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Offer a magnificent view of nature's greatest power display.
“为我们展示了一幅壮丽的景象，展现了大自然最伟大的力量。”
There has been a lot of volcanic activity in 2018.
2018年火山频频爆发。
Mount Mayon in the Philippines erupted in January. It continued for over a month.
1月，菲律宾马荣火山爆发。足足持续了一个多月。
In February, Mount Sinabung erupted in Indonesia.
2月，印尼的锡纳朋火山爆发。
Here’s the ash cloud as seen from space.
这是从空中看到的火山灰云。
And in June an eruption in Guatemala killed more than 100 people.
6月，危地马拉的火山爆发，造成100多人死亡。
Turns out this is pretty normal.
火山爆发其实很正常。
On average, there are 10 to 20 volcanoes erupting around the world at any given time.
平均而言，全世界随时都有10到20座火山在爆发。
When you look at these on a map and add volcanoes that are not currently erupting, you'll start to see a pattern.
把这些爆发的火山已经当前没有爆发的火山在地图上标出来，你就会发现它们其实是有规律的。
Most are concentrated here, along the edges of the Pacific Ocean.
大多数火山都集中在这里，太平洋沿岸地区。
This region is known as the Ring of Fire, a stretch of hundreds of volcanoes spanning 40,000 kilometers.
该地区被称为“火山带”，这是绵延4万公里的成百上千座火山所在的地带。
It’s also where most of the earthquakes and tsunamis in the world take place.
同时也是世界上大多数地震和海啸发生的地方。
This year alone, the region saw 4 eruptions and 5 of the world's biggest earthquakes .
仅今年一年，该地区就发生了4次火山爆发，5次全世界最大的地震。
The Ring of Fire is where some of history’s most devastating natural disasters have happened and will continue to happen.
火山带是历史上最具破坏性的自然灾害发生并将继续发生的地方。
"There are still some volcanoes around the world in various places. Do you know where they are? Here's a map, see if you can find some."
“世界各地仍有一些地方有火山。你知道它们在哪里吗？给你地图，看看你能不能找到一部分。”
Volcanoes have terrorized people for centuries.
几百年来，火山一直让人们生活在恐惧之中。
In the 1800s, explorers and scientists started grouping them together.
19世纪，探险家和科学家开始将它们汇聚在一起。
Take a look at this map from 1852.
看看这张1852年的地图。
It has “the volcanic series of Australia”.
上面标有“澳大利亚火山带”。
And "the volcanic series of Japan and Kamchatka, in Russia."
以及“日本-俄罗斯的堪察加半岛火山带”。
In fact, the whole Ring of Fire is marked here.
事实上，整个太平洋火山带在这个地图上都已经标出来了。
Scientists recognized the belt of activity, but it would take another 100 years until they agreed on what caused it.
科学家们知道这个地带会爆发火山，然而，此后又过了100年，他们才在造成这种活动的原因上达成一致意见。
"That's right, it's a volcano.
“没错，这就是火山。
Well, you see what you and I are going to talk about today is the world under our feet. "
知道了吧，你我今天要讨论的就是我们脚下的世界。”
By the 1960s, most scientists concluded the earth’s surface is made up of a series of tectonic plates
20世纪60年代，大多数科学家都得出了地球表面是由一连串地质板块组成这一结论，
that slowly move into and apart from each other.
而这些板块会缓慢地挤入彼此的位置，然后彼此分离。
Take a look at the plates that make up the Pacific.
我们不妨来看看构成太平洋的板块。
Now look at where the eruptions and earthquakes occur.
现在再来看看火山和地震发生的地方。
The Ring of Fire is the result of these plates crashing into each other.
火山带就是这些板块相互碰撞的结果。
"One in Japan, that's right. Fujiyama. There's some others in the south Pacific. How about in our part of the world?"
“其中一座在日本，没错，富士山。南太平洋也有一些。那我们国家呢？”
"Mexico." "That's right, there's several in Mexico."
“墨西哥有。”“没错，墨西哥也有几座。”
The plates in the Pacific are moving faster than other plates around the world, adding stress where the plates interact.
太平洋地区的地质板块比其他地区的板块的移动速度更快，这就增加了它们与周围板块相互作用时的作用力。
This plate is moving northwest, crashing into the North American plate, which explains all the volcanoes here.
这一板块在向西北方向移动，这就挤到了北美板块，而这个地区的火山就是这么来的。
Over in California, the Pacific plate is grinding past the North American Plate --
往上到加州，太平洋的板块和北美板块擦边而过——
where they meet is called the San Andreas Fault.
它们相遇的地方叫作“圣安德烈亚斯断层”。
The movement causes thousands of earthquakes a year.
这一运动每年都会引发数千次地震。
A few of them are even large enough to cause serious damage.
其中一些甚至大到足以造成严重的损坏。
Like the San Francisco-Oakland earthquake in 1989, which killed 63 people and injured nearly 4,000.
比如1989年的旧金山 - 奥克兰地震就造成63人死亡，近4000人受伤。
All these plate interactions are independent from each other.
所有这些板块之间的相互作用都是彼此独立的。
But when grouped together, they make up the most seismically active region in the world.
但把它们拼到一起时，就构成了世界上地震活跃度最高的地区。
Remember a little while ago an island blew up and disappeared (Oh, yeah)?
“还记得不久前一个岛屿爆炸消失了吗？(噢，对)”
"That was because of a volcano."
“那就是火山爆发引起的。”
