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It’s reported that powerful Cyclone Pam has impacted at least half the population of Vanuatu, which is a South Pacific island nation.
“Vanuatu is used to disasters but the indications are that Cyclone Pam has caused unprecedented damages,” said President Baldwin Lonsdale in a press release.
The leader of the island nation noted that following a direct hit from the Category 5 storm on Friday, at least two deaths have been confirmed and over 30 injured people are being treated in the Central Hospital in the capital, Port Vila where many people are now homeless and torrential rain has led to severe flooding. He also said bridges which link the capital with the rest of the island have been destroyed.
Mr. Lonsdale made his appeal from Sendai, Japan, where he has been attending since Sunday the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. The Conference has drawn thousands of Government and civil society delegations to craft a new framework for managing disaster risk which will reduce mortality and curb economic losses.
The country is already threatened by coastal erosion and rising sea levels in addition to five active volcanoes and earthquakes. "This is why I am attending this Conference and why Vanuatu wants to see a strong new framework on disaster risk reduction which will support us in tackling the drivers of disaster risk such as climate change."
Meanwhile, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that it is estimated that at least half the population of Vanuatu has been affected by cyclone Pam. Of these, at least 54,000 are children.
Many homes in Vanuatu have likely been destroyed as they are built with natural and local materials such as thatched and corrugated roofs that are vulnerable to strong winds and floods.
Other Pacific Island countries have been severely impacted as well, including the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Kiribati.
A UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team was expected arrive in Port Vila late Saturday. OCHA was also expected to deploy three staff with information management, public information and humanitarian coordination as well.
From what President Baldwin Lonsdale said in the second paragraph, we can know that ______.
| A．Vanuatu is a beautiful South Pacific island nation. |
| B．Vanuatu wants to see a strong new framework on disaster risk reduction. |
| C．Vanuatu suffers from natural disasters a lot. |
| D．Vanuatu will have a bright future on tourism. |
According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．At least 3 deaths have been confirmed and over twenty people injured. |
| B．Port Vila is the capital of Vanuatu. |
| C．The country is not yet threatened by coastal erosion and rising sea levels. |
| D．The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that half the children has been affected by cyclone Pam. |
What can we know from the last three paragraphs?
| A．Some international rescue teams are being under way. |
| B．Four other Pacific Island countries have been severely impacted by Cyclone Pam except Vanuatu. |
| C．Many houses in Vanuatu are still strong enough for people to live in. |
| D．A UN team was expected arrive in Port Vila late Sunday. |
Where was the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction being held?
A. In Vanuatu. B. In the USA.
C. In China. D. In Japan.
Doctors say anger can be an extremely damaging emotion,unless you learn how to deal with it.They warn that anger can lead to heart disease,stomach problems,headaches,emotional probems and possibly cancer.
Anger is a normal emotion that we all feel from time to time.Some people express anger openly in a calm reasonable way.Other burst with anger,and scream and yell(咆哮).But other people keep their anger inside.They can not or will not express it.This is called repressing anger.
For years many doctors thought that repressing anger was more dangerous to a person's health than expressing it.They said that when a person is angry,the brain releases the same hor-mones(荷尔蒙).They speed the heart rate,raise blood pressure,or sugar into the blood,etc.In general the person feels excited and ready to act.
Some doctors say that both repressing and expressing anger can be dangerous.They believe that those who express anger violently may be more likely to develop heart disease,and they believe that those who keep their anger inside may face a greater danger of high blood pressure.
Doctors say the solution(解决办法) is learning how to deal with anger.They say the first step is to admit that you are angry and to recognize the real cause of the anger,then decide if the cause is serious enough to get angry about.If it is,they say,“Do not express your anger while angry.Wait until your anger has cooled down and you are able to express yourself calmly and reasonably.”
Doctors say that a good way to deal with anger is to find humor in the situation that has made you angry.They said that laughter is much healthier than anger.“Damaging emotion” means that _________.
| A．the emotion is harmless |
| B．the emotion is harmful |
| C．the feeling is very strong |
| D．the feeling is hard |
Expressing anger violently _________ repressing it according to some scientists.
| A．is just the same as |
| B．is more harmful than |
| C．is no better than |
| D．is much better than |
According to the author,you'd better _________.
| A．never be angry |
| B．cool it down before you express it |
| C．laugh and laugh when you get angry |
| D．admit you are wrong when you are angry |
It was four o'clock when we left Micatlan,and we traveled quickly until it became almost completely dark.It was our intention to return to our general quarters in Atlacomulco that night.We had a long journey ahead of us,especially because it had been decided there was no way we would try to cross the ravines again at night,since they were considered far too dangerous.Futhermore,an eclipse of the moon was expected,and,in fact,while we were crossing an open field,the moon appeared on the horizon,half in shadow,a rare and beautiful sight.
