2月20日，正在菲律賓南萊特省泥石流災(zāi)區(qū)參加救援行動(dòng)的美國(guó)官員說(shuō)，由美國(guó)和馬來(lái)西亞搜救隊(duì)伍帶來(lái)的地震探測(cè)儀和聲音探測(cè)器，探測(cè)到了地下扒土和有節(jié)奏性的輕拍聲。雖然救援人員目前無(wú)法確定這是幸存者發(fā)出的求救聲，或是松軟泥土移位的聲音，但聲音探測(cè)器畢竟說(shuō)明被埋在泥中的師生有生還的可能。 請(qǐng)看《中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)》相關(guān)報(bào)道：Rescue workers refused to give up hope of finding survivors in an elementary school buried by up to 100 feet of mud, digging into the night Monday after detecting what the provincial governor called "signs of life." Sounds of scratching and a rhythmic tapping were picked up by seismic sensors and sound-detection gear brought in by US and Malaysian forces. 報(bào)道中的sound-detection gear就是給救援工作帶來(lái)希望的"聲音探測(cè)器"。就這個(gè)合成詞本身來(lái)講并不難，今天主要談?wù)剆ound在作為"探測(cè)"時(shí)的其它用法。Sound作動(dòng)詞時(shí)有"測(cè)探…的深度"之意，如：The expedition team is sounding the distance to the bottom and to the ice overhead（探險(xiǎn)隊(duì)員正在探測(cè)從水底到頂上冰塊的距離）。 由此，sound衍生出"試探、探詢"的意思，如：She listened to their conversation and tried to sound them as to their real intention（她傾聽(tīng)著她們的談話，試圖探聽(tīng)出他們的真實(shí)意圖）。這時(shí)，sound常和out連用，如：The mayor sounded out the experts' views on the question of environmental pollution（市長(zhǎng)征詢專家們對(duì)環(huán)境污染的意見(jiàn)）。 (中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)站編）