THIS was the year the Earth struck back.

Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, snow storms, landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter of a million people in 2010 – the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.

"It just seemed like it was back-to-back and it came in waves," said Craig Fugate, who heads the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.

And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.

Even though many catastrophes have the ring of random chance, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and weird(古怪的) year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes.

Poor construction and development practices conspire to make earthquakes more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable(脆弱的) buildings in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes, the river breaches, or the tropical cyclone hits, more people die.

Disasters from the Earth, such as earthquakes and volcanoes "are pretty much constant," said Andreas Schraft, vice president of catastrophic perils for the Geneva-based insurance giant Swiss Re. "All the change that's made is man-made."

The January earthquake that killed well more than 220,000 people in Haiti is a perfect example. Port-au-Prince has nearly three times as many people - many of them living in poverty - and more poorly built shanties than it did 25 years ago. So had the same quake hit in 1985 instead of 2010, total deaths would have probably been in the 80,000 range, said Richard Olson, director of disaster risk reduction at Florida International University.

In February, an earthquake that was more than 500 times stronger than the one that struck Haiti hit an area of Chile that was less populated, better constructed, and not as poor. Chile's bigger quake caused fewer than 1,000 deaths.

Climate scientists say Earth's climate also is changing, bringing extreme weather, such as heat waves and flooding.

In the summer, one weather system caused oppressive heat in Russia, while farther south it caused flooding in Pakistan that inundated 161,200 square kilometers, about the size of Wisconsin. That single heat-and-storm system killed almost 17,000 people, more people than all the worldwide airplane crashes in the past 15 years.

Scientists have calculated that the killer Russian heat wave—setting a national record of 43.9℃—would happen once every 100,000 years without global warming.

What is responsible for the most human deaths in 2010?

A.Natrual disasters.       B.Terrorist attacks.

    C.Poor buildings.      D.Too rapid developrnent.

According to Andreas Schraft,             .

A.earthquakes are happening more often because of human beings

B.earthquakes are causing more damage because of human beings

C.stronger houses should be built to limit storm damage

D.Port—au—Prince is now overpopulated

The main point of the article is to           

A.list the natural disasters that occurred in 2010

B.give the details of some natural disasters of 2010

C.warn that more natural disasters are to strike

D.blame humanity for not helping those affected by the disasters

The largest earthquake ( magnitude里氏 9.5) of the 20th century happened on May 22, 1960 off the coast of South Central Chile.

    It generated(生成) one of the most destructive Pacific-wide tsunamis(海啸). Near the generating area, both the earthquake and the tsunami were very much destructive, particularly in the coastal area from Concepcion to the south end of Isla(岛) Chiloe. The largest tsunami damage occurred at Isla Chiloe---the coastal area closest to the epicenter(震中). Huge tsunami waves measuring as high as 25 meters arrived within 10 to 15 minutes after the earthquake, killing at least two hundred people, sinking all the boats, and flooding half a kilometer inland.

    There was large damage and loss of life at Concepcion, Chile's top industrial city. Near the city of Valdivia, the earthquake and following aftershocks generated landslides which killed 18 people. At the port city of Valparaiso, a city of 200,000, many buildings collapsed. A total of 130,000 houses were destroyed --- one in every three in the earthquake zone and nearly 2,000,000 people were left homeless.

Total damage losses, including to agriculture and to industry, were estimated(估计) to be over a half billion dollars . The total number of death related with both the tsunami and the earthquake was never found accurately for the region. Estimates of deaths reached between 490 to 5,7002 with no distinction(差别) as to how many deaths were caused by the earthquake and how many were caused by the tsunami. However, it is believed that most of the deaths in Chile were caused by the tsunami.                                                                                       

Where did the largest tsunami damage occurred?

   A. Concepcion      B. Isla Chiloe       C. Valdivia      D. Valparaiso

What can we learn about the tsunami waves generated by the earthquake?

   A. The tsunami waves as high as 25 meters arrived immediately after the earthquake.

   B. The tsunami waves killed 200 people and sank all boats.

   C. The tsunami waves were very destructive.

   D. The tsunami waves flooded half of the inland.

What is generally thought the main cause of deaths in Chile?

   A. landslides      B. the tsunami      C. aftershocks      D. the magnitude 9.5 earthquake

What is the total number of deaths in the earthquake?

   A. 2,000,000      B. between 490 to 57,002     

   C. 200,000        D. it was hard to know.

What does the underlined word “collapsed” probably mean ?

