國立教育廣播電臺

Hope:

Hey, Joey, how are you doing today?

Joey:

Pretty good. How about you, Hope?

Hope:

Not bad. Wait!

Joey:

Huh?

Hope:

Did you feel it?

Joey:

Yes! The earthquake! Look at the lamp!

Hope:

Okay! It has stopped. Perhaps there will be some aftershocks or tremors later on.

Joey:

Aftershocks? Tremors? 餘震嗎?

Hope:

Yes. Sometimes aftershocks may cause more serious damage. And a tremor is describing a slight earthquake.

Joey:

Got it! Hmm…That’s why we should always 保持警覺whenever there is an earthquake.

Hope:

Stay alert. We should always stay alert whenever an earthquake hit or struck!

Joey:

Yes, we should always stay alert whenever an earthquake hit or struck.

Talking about the earthquake, 上個月在花蓮的地震就相當可怕.

Hope:

Yes, the earthquake in Hualien last month was quite scary, wasn’t it?

Joey:

Yes, it was. Here in Kaohsiung, we could feel the 強烈搖晃 and I was in the office then.

Hope:

The shakes were quite strong, weren’t they?

Joey:

Yes, the shakes were quite strong. And重點是，地震還持續蠻久的。Some of my colleagues even hid themselves under their desks.

Hope:

I felt that too. The quakes lasted quite long time. And there were quite many aftershocks after the main quake.

Joey:

According to the report, some buildings 傾斜 or 坍塌 and many people were 被困在太魯閣國家公園。

Hope:

Yes, some buildings in Hualien City were tilting or even collapsed and quite many people were stuck in Taroko National Park.

Luckily, many were rescued, though there were still some casualties.

Joey:

Let me guess. Tilt means 傾斜, right? And collapse means…坍塌?

Hope:

Uh Huh! That’s right.

Joey:

對了，Hope，every time when there is the earthquake, we always talk about 震央 and 地震強度.

How do we say those words in English?

Hope:

Okay. 震央is epicenter.

Joey:

Epicenter, 震央.

Hope:

So, for example, the epicenter of the earthquake last month was in Hualien.

Joey:

The epicenter of the earthquake was in Hualien.

Hope:

And 地震強度, for example, this time the earthquake in Hualien is the magnitude-7.2 quake, which means 地震強度7.2級.

Joey:

I see. So, 如果我們要說地震強度4.8級，we can say the magnitude-4.8, right?

Hope:

That’s right.