VOA慢速英語：加州地震誤報(bào)引發(fā)推特震動(dòng)

False Earthquake Alarm Sends Tremors Across Twitter

加州地震誤報(bào)引發(fā)推特震動(dòng)

This is What's Trending Today....

這里是今日熱點(diǎn)節(jié)目。

Earthquakes are not uncommon in southern California. Citizens there know how to react and respond if the ground starts shaking.

南加州地震并不罕見。當(dāng)?shù)毓窳私獾卣痖_始時(shí)該如何應(yīng)對(duì)。

On Wednesday night, many of them received an email from the U.S. Geological Survey that warned of a large earthquake. The message reported a powerful, 6.8-magnitude quake. Many people also saw similar Twitter messages from the government agency that follows seismic activity around the world.

周三晚上，他們中的很多人收到了美國地質(zhì)調(diào)查局的一封電子郵件，警告會(huì)發(fā)生大地震。該郵件信息稱會(huì)發(fā)生一場(chǎng)6.8級(jí)的大地震。很多人也看到跟蹤世界各地地震活動(dòng)的政府機(jī)構(gòu)發(fā)布了類似的推特消息。

So, they expected to feel the earth shake.

所以他們預(yù)計(jì)會(huì)感受到地震。

But nothing happened.

但是什么都沒發(fā)生。

It turns out Wednesday's message was sent by mistake.

事實(shí)證明周三的郵件信息是誤發(fā)。

So, how did this happen? Researchers from the California Institute of Technology say they had been using new information to relocate the center of a 1925 earthquake off Santa Barbara, California. That quake severely damaged buildings and killed 13 people.

那么這一切是如何發(fā)生的呢?加州理工學(xué)院的研究人員表示，他們一直在使用新的信息來重新定位1925年加州圣巴巴拉地震的震中。

The new information somehow caused an automated message to be sent out to email accounts and Twitter.

這些新信息不知何故導(dǎo)致系統(tǒng)向電子郵件賬戶以及特發(fā)出了一條自動(dòng)化信息。

A statement from the USGS said the research "was misinterpreted by software as a current event." It said it is working to fix the issue.

美國地質(zhì)調(diào)查局發(fā)表聲明稱，這項(xiàng)研究“被軟件誤解為當(dāng)前事件。”他們正在努力解決這個(gè)問題。

The fake quake report even affected newspaper writers in California and other places. They often use alerts from the USGS to begin their reports. On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times, for example, sent out a story on the quake that it had to quickly correct.

地震誤報(bào)甚至影響到了加州和其它地區(qū)的新聞?dòng)浾?。他們通常使用美國地質(zhì)調(diào)查局的警報(bào)來開始他們的報(bào)道。例如《洛杉磯時(shí)報(bào)》周三發(fā)布了地震新聞，它們不得不迅速糾正。

It later explained on Twitter that the newspaper has a computerized system that produces stories about earthquakes based on the USGS alerts.

該報(bào)隨后在推特上解釋稱，該報(bào)擁有一項(xiàng)計(jì)算機(jī)化系統(tǒng)，它會(huì)根據(jù)美國地質(zhì)調(diào)查局的警報(bào)生成關(guān)于地震的新聞。

But, the Times said, "The USGS alert was incorrect."

但是《泰晤士報(bào)》報(bào)道稱：“美國地質(zhì)調(diào)查局的警報(bào)是錯(cuò)誤的。”

The USGS does sometimes release false alarms. But they rarely are for quakes so big or in areas with so many people.

美國地質(zhì)調(diào)查局確實(shí)有時(shí)會(huì)發(fā)出誤報(bào)。但是很少出現(xiàn)這么大地震的誤報(bào)，或是發(fā)生在有這么多人的地區(qū)。

Wednesday's false alarm listed the quake as taking place on June 29 -- the same day as the 1925 event. However, it reported the year as 2025.

周三的誤報(bào)稱這次地震將會(huì)發(fā)生在6月29日，跟1925年的大地震是同一天。然而，它報(bào)告發(fā)生地震的年份是2025年。

Such an early prediction would truly shake up the field of seismology.

如此提前的預(yù)測(cè)的確會(huì)震驚地震學(xué)領(lǐng)域。

And that's What's Trending Today.

以上就是本期今日熱點(diǎn)節(jié)目的全部?jī)?nèi)容。

I'm Dan Friedell.

丹·費(fèi)里德爾報(bào)道。