The U.S. West Coast could be the next area shaken by a big earthquake, experts warned today.
專家警告稱：美國西海岸可能成為下一次大地震的發(fā)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、上個月的新西蘭地震以及去年的智利地震統(tǒng)統(tǒng)都發(fā)生在環(huán)太平洋地區(qū)，也就是所謂的“火焰圈”上?？茖W(xué)家相信美國西海岸有可能成為系列地震的其中之一，特別是由于太平洋東北部分和日本有著類似的地質(zhì)斷層結(jié)構(gòu)。專家并不能確定下次地震將在何時、何地發(fā)生，但西海岸地區(qū)由于相同的地理構(gòu)造、發(fā)生地震的風(fēng)險增高。

‘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.
哥倫比亞大學(xué)雷蒙德研究中心的地震學(xué)家James Gaherty告訴CBS記者說：“太平洋的東北部地區(qū)被我們稱為‘卡迪亞斷層帶’。此處的斷層結(jié)構(gòu)與日本地表下的斷層是同一種。我們擔(dān)心這里的緩沖帶和日本也非常類似?！?

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.
所謂的“火焰圈”是一個大型地質(zhì)斷層，形成于太平洋板塊和其他版塊交界處，由于地質(zhì)活動頻繁，常導(dǎo)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告訴MSNBC記者稱：“如果你把整個太平洋板塊看作是一個方框，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蘭基督城發(fā)生地震，而去年，方框東南的智利也發(fā)生了地震?！?/div>

‘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.’
“方框的第四個角，也就是圣安德列斯和卡迪亞斷層帶的所在處。目前它們還沒有斷裂。但它們一旦斷裂，則有可能造成巨大的問題。”

（1906年加州地震后慘象）

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.’
上一次加州該地區(qū)發(fā)生地震是在1906年，整個舊金山被地震和火焰夷為平地。Simon Winchester說：“加州的風(fēng)險很高，就處在圣安德列斯斷層上。不過在加州即便地震后也不太可能發(fā)生海嘯，不過在太平洋西北方（也就是日本）就不一樣了。”