   A. was destroyed     B.. caught fire      C. was flooded       D. sank

                                  

2010 was the year the Earth struck back.
Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards (暴风雪), landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010 – the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.
“It just seemed like it was back-to-back(接二连三) and it came in waves,” said Craig Fugate, who heads the US Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.
“The term “100-year event’ really lost its meaning this year.”
And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.
Even though many disasters have the ring of random chance, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and strange year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes.
Poor construction and development practices make earthquakes more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable buildings(危房) in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes, the river floods, or the tropical cyclone hits, more people die.
Disasters from the Earth, such as earthquakes and volcanoes “are pretty much constant,” said Andreas Schraft, vice president of catastrophic perils for the Geneva-based insurance giant Swiss Re. “All the change that’s made is man-made.”
The January earthquake that killed well more than 220,000 people in Haiti is a perfect example. Port-au-Prince has nearly three times as many people – many of them living in poverty- and more poorly built shanties(棚户区) ,than it did 25 years ago. So had the same quake hit in 1985 instead of 2010; total deaths would have probably been in the 80,000 range, said Richard Olson, director of disaster risk reduction at Florida International University.
Climate scientists say Earth’s climate also is changing thanks to man-made global warming, bringing extreme weather, such as heat waves and flooding.
The excessive(过多的) amount of extreme weather that dominated 2010 is a classic sign of man-made global warming that climate scientists have long warned about. They calculate that the killer Russian heat wave – setting a national record of 111 degrees – would happen once every 100,000 years without global warming.
Data show that 18 countries broke their records for the hottest day ever.
“The Earth strikes back in response to bad human decision-making,” said Debarati Guha Sapir.” “It’s almost as if the policies, the government policies and development policies, are helping the Earth strike back instead of protecting from it. We’ve created conditions where the slightest thing the Earth does is really going to have a surprising impact.” White House science adviser John Holdren said we should get used to climate disasters or do something about global warming. “The science is clear that we can expect more and more of these kinds of damaging events unless and until society has sharply reduced the amount of heat-trapping gases and particles(颗粒).”
【小题1】From paragraph 1 to paragraph 3, we learn   ___________________________.

A.what natural disasters mean to the people all over the world
B.how terrorism attacks struck in the past four decades
C.how the Earth struck back in 2010
D.why the world saw so many disasters in 2010
【小题2】The author gives the example of the big earthquake in Haiti to show that     ___________ .
A.poor construction largely accounts for more deaths than expected
B.man’s behaviours are to blame for the constant occurrence of natural disasters
C.the extreme weather mainly contributes to the disaster of the quake
D.the country’s poverty and over- crowdedness results in the disaster
【小题3】 Which of the following would Debarati Guha Sapir most probably agree with?
A.Environment protection should be taken into account in policy-making.
B.Natural disasters are causing increase.
C.The earth wouldn’t strike back but for the destruction by man.
D.Conditions should be created to rid the influence of disasters.
【小题4】 According to John Holdren, the best way to cut back on the number of natural disasters is    __________________ .
A.to forecast the happening of natural disasters accurately
B.to build stronger houses that can stand severe earthquakes and floods
C.to make better decisions and policies of city development
D.to send out much fewer greenhouse gases and particles
【小题5】What is the real concern of the writer of this article?
A.The major causes of natural disasters.
B.The human unawareness of environment protection.
C.The harmonious relationship between humans and nature.
D.The serious results of global warming and earthquakes.

2010 was the year the Earth struck back.

   Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards (暴风雪), landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010 – the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.

   “It just seemed like it was back-to-back(接二连三) and it came in waves,” said Craig Fugate, who heads the US Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.

“The term “100-year event’ really lost its meaning this year.”

And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.

Even though many disasters have the ring of random chance, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and strange year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes.

Poor construction and development practices make earthquakes more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable buildings(危房) in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes, the river floods, or the tropical cyclone hits, more people die.

Disasters from the Earth, such as earthquakes and volcanoes “are pretty much constant,” said Andreas Schraft, vice president of catastrophic perils for the Geneva-based insurance giant Swiss Re. “All the change that’s made is man-made.”

The January earthquake that killed well more than 220,000 people in Haiti is a perfect example. Port-au-Prince has nearly three times as many people – many of them living in poverty- and more poorly built shanties(棚户区) ,than it did 25 years ago. So had the same quake hit in 1985 instead of 2010; total deaths would have probably been in the 80,000 range, said Richard Olson, director of disaster risk reduction at Florida International University.

Climate scientists say Earth’s climate also is changing thanks to man-made global warming, bringing extreme weather, such as heat waves and flooding.

The excessive(过多的) amount of extreme weather that dominated 2010 is a classic sign of man-made global warming that climate scientists have long warned about. They calculate that the killer Russian heat wave – setting a national record of 111 degrees – would happen once every 100,000 years without global warming.

