Buildings, which were badly built, tumbled, burying thousands of people in their own homes.

Haiti is a poor country with few emergency services to help. The islanders had to use their bare hands to search for their families. They waited for teams from overseas countries like Britain and the United States to bring equipment and manpower to help rescue any survivors they could find. It's feared that more than 100,000 people have died. One school friend lies injured on the pavement. Another voices her sorrow. The historic cathedral was badly damaged; and at the presidential palace, the roof collapsed.

The islanders here know about earthquakes. Haiti lies in an area where there are frequent tremors and also tropical storms. But last week's earthquake registered seven on the Richter scale—almost as high as the scale can go. It was the biggest for 200 years. It happened eight

kilometers beneath the Earth's crust—that's quite close to the surface, so the tremors were really strong.

There were also lots of aftershocks—tremors that happen after the main earthquake. Those aftershocks can also cause damage as buildings collapse further and trap people who might have survived the first disaster. The British government has promised 20 million pounds of aid to help Haiti, and many people have also made donations.

Now the concern is to prevent disease hitting areas without clean water or enough medical help.

Correct answer erupted burying few overseas rescue injured

damaged islanders seven biggest close aftershocks trap

20 million pounds disease

Further listening > Task 1

A typhoon lashed southern China on Thursday with strong winds and heavy rain, killing two people.

The typhoon hit the coastal areas of Guangdong Province at 1:45 p.m. on Thursday, with wind speeds up to 126 kilometers per hour. It came as the nation was still fighting its worst flooding in 10 years, which is expected to continue as the typhoon season gains pace.

The Guangdong provincial flood-control headquarters said the typhoon had caused economic losses of more than two billion yuan in the province, damaging more than 2,000 houses.

The strong winds, up to 35 meters a second, blew down many trees and billboards in the urban areas, paralyzing local traffic. Electricity, telecommunications and water services were cut in some areas. A local resident said he saw the raincoats of many pedestrians lifted by the gale, while many umbrellas were blownaway. Two people were killed by the storm in the western part of the province.

Before this typhoon, the province had already been plagued by torrential rains and subsequent flooding, which has killed hundreds of people over

the past several weeks and caused dozens of rivers and lakes across the region to reach danger levels.

Meteorologists forecast that six to eight major typhoons are expected in the coming months and told people to avoid unnecessary trips outdoors until the all-clear is given.

To prepare for the typhoons, the government issued emergency notices to its subordinate departments, urging them to take effective measures to protect people's lives and try to keep economic losses to aminimum. Priorities have been given to protect agriculture, reservoirs, dams, and coastal and river dikes in the flood-hit cities. More than 30,000 boats were required to return to ports to avoid the disaster while over 7,000 fishermen were evacuated to safety areas. At least 26 flights have been canceled at the airport.

BADAC Task 2

A fire started on some grassland near a farm in Alberta, Canada. The fire department from the nearby town was called to put the fire out. The fire proved to be more than the small town fire department could handle, so someone suggested that a rural volunteer fire company be called. Since the company was composed entirely of men over 65, there was doubt that they would be of any assistance. But with no other help available, the farmer called the fire company anyway.

The volunteer fire company's men arrived in a dilapidated old fire truck. The truck drove straight toward the fire and, instead of stopping in front of the fire, drove right into the middle of the flames. The volunteer firemen jumped off the truck and started spraying water in all directions.

Soon they had put out the center of the fire, breaking the blaze into two easily controllable parts. After an hour of intense fighting, they had extinguished the fire.

The farmer was impressed by the brave volunteer firemen and their work. He was so grateful that his farm had been spared that he presented the volunteer fire company with a check for $10,000.

A local news reporter asked the volunteer fire captain what the company planned to do with the funds. The fireman looked him right in the eye and said, \get the brakes fixed on that stupid fire truck.\

1. Since the company was composed entirely of men over 65, there was doubt that they would be of any assistance.

But the farmer called the company anyway because the fire proved to be more than the small town fire department could handle, and there was no other help available.

2. The truck drove straight toward the fire and, instead of stopping in front of the fire, drove right into the middle of the flames.

3. After an hour of intense fighting, they had extinguished the fire. 4. He presented the volunteer fire company with a check for $10,000. 5. The captain said, \first thing we're going to do is to get the brakes fixed on that stupid fire truck.\That suggests that they drove right into the middle of the flames because of useless brakes rather than bravery.

Task 3

A blizzard is a severe weather condition characterized by low temperatures and strong winds, greater than 35 miles per hour, bearing a great amount of snow.

Because the factors for classifying winter storms are complex, there are many different definitions of what a blizzard truly is. But it is generally agreed that in order to be classified as a blizzard, as opposed to merely a winter storm, the weather must meet several conditions. The storm must decrease visibility to a quarter of a mile for three hours running, include snow or ice as precipitation, and have wind speeds of at least 32 miles per hour, which means force seven or more on the wind scale.

Another standard, according to Environment Canada, is that the winter storm must have winds of 40 kilometers per hour or more, plenty of snow, visibility less than one kilometer, a temperature of less than minus 25 degrees Celsius, and all of these conditions must last for four hours or more, before the storm can properly be called a blizzard.

When all of these conditions continue after snow has stopped falling, the storm is referred to as a ground blizzard.

An extreme form of blizzard is a whiteout, when the downdrafts, together with snowfall, become so severe that it is impossible to distinguish the ground from the air. People caught in a whiteout can quickly become