【英譯漢】

　　Mount Vesuvius

　　A volcano's power, drawn from deep within the earth, is unleashed in different forms, from molten lava to thick clouds of burning gas to blazing rocks, falling from the sky. All over the world, people choose to make their homes in the path of nature's deadly power. Nowhere is the relationship between alluring scenery and terrifying danger more tenuous than in southern Italy - at the site of Mount Vesuvius, the world's most famous volcano.

　　Rising four thousand feet above the Bay of Naples, Mount Vesuvius looms above the Italian countryside, Today, millions live at its base. Every day these Italians accept the risk of living next to this ticking bomb. But Vesuvius' explosive potential wasn't always evident to those who lived nearby.

　　Vesuvius was not really known to be an active volcano by the Romans at first. They had no real history of its volcanic activity. In early August, 79AD, sporadic tremors rocked the Campanian plains. Wells dried up and water disappeared from streams. These were all signs that gas pressure was growing inside the volcano. Then, at about one P. M. on August 24th, the floor of the crater cracked, and Mount Vesuvius roared to life. The earliest fatalities from the eruption were probably because of people being hit by rocks and also by being buried under roof collapses. Around midnight, the eruption column collapsed, behaving like a fountain of ash and pumice, and cascading down at a very high speed and flowing like an avalanche of snow, but in this case a very hot avalanche of hot ash. This pyroclastic flow(火山灰流) is a volcano's most lethal weapon. As many as twenty thousand people perished in the eruption.

　　Then the volcano erupted again in 4.72 AD and then in 1631.More eruptions were recorded in the 18th and 19th centuries. On March 13th, 1944, an explosion inside the vent caused rocks and boulders to fall into the cone, completely closing the vent, Lava and gases were now trapped and the pressure inside was building. An eruption was now more likely than ever.

　　At 4: 30 PM on March 18th, a powerful explosion within Mount Vesuvius drove lava over the crater's rim. Wide strips of liquid fire burned on the slopes of the mountain. The lava is practically molten rocks that flow along the flank of the volcano like a river. The eruption of 1944 claimed twenty-six lives. Thousands of people were evacuated. The entire countryside was a barren wasteland.

　　Today, Mount Vesuvius has been calm for more than fifty years. During this period, magma has been sitting in its reservoir, undergoing chemical changes - a process that could lead to another eruption. The longer the magma sits around in the reservoir and stews in there and differentiates or evolves, the greater the potential of a large, catastrophic eruption. We are not sure when it will happen next time, but we do know that after long periods of rest, the next eruption will be devastating. Some believe the disaster could be even greater than the one that occurred in 79AD. The high population density does not help matters, as a string of towns and villages circle the slopes of the volcano bringing the population to over a half million people. But to those who live at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, this is the power of nature and it help us get a better understanding of our position on planet Earth.

　　【參考譯文】

　　維蘇威火山

　　火山的威力來自地球深處，并以各種形式釋放——從滾滾的熔巖，到氣體燃燒產(chǎn)生的濃煙，到從空中墜落的燃燒的巖石。在世界各地，都有人選擇在大自然致命威力的必經(jīng)之地安家落戶。最能體現(xiàn)誘人的風景和可怕的危險之間的微妙關系的，要數(shù)意大利南部的維蘇威火山——世界上最有名的火山。

　　維蘇威火山聳立在那不勒斯海灣邊，高4000英尺，地處意大利鄉(xiāng)間。今天，有數(shù)百萬人住在山腳下。這些意大利人每天都冒著風險與這枚滴答作響的定時炸彈為伴。但是這些住在火山附近的人并非總能看清維蘇威火山噴發(fā)的前兆。

　　起初，古羅馬人并不知道維蘇威火山是座活火山，因為他們沒有關于火山活動的歷史記載。公元79年8月初，坎帕尼亞平原不時震顫，井水干涸，溪水斷流。這些都是火山內(nèi)部氣壓增強的征兆。接著，在8月24日下午約l點左右，火山口的巖面裂開，維蘇威火山咆哮著蘇醒了�；鹕絿姲l(fā)最初的遇難者很可能是因被飛巖擊中身亡，或是被坍塌的屋頂壓死。

　　午夜時分，火山噴柱突然崩潰，就像一道灰塵和浮石形成的噴泉，如同瀑布一樣飛速落下，如同雪崩一般洶涌奔流，只不過這里崩瀉的是灼熱的灰塵。這種碎石流是火山最致命的武器。有兩萬人在這次火山噴發(fā)中喪生。

　　公元472年，火山再次噴發(fā)，然后是1631年，到了18、19世紀就更為頻繁了。1944年3月13日，火山口內(nèi)的一次爆炸使巖石落入火山錐中，完全堵住了氣體出口。由于巖漿和氣體被困，內(nèi)部壓力不斷加強，火山爆發(fā)的可能性驟增。

　　3月18日下午4:30，維蘇威火山內(nèi)部的一次劇烈爆炸使巖漿噴出了火山口。山坡上到處是熊熊燃燒的熔巖。巖漿其實就是熔化的巖石，它就像河流一樣沿山側(cè)流下。1944年的維蘇威火山爆發(fā)奪走了26條生命，成千上萬的人被迫離開家園，整個鄉(xiāng)間一片荒蕪。

　　今天，維蘇威火山已經(jīng)沉寂了五十多年。在此期間，巖漿在地殼內(nèi)發(fā)生著化學變化，可能會導致火山再次噴發(fā)。巖漿在地殼層中呆的時間越長，醞釀、變異、發(fā)展的時間越久，就越可能導致一場災難性的大規(guī)模噴發(fā)。我們無法知道下一次噴發(fā)會是什么時候，但是有一點我們能肯定，那就是經(jīng)過這么長時間的沉寂，下一次噴發(fā)一定極具破壞力。有些人認為它可能造成比公元79年的那次噴發(fā)更大的災難。人口密度高也很不利，因為火山坡周圍的城鎮(zhèn)和鄉(xiāng)村人口已超過了50方。但是那些住在維蘇威火山腳下的人認為，火山爆發(fā)體現(xiàn)了大自然的威力，它能幫助我們更好地看清人類在地球上的位置。