four hundred meters of the top of the mountain disappeared. People near the volcano died immediately. Thousands of animals, birds and fish also were killed.
In just a short period, thirty-five thousand hectares of forest timber was destroyed. The heat was so fierce it killed every living thing in the immediate area, even bacteria.
The Native American Indians in Washington State still call Mount Saint Helen's by its Indian name: Loowit. It means “Lady of Fire.” On the morning of May eighteenth, nineteen eighty, the mountain again became a “Lady of Fire.”
The volcano had been giving warnings for three months. These warnings were in the form of many small earthquakes.
On March twenty-seventh, a small explosion blew away the ice and snow at the very top of the mountain. Steam burst from the top of the volcano.
By May seventeenth, more than ten thousand earthquakes had been measured. These earthquakes had caused the north face of the mountain to push out more one hundred forty meters. Volcano experts say this was strong evidence that hot liquid rock had risen high into the volcano. It was the day before the major explosion.
Several weeks earlier, government officials had declared an emergency. They barred people from entering the Mount Saint Helen's area. A special permit was needed to travel near the mountain. Officials also forced people who lived near the mountain to leave their homes. Many were angry, and demanded permission to return.
Some people violated government rules and visited the Mount Saint Helen's area. They did not think the volcano represented a real danger. Workers who planted trees near the mountain were given documents that permitted them to continue their work. Scientists also were at the mountain, studying the volcano.
Many of these people were killed when the volcano exploded. Fifty-seven people died as a result of the explosion.
The volcano exploded for more than eight hours. Then the explosions slowly began to decrease in force. But Mount Saint Helen's was not finished. Five smaller explosions followed during the summer and autumn of nineteen eighty. Each explosion produced ash that rose twelve to fourteen kilometers into the sky.
In the twenty-five years since then, small explosions, earthquakes and other volcanic events were reported at the mountain. The most recent began in October of last year. But none of the events is comparable to the May eighteenth explosion. Still, experts say Mount Saint Helen's will explode again sometime in the future.
The United States Congress created the Mount Saint Helen's Monument in nineteen eighty-two. The monument covers a total of forty-four thousand five hundred hectares of the Mount Saint Helen's area. It includes the mountain and much of the land around it.
The United States Forest Service supervises the area. But nature controls it. Trees, animals, fish, flowers and plants were left to a natural recovery process. Humans were not permitted to help.
The natural area around Mount Saint Helen's that was almost completely destroyed is being rebuilt by nature. Many scientists have studied what happened in this natural laboratory. They found that nature is very quick to heal the wounds caused by the huge explosion.
Scientists have learned much about volcanic activity since Mount Saint Helen's exploded twenty-five years ago. More than twenty smaller explosions were observed at the volcano between nineteen eighty and nineteen eighty-six. Scientists also have been watching recent activity there.
One thing they have learned is that a volcano can come very close to exploding without giving any warning. They also learned that volcanic activity can continue for years without any explosions taking place.
The United States Geological Survey is responsible for providing warnings of possible volcanic explosions. It operates five volcano observation centers with the help of government agencies and universities.
Late last month, scientists with the Geological Survey released a report on the nation’s one hundred sixty-nine active volcanoes. The report rates the most dangerous volcanoes in the United States. It also discusses problems with current methods of estimating future volcanic activity.
The scientists proposed a plan to improve volcano observations and provide better information about volcanic activity. They said the system could help prevent unnecessary and costly safety measures when such activity will not result in an explosion. They said it also would help warn airplanes of the possibility of dangerous ash in the atmosphere. Volcanic ash has caused millions of dollars in damage to planes and other aircraft in the past.
Earlier, we told how Scott Johnson was concerned twenty-five years ago that the ash from Mount Saint Helen's might cover his home. That did not happen, although the ash was deep in some parts of town. It had to be removed from streets and from tops of houses. Travel was almost impossible for several days.
Today, Scott Johnson is an engineer in Seattle, Washington. Leslie Johnson is a medical doctor in Portland, Oregon. Both say the Mount Saint Helen's explosion was an experience they never will forget.
PS感谢爸爸帮忙修改此文。
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