Listening Device Provides Landslide Early Warning

A device that provides early warning of a landslide by monitoring vibrations in soil is being tested by UK researchers. The device could save thousands of lives each year by warning when an area should be evacuated, the scientists say. Such natural disasters are common in countries that experience sudden, heavy rainfall, and can also be triggered by earthquakes and even water erosion.

Landslides start when a new particles of soil or rock within a slope start to move, but the early stages can be hard to spot. Following this initial movement, “slopes can become unstable in a matter of hours or minutes.,” says Nell Dixon at Loughborough University¹, UK. He says a warning system that monitors this movement “might be enough to evacuate a block of flats or clear a road, and save lives .”

The most common way to monitor a slope for signs of an imminent landslide is to watch for changes in its shape. Surveyors can do this by measuring a site directly, or sensors sunk into horeholes or fixed above ground can be used to monitor the shape of a slope. Slopes can, howcver, change shape without triggering a landslide, so either method is prone to causing false alarms. Now Dixon’s team has developed a device that listens for the vibrations caused when particles begin moving within a slope.

The device taktes the form of a steel pipe dropped into a borehole in a slope. The horeholeis filled in with gravel around the pipe to help transmit high-frequency vibrations generated by particles within the slope. These vibrations pass up the tube and are picked up by a sensor on the surface. Software analyses the vibration signal to determine whether a landslide may be imminent.

The device is currently being tested in a 6-metre-tall artificial clay embankment in Newcastle2, UK. Early results suggest it should provide fewer false positives than existing systems. Once it has been carefully and thoroughly tested, the device could be used to create a complete early-warning system for dangerous slopes.

“Locations with a significant risk of landslides could definitely benefit from a machine like this,” says Adam Poulter, an expert at the British Red Cross. “As long as it doesn’t cost too much.” But, Poulter adds that an early-warning system may not be enough on its own. “You need to have the human communication,” he says. “Making systems that get warnings to those who need them can be difficult.”

词汇:  

landslide/ ˈlændslaɪd / n. 山崩地滑；塌方

imminent /ɪmɪnənt /  adj. 即将发生的;迫切的，

vibration / vaɪˈbreɪʃn / n. 振动 

sensor / ˈsensə(r) / n. 传感器

evacuate / ɪ"vækjʊeɪt / vi. 疏散，撤走 

borehole / ˈbɔ:həul / n. 钻孔，井眼

rainfall / ˈreɪnfɔ:l / n. 降雨，降雨量 

gravel / ˈgrævl / n.  砾，砾石，砂砾

erosion / ɪ"rəʊʒn / n. 腐蚀，侵蚀 

embankment / ɪmˈbæŋkmənt /n. 堤岸

注释：

1.Loughbourough University：拉夫堡大学。该大学地处英格兰东部的拉夫堡市，始建于1909年的拉夫堡学院，1966年获得皇家特许正式成为综合性大学。
2.Newcastle：纽卡斯尔。英格兰东北部的一个自治区，位于利兹（Leeds）以北（the Tyne River）河畔。

Why do researchers develop a new device to monitor signs of landsides?

A:Because the new device can measure the site directly. B:Because the new device can be sunk into boreholes or fixed above ground. C:Because the common methods can cause false alarms. D:Because the common methods are useless.

修改了数据库Ip后，monitor服务的Ip在哪修改（）。

A:monitor.ini B:dumper.ini C:otnm.ini D:replication.ini

利用monitor软件进行RESET ALL的步骤（）

A:首先在HMI确认维护模式已经开启 B:使用monitor软件连接主CCU，车组降弓断电 C:在maintain下拉菜单中选择“RA reset All”选项 D:回车对本牵引单元进行复位

The teacher had the monitor （） the papers.

A:to hand out B:hand out C:hand down D:to hand down

TP Monitor提供（）服务。

A:应用管 B:管理控制 C:应用之间消息传递 D:A、B和C

Inside the computer, the operation system (of another software module called a data communication (71) )must decide which program will get control next. Each program remember, is associated (72) . a particular front -end port. If a program’s data have not yet reached its front - end buffer, there is no point giving that program control. Thus the data communication monitor sends its own (73) signal to the front -end devices next port is polled. Note that the (74) computer speed. The computer never has to wait for a terminal or a communication line. Instead, it is the expressive front - end processor that waits for the slower system (75) to respond.

A:memory B:control C:monitor D:charge

Inside the computer, the operation system (of another software module called a data communication (71) )must decide which program will get control next. Each program remember, is associated (72) . a particular front -end port. If a program’s data have not yet reached its front - end buffer, there is no point giving that program control. Thus the data communication monitor sends its own (73) signal to the front -end devices next port is polled. Note that the (74) computer speed. The computer never has to wait for a terminal or a communication line. Instead, it is the expressive front - end processor that waits for the slower system (75) to respond.

A:memory B:control C:monitor D:charge

monitor