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职称英语理工类考试考前每日一练 Listening device provides landslide early warning A device that provides early warning of 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 few 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 of minutes，says Nell Dixon at Loughborough University，UK.He says a warning system that monitors this movement might be enough to evacu。 ate 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 monitoring a site directly，or sensors sunk into boreholes or fixed above ground can be sued to monitor the shape of a slope.Slopes can，however，change shape without triggering a landslide，so either method is prone to causing false alarms.Now Nixons team has developed a device that listens for the vibrations caused when partieles begin moving within a slope. | 
