原文视听

Our guess was basically, what you'd call...
我们的预测基本上 怎么说呢...
um, ambitious or optimistic.
太大胆或者太乐观了
It wasn't until September 28th 2004
直到2004年9月28日
that the earthquake finally struck,
地震终于来袭了
and when it came,
而当它来临时
it wasn't what the scientists were hoping for.
并不像科学家所希望的那样
It was like the fault was quiet quiet quiet
断层一直悄无声息
and then it broke,
然后突然断裂了
and it was sort of, it was a fairly negative result.
可以说是一个相当令人失望的结果
You know, we were sort of waiting to catch that precursor
我们一直在等待时机想利用设备
with all these instruments, and nothing happened.
捕获前兆迹象 但却什么都没有发生
Instead of finding signals that might predict an earthquake,
没有找到能够预测地震的信号
all that the Parkfield experiment seemed to prove
相反 所有帕克菲尔德实验结果似乎都
was that these natural disasters
证明了这种自然灾害
were far more complex than anyone had ever imagined.
超乎想象地复杂
You know it was sort of taken as a negative result
实验结果被认为是失败的
and some people were saying
有人开始说
"Time to put the nail in the coffin.
可以盖棺论定了
"Earthquake prediction is dead. "
地震预测根本没戏
And I think that's a bit extreme.
我认为这样说有些极端

重点解释

it wasn't what the scientists were hoping for.并不像科学家所希望的那样

hope for:希望； 期待

We all hope for an improvement in the weather.

我们都希望天气好转。

it was sort of, it was a fairly negative result.可以说是一个相当令人失望的结果

sort of:有几分地

Let's try to rig up some sort of shelter.

让我们赶快搭个遮风挡雨的棚吧。

Instead of finding signals that might predict an earthquake,没有找到能够预测地震的信号

instead of:代替

Instead of pressing forward, they drew back.

他们不仅没有前进，反而后退了。

these natural disasters were far more complex than anyone had ever imagined.证明了这种自然灾害超乎想象地复杂

far more:多得多

I am far more of an individualist than I ever was.

我比以前更是一个个人主义者了。