冰島火山噴發 被困遊客免費泡溫泉
With its geothermal assets put in the spotlight by the volcano ash that has grounded much of Europe's air traffic, Iceland on Saturday urged visitors stranded there to take a free dip in its thermal pools.
"We have bubbling hot waters, spas, saunas and heated water pools to swim in," Svanhildur Konradsdottir, chairwoman of the Icelandic Tourist Council, said.
The tourist body said it had offered all stranded visitors free access to the capital Reykjavik's eight pools, which have temperatures ranging from 29 to 42 C (84 to 108 degrees Farenheit). Konradsdottir said the uptake had been tremendous.
"There are loads of people out and about, the response has been incredible," she told the reporters, adding that despite the volcano spewing soot into the atmosphere, the skies were sunny and blue over the city.
The eruption is taking place under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, normally a popular hiking ground about 120 km (75 miles) southeast of the capital.
A cloud of ash from the volcano has drifted southeast across Europe, grounding thousands of flights and stranding passengers worldwide.
Flights are operating on regular schedules between Iceland and the United States but service from the island nation to other destinations is limited by the airport shutdowns caused by the ash plume.
冰島火山噴發形成的大量火山灰致使歐洲大量航班停飛，而該國的地熱資源也因此成爲人們關注的焦點。冰島有關部門於上週六表示，被困在冰島境內的遊客可前往該國的溫泉池免費泡溫泉。
冰島旅遊局主席斯萬赫德•康拉德斯圖蒂爾女士說：“我們有泡泡溫泉、水療、桑拿和溫水泳池。”
據冰島旅遊局介紹稱，首都雷克雅未克的8個溫泉池都免費向被困遊客開放，這些溫泉池的水溫在攝氏29度至42度之間（華氏84度至108度之間）。康拉德斯圖蒂爾稱，該消息發佈後，吸引了大量遊客前來泡溫泉。
她在接受記者採訪時說：“很多遊客前往溫泉池泡溫泉，反響十分熱烈。”她說，儘管火山持續噴出菸灰，但首都的天空依然晴朗湛藍。
目前，艾雅法拉冰原下的一座火山仍在噴發，這裏位於首都東南部約120公里（75英里）處，平常是一處頗受歡迎的徒步旅行地。
火山灰雲已向東南方向漂移，遍佈整個歐洲，已造成全球數千架航班停飛，大量旅客滯留。
冰島至美國的航班仍照常飛行，但由於火山灰塵導致機場關閉，該島國至其它目的地的航空服務受到了限制。
Vocabulary:
geothermal：of or pertaining to the internal heat of the earth（地熱的）
ground：to restrict (an aircraft or the like) to the ground because of bad weather, the unsatisfactory condition of the aircraft, etc.使停飛，阻止……起飛）
uptake: 攝入；攝取
out and about：進行戶外活動，遍遊某地
hiking：a long walk or march（徒步旅行）