After a few hours of riding,we suddenly realized that we had lost our way,and worse still,had no way of finding it again.Night had fallen and there was not a single hut in sight,only great plains and mountains and the lowing of distant bulls all around us.We continued on ahead,trusting in luck,though it was difficult to say where she had brought us.By good fortune,our advance riders ran into two Indians,a man and a boy,who agreed to guide us their village and no further.
After an interminable and exhausting road,which we traveled at a brisk trot,the barking of several dogs announced an Indian village.In the dying light,we could just make out cane huts,firmly situated between the banana trees,with fenced gardens in front of each one.Our convoy stopped in front of one particular hut,a kind of inn or shop for alcohol,where a naked goblin-like figure,the ideal husband for a witch,was serving cheap brandy to the Indians,most of whom were already drunk.
We dismounted and threw ourselves to the ground,too tired to even think.Someone found us,God knows how,a cup of dreadful hot chocolate.We began to realize that we were completely lost,and so it was agreed to give up our attempt to reach Atlacomulco that night.Instead,we should head for the village of “E1 Puente”,where our guides know a Spanish family,made up of several unmarried brothers,who,without any doubt,would be delighted to offer us a safe refuge for the rest of the night.We remounted and began our journey,a little restored after the pause in our journey and the dreadful hot chocolate.Where did we travel to?
| A．El Puente. | B．The cane huts. | C．Atlacomulco. | D．An Indian Village. |
When we traveled at night_________.
| A．there was a good guide leading us |
| B．there was a full moon in the sky |
| C．we could hardly see anything |
| D．we could see everything around clearly |
When we lost our way we believed that_________.
| A．we should stay where we were for rescue |
| B．we should go on to seek after our fortune |
| C．we should go back where we started |
| D．we should ask the Indians for help |
When we reached the inn-like hut_________.
| A．someone served alcohol and hot chocolate at once |
| B．we had a good sleep |
| C．we had a good drink |
| D．we were too exhausted to ask for anything |
Over a hundred years ago people in London were surprised to see a very unusual boat come sailing up the Thames River.The boat was eighty feet long flat-bottomed,with big wooden eyes on both sides in the front and was colorfully painted at the back.
People came to know that it was a sailing boat from Fuzhou in distant China.The boat had sailed round the Cape of Good Hope(好望角) up the western coast of Africa,and finally to England.It had covered fifteen thousand miles—more than half of the distance round the world.
Although it was unexpected,the Chinese were warmly welcomed.The boat carried goods such as silk and tea as well as a number of gifts from the Emperor of China for the Queen of England.
People had always mistakenly thought of the Chinese as a people not used to sea.However,from centuries of trading and sailing in dangerous seas,the Chinese had learned how to build good boats and sailed them well.The coming of this sailing boat to London proved once again that the Chinese could sail to distant countries in the world.The boat was considered unusual because _________.
| A．it was a small wooden boat |
| B．it carried Chinese silk and tea |
| C．it had traveled fifteen thousand miles |
| D．it looked strange in several ways |
According to this article,which of the following is TRUE?
| A．The distance round the earth measures less than thirty thousand miles. |
| B．The Chinese Emperor gave silk and tea to the English Queen as gifts. |
| C．The Chinese boat came to London by accident. |
| D．The Chinese people were not good at sailing in dangerous seas. |
The boat reached London by sailing _________.
| A．round the southern end of Africa |
| B．up the west coast of England |
| C．through the Arctic Ocean |
| D．round Asia and Europe |
.The writer wants to prove that a long time ago the Chinese _________.
| A．carried silk,tea and other goods to England |
| B．could reach many parts of the world by sea |
| C．could sail along the Thames River |
| D．surprised Londoners with an unusual boat |
For nearly a century before there was such a thing as a space program,a view of space was possible.People could see full views of the Moon,explore Mars(探测火星),and study the outer space beauty.All of this was made possible by a small group of artist-astronomers(天文艺术家) who worked to show people how other worlds in space might look.
