| run out; at the first attempt; take measures to do sth.; breathe in; suffer from; rescue...from… |
Parts of Africa are covered by a dark cloud. But this is no rain cloud. It is a living cloud made of billions of locusts (蝗虫) that are traveling across the continent eating everything in their path.
And now in the battle to stop this disaster, a radio station in Senegal, West Africa, is offering listeners 50 kilograms of rice if they can catch and kill 50 kilograms of locusts. "We think this idea will get more people to take part in the war on the locusts," said Abdoulaye Ba, from Sud-FM, a radio station in one of Senegal's worst affected areas.
This is West Africa's biggest locust disaster in 15 years, and it is moving east, causing huge damage to crops. As they move, they produce young and increase their number and will soon threaten(威胁) Sudan in the northeast of Africa. Some say it could reach Asia. Experts say the harmful effect on crops in areas already suffering from food shortage and war could cause many people to go hungry. Governments in the areas are not well equipped to fight the pest.
Although leaders of 12 countries have agreed on a plan, it is not expected to be enough. "We are now treating 6,000 hectares(公顷) per day with pesticide (杀虫剂), but we need to treat 20,000 hectares per day in order to have any hope of controlling this disaster," said Mohamed Abdallahi Ould Babah, director of locust control in Mauritania.
"Requests are being made for international aid, which is the only way to limit the disaster," ,the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization warned.
Joe Simpson and Simon Yates were the first people to climb the West Face of the Siula Grande in the Andes mountains. They reached the top1, but on their way back conditions were very difficult. Joe fell and broke his leg. They both knew that if Simon2alone, he would probably get back safely. But Simon decided to risk his3and try to lower Joe down the mountain on a rope(绳).
As they4down, the weather got worse. Then another trouble occurred. They couldn't see or hear each other and,5, Simon lowered his friend over the edge of a precipice (峭壁). It was6for Joe to climb back or for Simon to pull him up. Joe's7was pulling Simon slowly towards the precipice.8after more than an hour in the dark and the icy-cold, Simon had to9. In tears, he cut the rope. Joe10into a large crevasse (裂缝) in the ice below. He had no food or water and he was in terrible pain. He couldn't walk, but he11to get out of the crevasse and started to move towards their camp, nearly ten kilometers away.
Simon had12the camp at the foot of the mountain. He thought that Joe must be13, but he didn't want to leave14. Three days later, in the middle of the night, he heard Joe's voice. He couldn't15it. Joe was there, a few meter's from their tent, still alive.
Earthquakes are quite common. In fact, thousands of earthquakes are happening almost at every moment. , most of them are too weak to feel. During a big earthquake, there is often a big noise first. Then the earth shakes (terrible) and many houses fall down.
As one of the most deadly natural disasters in the world, earthquakes often result many people being injured or killed. In 2008, a terrible earthquake (strike) China's Sichuan Province, killing tens of thousands of people there.
Besides the great damage and deaths (cause) by the earthquake, other accidents such as fires often follow. More buildings may be damaged and more injuries may be caused. For (century), people have been making studies of earthquakes. About 2,000 years ago, for example, Chinese scientist named Zhang Heng invented a machine which could find out the direction where the earthquake waves came.
With the rapid (develop) of modern science and technology, we now know a lot (much) about earthquakes. However, scientists still have difficulty (predict) exactly when and where the earthquake will happen, and can't stop it from happening.
