سؤال قراءة ستيب محلول — المفردات في السياق (تدريب 4814)

(1) It is certain that when the eruption of Vesuvius started on the morning of 24 August, in the year 79 AD, it caught the population in the Roman city completely unprepared. We now know in retrospect that all of the signs were there to warn them. (2) It is mainly thanks to the vivid eyewitness account of Pliny the Younger that we have some understanding of what happened. And it is through him that we can gain insight into the reactions and feelings of the people caught up in the drama of this natural disaster. (3) His account Naves no doubt that everyone was caught off guard. His uncle, known as Pliny the Elder, was stationed in command of the imperial naval base at Misenum. In addition to being the senior military officer in the district, he was also a scientist. His 37-volume Natural History is the longest work on science in Latin that has survived from antiquity. (4) Despite his scientific knowledge, the sighting of a column of smoke on the far side of the bay triggered a response more of curiosity than of alarm. Pliny’s casual reference to earth tremors reveals the Roman’s great ignorance of the link between seismic activity and volcanic eruptions. (5) The volcanologists of today constantly monitor any changes in levels of seismic activity from the observatory on Vesuvius because they know that the same increase of activity in the deep reservoir of magma causes both earth tremors and volcanic eruptions. Through measuring seismic activity, these scientists expect to predict an approaching eruption months before it happens. (6) They also know that the activity of Vesuvius is recurrent, meaning it happens again and again, and that the longer the intervals between eruptions, the greater the next explosion will be. The frequent but low-level activity of Vesuvius in recent centuries has relieved the build-up of pressure in the magma chamber. The catastrophic magnitude of the eruption of AD 79 was connected with the extended period of inactivity that preceded it. A long interval combined with mounting seismic activity is a sure sign of coming disaster. Of course, the Romans could not have known this.