评论
打印
2016年6月第1套 讲座讲话 第1题
16. A) How catastrophic natural disasters turn out to be to developing nations.
B) How the World Meteorological Organization studies natural disasters.
C) How powerless humans appear to be in face of natural disasters.
D) How the negative impacts of natural disasters can be reduced.
17. A) By training rescue teams for emergencies.
B) By taking steps to prepare people for them.
C) By changing people's views of nature.
D) By relocating people to safer places.
18. A) How preventive action can reduce the loss of life.
B) How courageous Cubans are in face of disasters.
C) How Cubans suffer from tropical storms.
D) How destructive tropical storms can be.
听力文本：
The negative impacts of natural disasters can be seen everywhere. In just the past few weeks, the world has witnessed the destructive powers of earthquakes in Indonesia, typhoons in the Philippines, and the destructive sea waves that struck Samoa and neighboring islands. A study by the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters finds that, between 1980 and 2007, nearly 8,400 natural disasters killed more than two million people. These catastrophic events caused more than $1.5 trillion in economic losses.
U.N. weather expert Geoffrey Love says that is the bad news. "Over the last 50 years, economic losses have increased by a factor of 50. That sounds pretty terrible, but the loss of life has decreased by a factor of 10 simply because we are getting better at warning people. We are making a difference. Extreme events, however, will continue to occur. [16]But, the message is that they need not be disasters. "
Love, who is director of Weather and Disaster Risk Reduction at the World Meteorological Organization, says most of the deaths and economic losses were caused by weather, climate, or water-related extremes. These include droughts, floods, windstorms, strong tropical winds and wildfires.
He says extreme events will continue. But, he says extreme events become disasters only when people fail to prepare for them.
"Many of the remedies are well-known. From a planning perspective, it is pretty simple. Build better buildings. Don't build where the hazards will destroy them. From an early-warning perspective, make sure the warnings go right down to the community level. Build community action plans."
The World Meteorological Organization points to Cuba and Bangladesh as examples of countries that have successfully reduced the loss of life caused by natural disasters by taking preventive action.
It says tropical storms formerly claimed dozens, if not hundreds of lives, each year, in Cuba. But, the development of an early-warning system has reversed that trend. In 2008, Cuba was hit by five successive hurricanes, but only seven people were killed.
Bangladesh also has achieved substantial results. Major storm surges in 1970 and 1991 caused the deaths of about 440,000 people. Through careful preparation，the death toll from a super tropical storm in November 2007 was less than 3,500.
16. What is the talk mainly about?
17. How can we stop extreme events from turning into disasters?
18. What does the example of Cuba serve to show?
参考答案：
16.D
17.B
18.A
adj. 实质的，可观的，大量的，坚固的
n.