Data show that 18 countries broke their records for the hottest day ever.

“The Earth strikes back in response to bad human decision-making,” said Debarati Guha Sapir.” “It’s almost as if the policies, the government policies and development policies, are helping the Earth strike back instead of protecting from it. We’ve created conditions where the slightest thing the Earth does is really going to have a surprising impact.” White House science adviser John Holdren said we should get used to climate disasters or do something about global warming. “The science is clear that we can expect more and more of these kinds of damaging events unless and until society has sharply reduced the amount of heat-trapping gases and particles(颗粒).”

1.From paragraph 1 to paragraph 3, we learn   ___________________________.

   A. what natural disasters mean to the people all over the world

   B. how terrorism attacks struck in the past four decades

   C. how the Earth struck back in 2010

   D. why the world saw so many disasters in 2010

2.The author gives the example of the big earthquake in Haiti to show that     ___________ .

   A. poor construction largely accounts for more deaths than expected

   B. man’s behaviours are to blame for the constant occurrence of natural disasters

   C. the extreme weather mainly contributes to the disaster of the quake

   D. the country’s poverty and over- crowdedness results in the disaster

3. Which of the following would Debarati Guha Sapir most probably agree with?

   A. Environment protection should be taken into account in policy-making.

   B. Natural disasters are causing increase.

   C. The earth wouldn’t strike back but for the destruction by man.

   D. Conditions should be created to rid the influence of disasters.

4. According to John Holdren, the best way to cut back on the number of natural disasters is    __________________ .

   A. to forecast the happening of natural disasters accurately

   B. to build stronger houses that can stand severe earthquakes and floods

   C. to make better decisions and policies of city development

   D. to send out much fewer greenhouse gases and particles

5.What is the real concern of the writer of this article?

   A. The major causes of natural disasters.

   B. The human unawareness of environment protection.

   C. The harmonious relationship between humans and nature.

   D. The serious results of global warming and earthquakes.

 

2010 was the year the Earth struck back.

Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards(暴风雪), landslides(滑坡)and droughts

killed at least a quarter million people in 2010---the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.

“It just seemed like it was back-to-back (接二连三) and it came waves,” said Craig Fugate, who heads the US Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.

“The term ' 100-year event ' really lost its meaning this year.”

And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.

Even though many disasters seem accidental, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and strange year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes.

Poor construction and development practices make earthquake more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable building (危房) in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes the river breaches(攻破), or the tropical cyclone (旋风) hits, more people die.

The January earthquake that killed well more than 220000 people in Haita is a perfect example. Port-au-Prince has nearly three times as many people, many of them living in poverty, and more poorly built shanties (棚户区) than it did 25 years ago. So had the same quake hit in 1985 instead of 2010, total deaths would have probably been in the 80 000 range, said Richard Olson, director of disaster risk reduction at Florida International University.

Climate scientists say Earth's climate also is changing thanks to man-made global warning, bringing extreme weather, such as heat waves and flooding.

The excessive (过多的) amount of extreme weather of 2010 is a clear sign of man-made global warning that climate scientists have long warned about. They calculate that the killer Russian heat wave ---setting a national record of 111 degrees --- would happen once every 100000 years without global warning.

Preliminary (之前的) data show that 18 counties broke their records for the hottest day ever.

White House science adviser John Holdren said we should get used to climate disasters or do something about global warning. "The science is clear that we can expect more and more of these kinds of damaging events unless and until society's emissions of heat-trapping (吸热的)gases and particles are sharply reduce."

1. What does the second paragraph mainly tell us?

A.How the Earth struck back in 2010.           B. Why the Earth struck back.

C.How terrorism attacks struck.                D. What natural disaster mean to us.

2.What does the underlined word "it" refer to in the third paragraph?

A. Earthquake.     B. The Earth.     C. 2010           D. Natural disaster.

3.What do the fifth, sixth and seventh paragraphs mainly tell us?

A. The reason why there were so mainly disasters in 2010.

B. The way that natural disasters happened.

C. The way that man built buildings.

D. The way that people lived.

4.What is the way to cut back on the number of natural disasters?

A. To build stronger houses.                  

B.To develop less.

C. To reduce the emissions of heat-trapping gases and particles greatly.

D. To forecast the happening of natural disasters correctly.

5.Why did the writer give the example of the earthquake that happened in Haiti?

A. To show more people's living in vulnerable building can cause more people to die in an earthquake.

B. To show Haiti is a poor country.            

C.To show Port-au-Prince is too crowded.

D.To show man's forecast ability of an earthquake reduced.

 

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