On a hot summer's day in the bustling mountain town of Pompeii, holidaymakers and villagers alike were enjoying the pleasures of the city. It was the day of the festival for Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. Some 20,000 men, women, and children were behaving as they would on any other festive day—working, relaxing around their vacation homes, going to the public baths, strolling through the city's marketplace, or lunching in one of the many restaurants in town. With everything going on, no one took much notice that the springs and wells had dried up because this was common in late August. Small tremors had been shaking the place for four days, but that was in the norm, too.
Suddenly, the mountain came to life. An enormous umbrella-shaped cloud of ash shot out of the volcano and then fell over the mountain and the surrounding villages. When the eruption ended, everything was covered in several meters of ash. Those who couldn't escape perished.
Most of what is known of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius on August 24, 79 AD comes from the writings of Pliny the Younger. From his uncle's house about 35 km from Mt. Vesuvius, Pliny witnessed the destruction firsthand. In two letters, Pliny described in detail the earthquakes before the eruption, the giant cloud of ash that shot into the air, a tsunami, and the effect on the people living around Vesuvius. The entire event lasted some 19 hours. In the end, the city of Pompeii was buried underneath three meters of ash. Its location was forgotten and it wasn't until over 1,500 years later that it was rediscovered.
| 單字小舖 |
1. holidaymaker n. 假日遊客
2. festive a. 喜慶的
3. stroll vi. 散步
4. tremor n. 震動
5. norm n. 常態
6. enormous a. 巨大的
7. volcano n. 火山
8. eruption n. 爆發
9. perish vi. 死去
10. firsthand adv. 第一手地
11. tsunami n. 海嘯（=
tidal wave）
| 精解字詞片語 |
1. bustling a. 忙碌熙攘的
bustle n. 忙亂，喧囂
hustle and bustle 熙熙攘攘
例: The hustle and bustle of the night market made Sharon sick.
（吵雜的夜市讓雪倫感覺很不舒服。）
2. A and B alike A 與 B 同樣
例: The storm flooded Taipei and Taichung alike.
（台北和台中同樣都因大雨淹水了。）
3. take notice + that 子句/of N 注意到……
例: Why don't you ever take notice that I'm the best singer in the choir?
（你為何從沒注意到我是合唱團裡唱得最好的呢？）
4. dry up 乾涸
例: The lake dried up because it didn't rain for six months.
（那座湖因為已經六個月沒下雨而乾涸。）
5. come to life 甦醒過來
例: At sunrise, all of the animals come to life looking for food.
（日出時，所有動物都醒來覓食。）
6. be covered in/with... 被……覆蓋
例: Tim was covered with sand after a long afternoon at the beach.
（在海邊待了一下午後，提姆全身都是沙子。）
7. in detail 詳細地
例: When writing a proposal for the boss, you have to write down everything in detail, or he won't consider it.
（你寫提案給老闆時，必須詳細寫下每項細節，否則他不會予以考慮。）
炎炎夏日，熱鬧的山邊小城——龐貝城裡，渡假遊客與居民同樣享受著這座城的歡樂。這天是慶祝羅馬火神伏爾肯的節日。約兩萬名男女和孩童表現得就像任何一個節慶一樣：工作、到渡假別墅放輕鬆、去公共澡堂泡澡、到城裡的市集閒逛，或在鎮上許多餐館中享受午餐。一切如常進行著，沒人注意到泉水和井水都已乾涸，因為在八月底，這是件再正常不過的事。已經連續四天小地震頻頻，但這也是很正常的事。
突然間，山脈甦醒過來。一朵灰燼形成的巨大傘狀雲從火山噴出，籠蓋了整座山與鄰近村落。爆發結束後，所有東西都覆蓋了幾公尺厚的灰燼。來不及逃走的都因而喪命。
西元79年八月二十四日發生的維蘇威火山爆發事件，大部分是從小普里尼的著作中得知。從距離維蘇威火山約三十五公里的叔叔家中，小普里尼親眼目睹維蘇威火山爆發造成的破壞。小普里尼在兩封信件中，詳細描述火山爆發前的地震、噴向空中的巨大灰燼雲朵、海嘯，以及對維蘇威火山周圍居民造成的影響。整場火山爆發持續約十九個小時，最後，龐貝城被埋在三公尺的灰燼底下。它的位置就此被遺忘，直到一千五百多年後才被重新發掘。
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