Passage 1 Everyone has heard of the San Andreas fault 圣安德烈亚斯断层（断层）, which constantly 不断的，时常threatens California and the West Coast with earthquakes. But how many people know about the equally serious New Madrid fault in Missouri? 同样严重的新马德里断层在密苏里 Between December of 1811 and February of 1812, three major earthquakes occurred, all centered around the town of New Madrid, Missouri, on the Mississippi River. Property damage was severe. 财产损害是严重的Buildings in the area were almost destroyed. Whole forests fell at once, and huge cracks opened in the ground, allowing smell of sulfur（硫磺）to filter upward. The Mississippi River itself completely changed character,性格 developing sudden rapids and whirlpools. 急流漩涡 Several times it changed its course, and once, according to some observers, it actually appeared to run backwards.Few people were killed in the New Marid earthquakes, probably simply because few people lived in the area in 1811; but the severity of the earthquakes are shown by the fact that the shock waves rang bells in church towers in Charleston, South Carolina, on the coast. Buildings shook in New York City, and clocks wer stopped in Washington, D.C. Scientists now know that America's two major faults are essentially different.本质上不同 The San Andreas is a horizontal boundary 一个横向边界 between two major land masses that are slowly moving in opposite directions. California earthquakes result when the movement of these two masses suddenly lurches （倾斜） forward. The New Madrid fault, on the other hand, is a vertical fault 垂直的; at some points, possibly hundreds of millions of years ago, rock was pushed up toward the surface, probably by volcanoes under the...
