1、MODULE 4 Sandstorms in Asia亚洲的沙尘暴Sandsto rms in Asia Sandstorms have been a major disaster for many Asian countries for centuries. Scientists have tried many ways to solve this problem and in China, a mass campaign has been started to help solve it. Sandstorms are strong, dry winds that carry sand.
2、They are often so thick that you cannot see the su n, and the wind is sometimes strong enough to move sand dunes. The four main places in the world where there are sandstorms are Central Asia, North America, Central Africa and Australia. Ren jianbo, from Inner Mongolia described a terrible sandstorm
3、 he experienced as a child in the desert. “To have been caught in a sandstorm was a terrible experience,” he said. “There was nothing to be done. It was the most frightening and the most dangerous situation Ive ever been in. You just had to hope youd survive. I thought I was going to disappear under
4、 the san d.” Northwest China is part of the sandstorm centre in Central Asia. Sandstorms begin in desert areas. Sandstorms in China appear to have increased in recent years as a result of “desertification”. This is a process that happens when land becomes desert because of climate changes and be cau
5、se people cut down trees and dig up grass. Sandstorms sometimes affect Beijing. Citizens wake up to an orange sky and strong winds that cover the city in a thick, brown-yellow dust. The storms sometimes continue all day and traffic moves very slowly because t he thick dust makes it difficult to see.
6、 The Chinese Cen tral Weather Station can forecast a sandstorm some weeks before it arrives in Beijing, but the strength of the storm sometimes surprises people. When a sandstorm arrives in the city, weather experts advise people not to go out. Huang Xiaomei, who lives in Beijing says, “To be cyclin
7、g in a sandstorm is frighten ing. The winds are very strong. Its difficult to breathe and the dust 几个世纪以来沙尘暴一直是许多亚洲国家的主要灾害。为了解决这个问题科学家们已经尝试了很多办法,在中国,一场大规模的解决沙尘暴问题的行动已经开始了。来源:学#科#网来源:Z。xx。k.Com沙尘暴是一种携带着沙子的强烈的干燥的风。沙尘 常常很厚以至于你连太阳都看不见,风力有时强到可以移动沙丘。世界上经常发生沙尘暴的四个地区是亚洲中部、北美洲、非洲中部和澳大利亚。 来自内蒙古的任建波描述了他童年时代在沙漠
8、地区经历的一次可怕的沙尘暴。 “遇上沙尘暴是一次可怕的经历,”他说道。 “什么办法也没有。那是我曾经遇到过的最恐怖、最危险的处境。你只能希望自己可以活下来。我以为我要被沙子埋葬了。”中国西北部处于亚洲中部沙尘暴的中心地带。沙尘暴起始于沙漠地区。因“荒漠化”越发严重,中国近年来发生沙尘暴的次数明显增加了。沙漠化是由于气候改变或者人类砍伐树木、铲除草皮而使陆地变成沙漠的一个过程。沙尘暴有时候会影响北京。居民们一觉醒来发现昏黄的天空和强劲的大风,全城笼罩在浓密 的、棕黄色的沙尘中。沙尘暴有时持续一整天,车辆开得很慢,因为浓浓的尘埃降低了能见度。来源:学|科|网 Z|X|X|K中国中央气象台能够在沙尘
9、暴到达北京前几周预测到沙尘暴,但是有时沙尘暴的强度还是令人吃惊的。当沙尘暴到达北京时,气象专家们建议人们不要外出。住在北京的黄晓梅说道:“在沙尘暴天气中骑自行车是很可怕的。风很大。呼吸都很困难,沙尘使我觉得难受。因此如果你想外出的话最好戴个口罩。 ” makes me ill. So if you want to go out, youd better wear a mask.” The desert is only 250 kilometres away to the west of Beijing. To prevent it comin g nearer, the government
10、is planting trees. Already the government has planted more than 30 billion trees and plans to continu e planting for the next five years.沙漠地区离北京西部仅仅 250 千米。为了防止沙漠的扩大,政府正在植树。现在已经种植了 300 多亿棵树而且在今后的 5 年里还要继续种植更多的树。The Green Movement绿色运动Some countries are better than others at looking after the environm
11、ent. In Europe, Germany and the northern European countries work very hard to improve the environment. People in countries such as Germany put their garbage into different bagspaper in one bag, plastic in another bag, etc. The garbage is then taken away and,if possible, recycled. CFCs (chlorofluroca
12、rbons), chemicals which are found in refrigerators and aerosol cans, are not allowed. There are laws that do not allow people to burn too much coal.In the 1970s, as people learnt more about environmental problems, the “Green” movement began and soon spread all over Europe. The “Green” movement tries
13、 to get governments to think seriously about the environment and how to look after it. It collects information about how industry is damaging the environment and gives this information to newspapers. 有些国家在环境保护方面要优于其他国家。在欧洲,德国和北欧的国家在改善环境方面做了大量的工作。这些国家的人们,如德国人把垃圾装入不同的垃圾袋纸装入一个袋,塑料装入另一个袋等等。然后垃圾被运走,如果可能的话,再被回收利用。冰箱和喷雾罐中的氯氟化碳是一种不允许被使用的化学物质。法律规定人们不准燃烧太多的煤。 来源:学+科+ 网 Z+X+X+K20 世纪 70 年代,由于人们对环境问题了解得更多, “绿色”运动应运而生,并且很快就遍及整个欧洲。 “绿色”运动极力使各国政府认真考虑环境问题和如何保护环境。(同时)它收集工业对环境破坏的有关信息并将这类信息刊登见报。