发布时间 : 星期一 文章新视野大学英语视听说教程4（第二版）听力原文与答案更新完毕开始阅读
powerful waves.
Son:
Could we surf on them? That would be cool!
Mother: They're not cool. They are very destructive. When they pound the shores
of populated areas, they cause tremendous damage. They destroy everything in their path. Son:
What causes them?
Mother: I think they are caused by some sort of shock, like an earthquake,
volcano, or landslide, that starts a chain reaction in the ocean. Son:
Do the waves get so big that they crush buildings?
Mother: Easily. They can be dozens of meters high. They toss cars and houses
around as though they were children's toys. Son:
Can you see them coming?
Mother: You can see them at quite a distance. But there's not much you can do.
In the open ocean they move at up to 800 kilometers per hour, but when it reaches the shore, the system slows down and the waves get bigger. Son:
How big?
Mother: They can reach 30 meters, big enough to finish you off in one gulp.
BCADC Task 2
South Africa is heading for a disaster in the new year because of a drought. The water levels at some dams have dropped to under 20 percent while the ground water table has dropped by as much as 30 meters.
Emergency measures have been introduced to ensure that millions of people have enough water to survive. In rural areas without dams, the government has to send water by truck and sink new, deeper wells to provide drinking water. Tanked water is provided to about 3.5 million South Africans. People here normally use barely 30 liters a day, and it is impossible to further limit their usage. That is why agricultural use has to be restricted.
More than 100,000 farm workers might lose their jobs if it does not rain soon. Water restrictions, which have a negative influence on the
agricultural sector in particular, have already been imposed on several districts. Farmers have been forced to stop irrigating their crops to
ensure that enough water is available for domestic use. Maize farmers in the eastern parts of the country have almost no hope of planting their crops in time. They need rain within the next two weeks to be able to start planting. Where farmers did sow, the seedlings have been scorched under the sun.
An estimated 40,000 head of livestock have died because of the dry spell. Thousands of stock farmers will have to slaughter their livestock on a large scale because there is no grass left. The parts suffering the most are rural areas without dams. If it does not rain, people there will face a huge crisis.
BBABA Task 3
A natural disaster is the consequence of a hazardous event, occurring when human activities are affected by adverse natural phenomena such as flood, drought, hailstorm, heat wave, forest fire, hurricane, typhoon, tornado, tsunami, landslide and mudslide, or volcanic eruption. The scale of the resulting deaths or property damage depends on the human ability to resist the disasters.
Sometimes two seemingly different disasters may be related to each other. For example, an undersea earthquake may result in a tsunami. While there is a long dry spell in one area, there may be a great flood in another. A drought is a long-lasting weather pattern consisting of dry conditions with very little or no precipitation. During this period, food and water supplies can run low, and other conditions, such as famine, can occur. Droughts can last for several years and are particularly damaging in areas in which the residents depend on agriculture for survival.
A flood follows too much rain or water in a location, and could be the result of many different conditions. Floods can be caused by heavy rainfall from a storm, including thunderstorms, rapid melting of large amounts of snow, or rivers which swell from too much precipitation upstream, causing widespread damage to areas downstream. Another possible cause of floods is the bursting of man-made dams.
Correct answer drought
tsunami undersea result in dry spell flood water supplies famine agriculture heavy rainfall melting swell
man-made dams Let’s talk Task 1
Disaster has struck in Haiti. An earthquake of huge proportions erupted in the Caribbean island—one of the poorest communities in the West. Buildings, which were badly built, tumbled, burying thousands of people in their own homes.
Haiti is a poor country with few emergency services to help. The islanders had to use their bare hands to search for their families. They waited for teams from overseas countries like Britain and the United States to bring equipment and manpower to help rescue any survivors they could find. It's feared that more than 100,000 people have died. One school friend lies injured on the pavement. Another voices her sorrow. The historic cathedral was badly damaged; and at the presidential palace, the roof collapsed.
The islanders here know about earthquakes. Haiti lies in an area where there are frequent tremors and also tropical storms. But last week's earthquake registered seven on the Richter scale—almost as high as the scale can go. It was the biggest for 200 years. It happened eight
kilometers beneath the Earth's crust—that's quite close to the surface, so the tremors were really strong.
There were also lots of aftershocks—tremors that happen after the main earthquake. Those aftershocks can also cause damage as buildings collapse further and trap people who might have survived the first disaster. The British government has promised 20 million pounds of aid to help Haiti, and many people have also made donations.
Now the concern is to prevent disease hitting areas without clean water or enough medical help.
Correct answer erupted burying few overseas rescue injured damaged islanders seven biggest close aftershocks trap