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Angry planet Vocabulary bad weather and natural disasters
Grammar the passive

QUICK REVIEW Indirect questions Imagine you are
new to this town or city. Write three indirect questions you
want to ask: Can you tell me how to get to the nearest
station? Work in pairs. Ask and answer the questions.

Vocabulary and Speaking
Bad weather and natural disasters

Work in pairs. Which of these words do you know?
Check new words in IUt!f:!:m!j;ij:i• p145.

a storm thunder lightning a gale a hurricane Natural disasters
• • •
a tornado a heat wave a blizzard a flood
•
- a tsunami an earthquake a drought a landslide A

Tsunamis are caused by earthquakes under the ocean, or they
Work in groups. Discuss these questions. can also be caused by a landslide or a volcano erupting. A large

1 Have there been any stories about bad weather or quantity of water is pushed to the surface of the ocean, creating
natural disasters in the news recently? If so, where? waves. In the deep ocean these waves are small, but they get
What happened? bigger and more dangerous as they get closer to the coast
because the ocean is less deep there. The tsunami in South Asia
2 Have you ever experienced very bad weather? If so, tell
in 2004 destroyed a large number of coastal towns and villages
the group what happened.
and about a quarter of a million people were killed.
3 Do you think the weather where you live has changed
since you were a child? If so, how? www.english0905.com
B
A drought is caused by not enough rainfall, and of course we
Reading can't control the weather - not yet, anyway. Droughts often

happen because all the trees have been cut down in a particular
a Before you read, check these words with your
area. This means the rainwater evaporates because it isn't held
teacher or in a dictionary.
in the ground by the trees. So part of the solution is to plant
• • • more trees. In north Africa, tens of millions of trees are going
prevent melt deep erupt evaporate
to be planted in the next decade, which may help to reduce the
number of droughts in the region.
b Work in pairs. Look at questions 1-5. What do you
think the answers are? Give reasons if possible.
c
1 Can people predict where and when earthquakes
If this happens, the sea level will rise around the world and a
will happen?
lot of towns and cities on the coast will be flooded. This is a
2 What can we do to help prevent droughts? frightening thought because over half the world's population live
3 What causes a tsunami? near the coast and many of these places will be destroyed.
4 Is the Earth really getting warmer?
s What will happen if the North and South Poles melt? D
It's still not possible to make an accurate prediction of the place,
c Read the Q&A article. Match questions 1-5 in 3b to time and strength of an earthquake. However, it is possible
paragraphs A-E. Were your answers correct? to predict which places are going to be hit by an earthquake
sometime in the future. A recent ~eport identified the five most
d Read the article again. Answer these questions.
likely places for future earthquakes as the Caribbean, Chile,
1 Why do tsunamis get stronger near the coast?
Indonesia, Japan and North America.
2 Why does cutting down trees cause droughts?
3 What percentage of the world's population live on or E
near the coast? Yes, it is. The world's temperature has been measured accurately
4 Which parts of the world are more likely to be hit by for about 150 years and it shows that on average it has increased
earthquakes? by about i.5°C. Also, eight of the ten hottest years have been
s What evidence is there for global warming? recorded in the last two decades, which is very good evidence
that this increase in temperature is being caused by man-made
• • climate change .