921 Earthquake
Narrator: 地震! Hurry up, take cover! ………Phew … is everyone all right?
Thank goodness everyone is all right. 我最不喜歡地震了。 And that was a big
one!
But it still wasn’t as big as the 921 Earthquake.
Have you heard of the 九二一大地震? The 921 Earthquake was one of the biggest
earthquakes to ever hit Taiwan.
That earthquake happened on September 21, 1999.
That means it happened exactly twenty years ago. 剛好20年前發生
It was a magnitude 7.3 earthquake, which means it was a very, very strong
earthquake!
It was was so strong that it knocked down power lines in Taiwan,
然後全台灣就大停電! There was a blackout!
The blackout lasted a long time. There was no electricity for days.
我們過了好多天都沒有電，都停電了During the day people could not turn on their
fans or air conditioners, so everyone was very sweaty under the hot sun.
晚上沒有電，白天也沒辦法開電扇或冷氣，大家都熱得汗流浹背!
And at night, there was no electricity for lights, so everything was very
dark.
Sadly, more than two-thousand people were also killed in the earthquake.
And thousands of buildings were damaged.
…….Uh oh, aftershock!……..
Everyone still ok? That was just an aftershock. That is when the ground
shakes again after an earthquake.
Hopefully there won’t be any more aftershocks. 拜託不要再來餘震了!
Anyway, the 921 Earthquake was a terrible thing to happen, but experts are
studying how we can be ready for other earthquakes in the
future.未來如果我們能預測地震的話， 我們就可以先準備了
And hopefully, we will be!
Vocabulary
Earthquakes are scary, aren’t they? They can cause a blackout for a lot of
people.
1) Blackout 停電。Black黑色的，blackout就是停電。Typhoon Maria caused a
blackout in Tainan颱風瑪麗亞讓台南停電了。
2) Power力量，或者是電力。Taiwan Power Company台電公司， The earthquake left
5 hundred homes without power地震讓五百戶居民沒有電。
3) Electricity電。Why is it so dark 為什麼這麼暗? Because there’s no
electricity for lights因為沒有電來點亮電燈。
4) Building建築物。Taipei 101 is the tallest building in
Taipei台北101是台北市最高樓。
5) Happen發生。What happened發生了什麼事? Nothing 沒事兒。
We’ve learned some good words about earthquakes, now let’s review them.
Blackout停電 power力量或是電力 electricity電 building建築物 happen發生
Quiz:
- When did the 921 Earthquake happen?
a. 20 years ago
b. Yesterday.
c. It hasn’t happened yet. - What is a blackout?
a. When the power goes out.
b. When you use a black marker.
c. When it’s night time. - What is an aftershock?
a. When you are shocked by electricity.
b. When the ground shakes again after an earthquake.
c. When you are surprised by something.
Answers
- A 2. A 3. B