Lesson 3 Natural Disasters 高二北师大版模块八 Unit 22 Environmental Protection

Talk freely: Do you know about natural disasters ? And effects ? droughts, earthquakes, floods, forest fires, hurricanes, landslides,tsunamis, typhoons, volcanic eruptions

drought

In June, 2008, Australia’s Anna Creek station sold half of its 16,000 head of cattle for slaughter ( 屠宰 ) and was moving the rest to other grazing lands ( 牧场 ) in the face of the country’s worst drought in a century.

earthquake

May 12, About 70,000 people were killed and about 18,000 people were reported missing after a 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck Sichuan, China.

flood

In June, 1938, Nationalist Chinese soldiers blew up dikes ( 堤 ) around the Yellow River to stop Japanese troops from advancing. More than half a million people died in the resulting flood.

forest fire

The 1997 forest fires in Indonesia that lasted well into 1998 was probably among the two or three, if not the largest forest fire in the last two centuries of recorded history. The forest fires burning in Indonesia began to affect neighbouring countries, spreading thick clouds of smoke and haze ( 烟雾 ). By the time the forest fires were finally over, some 8 million hectares ( 公顷 ) of land had burned while countless millions of people suffered from air pollution.

hurricane

Oct. 26-Nov. 4, Hurricane Mitch was the deadliest hurricane to hit the Americas. It killed 11,000 in Honduras ( 洪都拉斯 ) and Nicaragua ( 尼加 拉瓜 ) and left 2.5 million homeless.

landslide

On 6 December 2008, 4 people were killed, 15 people injured in a major landslide at Bukit Antarabangsa( 国际山 庄 ） in Malaysia that buried numerous homes in the area.

tsunami

Dec. 28, Southern Italy was ravaged ( 毁坏，蹂 躏 ) by a 7.2 magnitude quake that triggered ( 触发 ) a tsunami that hit the Messina- Reggio-Calabria （墨西拿 - 勒佐 - 卡拉布 里亚 ) area, killing 123,000.

typhoon

On August 8, 2009, Typhoon Morakot 莫 拉克台风, the worst typhoon in 50 years which hit Taiwan island, had claimed 461 lives and left 192 missing and 46 injured.

volcanic eruption

July 15, Mt. Pinatubo 皮纳图博 on Luzon Island 吕 宋岛 in the Philippines erupted, blanketing 750 square kilometres with volcanic ash. More than 800 died.

Step 1.Which of the disasters do you think are: caused by people? made worse by people? natural? droughts, earthquakes, floods, forest fires, hurricanes, landslides, tsunamis, typhoons, volcanic eruptions Disasters:

Disasters caused by people: Disasters made worse by people: Natural Disasters: forest fires hurricanes droughts, earthquakes, floods, landslides, tsunami, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, forest fires, hurricanes

Nature is turning on us

Step2. Use the strategies to complete the gaps in the text (1-5) with these sentences (a-g). There are two extra sentences you do not need. key:

Step3. Read the text again and answer these questions. 1) What is the attitude of the journalist towards the future? 2) Who are most likely to be the victims of natural disasters? Pessimistic/Negative. Poor people.

3) Why are there now more hurricanes, floods and droughts? 4) Why are volcanoes and earthquakes more dangerous now? Overpopulation and mismanagement of the world’s resources. Because around half the world’s population lives in cities, more than 500 million people now live within the range of volcanic eruption and an even greater number of people live at risk from earthquakes.

5) What could be the biggest threat to the planet in the future? 6) What effects might this threat have? A volcanic eruption. It might send the planet into winter for years.

Step4. Fill in the blanks about the text. In the last ___ years, there are more and more disasters such as _____, ________, windstorms, earthquakes, ________, volcanic _________and _____ fires all over the world. Why are so many disasters ? One of the reasons is over- __________. ten floods droughts typhoons eruptions forest population

__ addition, ______ change and the specter of global ________ caused by the mismanagement of the world’s resources can lead to the disasters or make them worse. In climate warming

At present, volcanoes and earthquakes are more _________ with the fast ______ of people. Earthquakes take the lives of 1.6 million People in the last hundred years. What is worse, the disaster professionals predict that the things will get _____. dangerous growth worse

Step5 Summary Ask several students to summarize the text in about 30 words.

Step6 Voice your opinions What can we do to improve the environment and help victims of natural disasters?

Homework To finish exercises in workbook