閱讀難度：

Six Italian scientists and a former government official went on trial on manslaughter charges Tuesday for allegedly failing to give sufficient warning to residents before the devastating 2009 earthquake that killed more than 300 people in L'Aquilla, central Italy, AP reported.

The seven defendants are accused of giving "inexact, incomplete and contradictory information" about whether the smaller tremors felt by L'Aquila residents in the six months before the April 6, 2009 quake should have constituted grounds for a quake warning.

The plaintiffs are seeking some 50 million euros in damages.

The case is being closely watched by seismologists around the globe who insist it's impossible to predict earthquakes and that no major quake has ever been foretold. Last year, about 5,200 international researchers signed a petition supporting their Italian colleagues.

（點(diǎn)擊雅虎新聞網(wǎng)站查看原文）

意科學(xué)家誤斷地震受審

???????美聯(lián)社報(bào)道，周二，6名意大利科學(xué)家和1名前政府官員因殺人指控受審，因?yàn)閾?jù)稱他們沒能在2009年大地震前有效地警告居民，那次地震在拉奎拉造成300余人死亡。

???????這7名被告被指控提供“不準(zhǔn)確、不完整、相互矛盾的”信息，沒能說清2009年4月6日地震6個(gè)月前拉奎拉居民感受到的小震是否能構(gòu)成地震警告的依據(jù)。

???????原告尋求約5000萬歐元的損失賠償。

???????該案備受全世界地震學(xué)家的關(guān)注，他們堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為地震無法預(yù)測，沒有一個(gè)大地震是預(yù)測到的。去年，約5200名國際研究人員簽署請?jiān)笗С忠獯罄小?/p>

(China.org.cn September 23, 2011)