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人教课标新教材必修1Unit 4拓展阅读
1
Earthquakes around the Pacific
About 400 earthquakes occur worldwide every day, more than a hundred thousand in a year.
China is situated (位于) in one of the most active earthquake regions (区域) in the world and there have been many terrible earthquakes. The most serious of these occurred in Hua County in Shaanxi Province in 1556. The earthquake affected eight provinces in Central China. It covered an area of 800 square kilometers. In some communities, 60 percent of the population were killed. In all, 830,000 people lost their lives.
The California Earthquake of the 18th of April 1906 is the worst earthquake that has ever happened in the US. It took place at 5:15 am, and lasted for only a minute. However, it caused the worst natural disaster in the nation’s history.
Fires caused by the California Earthquake did the most damage. The fires burned for three days, destroying a total of 25,000 buildings. About 500 people were killed in the city of San Francisco and 250,000 were made homeless. In the whole of California, the earthquake and fires caused about 3,000 deaths.
The 1906 earthquake was caused by a movement on the San Andreas Fault. One hundred years later, movements on the San Andreas Fault continue to cause problems for the whole of California.
2
How do hurricanes get their names
Each year, as the summer comes to a close, hurricanes begin to appear. Hurricanes are huge tropical storms that can sometimes be as large as 600 miles across.
Hurricanes occur in many parts of the world, but they’re not always called “hurricanes”. For those of you who like words, you may be interested to know that hurricanes that form in the western Pacific Ocean are called “typhoons (台风)”. In the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and Australia, these storms are called “cyclones (旋风)”. They’re all the same type of storm, though.
Recent hurricanes that have caused serious damage in the United States include Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Katrina. Other past hurricanes have had names like Opal, Andrew and Fran. How do they get these names
Hurricanes are given names so that meteorologists (气象学家) can recognize them and track them across the oceans. Since there are sometimes different hurricanes at a certain time, naming them helps to avoid confusion (混淆).
Since 1979, the World Meteorological Organization has used six lists of names — both male and female — in rotation. Each list contains a name for each letter of the alphabet (字母表), except for Q, U and Z. The same lists are reused every six years.
Every once in a while, a hurricane will cause so much damage that its name goes down in the history books. Hurricane Katrina is a recent example of such a disastrous storm. When a storm is bad enough, its name will never be used again, and a new name will be added to the list.
Although hurricanes can form at any time, the hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean is usually June 1 to November 30, with most hurricanes occurring in the fall months. The eastern Pacific Ocean hurricane season runs from about May 15 to November 30.
3
How to survive an earthquake
We can't stop an earthquake from happening, but we can reduce the damage it brings to us. Do you know what to do during a really big earthquake Experts have looked into the matter carefully. It may be worth your while to look over the 5 tips they have for us.
Protect yourself first. Once an earthquake happens, protect yourself first. If you can't easily escape by getting out of the door or window, stay in a corner and cover your head and neck with your arms. And the most important thing is to protect yourself from falling objects.
When the shaking stops, try to find a way out through a door or a window. Also, to help others, use something to make sure a door or window remains open so they can also escape.
Panic can hurt you. If you are at home when an earthquake happens, don't rush out in a panic. If there is enough time to escape, you must place something such as pillows or bags on your head, because some roof tiles (瓦), broken glass and signs may fall down.
Make sure the electricity and gas are off before evacuation (撤离). According to some research, lots of people die from fire disaster after an earthquake.
What's more, fire makes rescue more difficult.
Work together on rescue and first aid. Work with your neighbors to free victims who are under debris (瓦砾) or fallen furniture and to give first aid. Be very careful if you use the stairs, because they might have been damaged by the earthquake.
Though it's not very often that we experience a strong earthquake, we should keep it in mind to always hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
4
The Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine). An explosion released large quantities of radioactive smoke into the atmosphere, which spread over much of Western Russia and Europe. It is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and is one of only two classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale (the other being the Fukushima (福岛) nuclear incident, which is considered far less serious and has caused no direct deaths). The battle to deal with the great disaster involved over 500,000 workers and cost about 18 billion rubles (the standard unit of money used in Russia), damaging the Soviet economy.
The disaster began during a systems test on 26 April 1986 at reactor (核反应堆) number four of the Chernobyl plant, which is near the town of Pripyat. There was a sudden power output increase, and when an emergency measure was attempted, a series of explosions occurred. The resulting fire sent a cloud of highly radioactive smoke into the atmosphere and over a large area, including the nearby town of Pripyat. From 1986 to 2000, 350,400 people were removed and resettled from the most severely polluted areas of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. According to official post-Soviet data, about 60% of the radioactive smoke landed in Belarus.
The Chernobyl accident caused many severe radiation effects almost immediately. Of the 600 workers present on the site during the early morning of 26 April 1986, 134 suffered from radiation sickness. Of these, 28 died in the first three months and another 19 died in 1987-2004. The accident raised concerns about the safety of the Soviet nuclear power industry, as well as nuclear power in general. Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus were under great pressure from the continuing health care costs of the Chernobyl accident. The WHO (World Health Organization) said the total deaths from radiation could reach 4,000; a Greenpeace (an international organization whose members work actively to protect the environment) report puts this figure at 200,000 or more; a Russian publication, Chernobyl, concludes that 985,000 more deaths occurred between 1986 and 2004 as a result of radioactive waste. A 2006 report predicted 30,000 to 60,000 cancer deaths as a result of the Chernobyl disaster.

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