Lucien Rudaux,a French artist,was the first to use his artistic ability and his knowledge of astronomy in art.His paintings show a mixture of skilled observations,brilliant imagination and careful attention.As a result,many of his works have come surprisingly close to actual conditions on distant planets.His painting of Mars included moonlike craters(火山口) that were first photographed by the astronauts in 1965.His 1930 painting of a dust storm looks remarkably like a photograph of a storm taken by the astronauts in 1976.
The artist-astronomers,including Rudaux,made people interested in outer space by painting what turned out to be exact portraits of the planets.The passage tells us _________.
| A．the surprising exactness of space artists | B．the popular success of Lucien Rudaux |
| C．the imaginations of great artists | D．the likeness between the Moon and Mars |
According to the passage,artist-astronomers spent their lives _________.
| A．exploring the planets | B．studying paintings |
| C．painting the planets | D．producing spaceships |
The works of Lucien Rudaux are a mixture of _________.
| A．astronomy and mathematics | B．astronomy and painting |
| C．photograph and art | D．fact and imagination |
In 1965,the astronauts photographed _________.
| A．a spaceship | B．a planet | C．craters on the Moon | D．a painting |
It came with devastating force,a natural disaster of strange intensity that shocked the world and killed tens of thousands.The waters have now receded,but disease and food and water shortages trouble a number of countries around the Indian Ocean.Millions of survivors face serious problems.
The number of survivors in need of food aid after the Indian Ocean disaster has climbed to 5 million people.They stretch from Somalia to Thailand,and the figure could rise further,the United Nations has said.
Relief teams hope to reach all of the estimated 700 000 hungry in Sri Lanka within three more days.It could take longer before enough food aid gets to the nearly 1 million people in need in hard-to-reach parts of Indonesia.Another serious problem is the need for purified water.
Although aid had poured in from all over the world to the disaster areas,“Logistics is the big problem here—just getting the stuff out to people who need it,”said Ron Libby,emergency management specialist at the USA agency for International Development.
Relief efforts are hindered by the difficulty of delivering aid to the more than 1000 islands scattered across hundreds of kilometers of ocean.
For those who survived the tsunami's force,disease is now the No.1 problem.Five million people are short of water,food and basic sanitation across the region.World Health Organization(WHO) crisis chief David Navarro said 50 000 more people could die from disease and other causes,as has been the case in previous humanitarian emergencies.
WHO said it had already received a handful of reports of malaria(疟疾) and dengue fever(登革热) and hundreds of reports of diarrhea(腹泻) and infected wounds.It said millions of water purification tablets had been sent to Asia,along with sanitation engineers to rebuild water sanitation infrastructure.
Psychologists are warning that mental health problems caused by the tsunami could prove harder to resolve than the physical damage.
Some survivors say they are plagued by recurring nightmares about walls of water.Many locals are afraid to return to beachside homes.Officials also warn that suicide rates could rise dramatically as parents struggle with guilt at losing children.
Psychologists estimate that 20 to 30 per cent of people who face traumatic events eventually develop symptoms,such as alcohol abuse,lack of concentration at work and an inability to develop close relationships.
Although the Thai Government has offered to build temporary beachside housing,many refugee families are refusing to come down from the hills.Others are afraid to go back to jobs on the sea.
Over 150 000 people were killed by the tsunami,but hundreds and thousands more have been left with no means to earn a living.
In the village of Akirapettai in India,all that is left is the twisted wreckage of the fishing fleet.Dakshina Murti,a fisherman,not only lost three family members,but also lost his boats,his nets,everything.
“Everything's gone,”he says.With no government aid so far,all he has is a wreck.There are several million people who suffered the same experience.Homes have been destroyed,as well as wharves,docks,and sheds.
For now,rebuilding the economy remains a distant concept.This passage is mainly about _________that happened around the Indian Oceans.
| A．the causes of the tsunami | B．the result after the tsunami |
| C．the sign of the tsunami | D．the warning of the tsunami |
According to what the United Nations has said,the number of survivors in need of food aid after the disaster _________.
| A．is not more than 5 million | B．is less than 5 million |
| C．has reached 5 million | D．won't reach 5 million |
From the passage we learn that _________ is the most serious problem for the time being.
| A．disease | B．food | C．water | D．house |
The passage tells us that such a disaster,as tsunami will cause diseases and _________ as well.
| A．Dengue fever | B．diarrhea | C．Malaria | D．mental health problem |