2．(教材P34)I was appointed as a volcanologist working for the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) twenty years ago.

　　20年前，作为一名火山学家，我被派到夏威夷火山观测站(HVO)工作。

　　appoint vt. 任命；委派；约定；指定(时间、地点等)

　　(1)appoint sb. as/to be ...　　　 任命某人为......

　　appoint sb. to do sth. 委派某人做某事

　　(2)appointment n. 任命；约会

　　make an appointment with sb. 与某人约会

　　have an appointment with sb. 与某人有约会

　　keep/break an appointment 守/违约

　　①We appointed him to be president of the club.

　　我们任命他为俱乐部主任。

　　②We are considering appointing him to act (act) as secretary.

　　我们在考虑指定他当秘书。

　　③I left early because I had an appointment (appoint) later that day.

　　因为那天晚些时候我有个约会，就早点离开了。

　　3．(教材P34)Unfortunately, we cannot move their homes out of the way, and many houses have been covered with lava or burned to the ground.

　　遗憾的是，我们不可能把他们的家搬离岩浆流经之路，因此，许多房屋被熔岩淹没，或者焚烧殆尽。

　　burn ... to the ground (楼房等)被(全部)烧毁；全部焚毁

　　①Those bad men were trying to burn the building to the ground.

　　那些坏人正试图把大楼烧成平地。

　　②The tower, which was completed only a month ago, was burned to the ground last night.

　　仅一个月前刚完工的那座塔昨天晚上被烧毁了。

　　4．(教材P34)The lava that flows slowly like a wave down the mountain causes far more damage because it buries everything in its path under the molten rock.

　　而像波浪一样顺着山坡缓缓流下的火山熔岩所造成的损失却大得多，这是因为火山岩浆所流经的地方，一切东西都被掩埋在熔岩下面了。

wave n．波浪；波涛；挥手 vi.& vt.飘扬；挥舞；挥手