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Listening Device Provides Landslide Early Warning 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 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 fiats or clear a road，and save lives. The device takes the form of a steel pipe dropped into a boreh01e in a slope.The borehole is 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. 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 doesnt 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. Loughborough 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大学。 练习: A Sudden，heavy rainfall. C Water erosion. Which of the following statements is true of landslides? B They start with a movement of a few particles of soil or rock. D All of the above. A Because the new device can measure the site directly. C Because the common methods can cause false alarms. Which of the following statements is NOT true of the device，according 1o Paragraph4? B It consists of a steel pipe. D It is connected to a sensor on the surface. A Positive electric charges. C Warnings. 答案与题解： D 短文第一段的第一句告诉我们，英国研究人员正在测试一种仪器，这种仪器可以通过监测土壤的振动来预警山崩。该段最后一句说，这种灾难经常在一些遭受自然灾害的国家发生，这些自然灾害包括sudden，heavy rainfall和earthquakes以及water erosion。所以D是正确选择。 C 第三段的第一和第二句告诉我们，最为普通的监测山崩方法是对山坡形状变化的观察，有两种观察方式；第三句说，因为山坡形状的变化不一定导致山崩，所以两种方法都会有虚假的预警。因此，C是正确答案。 B positives在此用作名词，意思是：被证实的因素或特点，可以理解为证据。 | 
