Mother Nature can act rather scary sometimes. Almost every day TV channels, radio and newspapers report on natural disasters striking different parts of the world. Scientists say that earthquakes, tornados, floods, droughts, tsunamis, landslides and hurricanes are happening more frequently nowadays. Global warming, pollution and growing industrialization lead to imbalance in our echo-system.
A natural disaster can be defined as an uncontrollable extreme disruption which causes ecological and financial damage and victims of vulnerable population. Sometimes the events can be predicted by special meteorological warning systems and they often happen in the same geographical area because they are related to climate and physical characteristics of the region. For example, Florida is constantly suffering from tornadoes and hurricanes, and Japan – from earthquakes.
An earthquake happens when tectonic plates of the earth move and they make the area shake violently. According to the Richter scale the magnitude of earthquakes is measured from 1 to 10 points. The most powerful earthquake was recorded in 1960 in Chile, its magnitude was 9.5.
Volcanic eruptions occur when hot red magma erupts from the earth’s crust and flows from the top of the volcano. It also throws volcano ashes into the air which are harmful to inhale for human beings and animals.
A tsunami is a series of dangerous huge ocean waves, usually caused by underwater earthquakes. This natural disaster attacks the shore all of a sudden and often results in thousands of deaths. The height of the waves can reach 30 metres.
Flooding is another natural disaster. Floods happen when the water level in rivers and seas becomes too high. Sometimes flash floods can even wash away whole villages.
7. Read the text again. Are the statements true or false? Correct the false statements.
1) The train pushers' job is a full-time job. False. It's a part-time job.
2) Trains are crowded in the morning and in the evening. True
3) People hire stand-in-liners not to waste their time waiting in queues. True
4) Not everybody can work as an ice cream taster. True
5) Ice cream tasters work themselves. False. They work for large ice- cream corporations.
8. Match the highlighted words in the texts with their definitions:
1) crowded - (adj.) very full of people (многолюдный, переполненный)
2) flavors - (n.) the taste of a particular type of food or drink (вкусовые оттенки)
3) evaluate - (v.) to consider or study something carefully and decide how good or bad it is (оценивать)
4) consistency - (n.) how thick or smooth a liquid is (консистенция)
5) hire - (v.) to begin to employ someone (нанимать)
6) texture (n.) the way food or drink tastes or feels in your mouth (текстура)
7) rush hours (n.) the time when a lot of people are travelling to or from work and so roads and trains are very busy (часы пик)
8) degree - (n.) a qualification given for completing a university course (степень)
