话题149 自然灾害
自然灾害中既有地震、火山爆发、泥石流、海啸、台风、洪水等突发性灾害：也有地面沉降、土地沙漠化、干旱、海岸线变化等渐变性灾害；还有臭氧层变化、水体污染、水土流失、酸雨等人类活动导致的环境灾害。这些自然灾害和环境破坏之间又有着复杂的相互联系。人类要从科学的意义上认识这些灾害的发生、发展以及尽可能减小它们所造成的危害，这已是国际社会的一个共同主题。
英语情景会话
A: Terrible. How about people's lives?
A：太可怕了。人们的生命怎么样？
B: Fortunately. there is no person died.
B：幸运的是没有人死亡。
A: That's great. It seems that Typhoon is not as bad as earthquake.
A：太好了。看上去台风没有地震可怕。
B: Yeah. Earthquake is one of the most badly natural disasters in the world.
B：是啊，地震是地球上最具毁灭性的自然灾害之一。
A: That's why many people died in the earthquake.
A：难怪很多人都在地震中丧生了。
B: Well, China is located on the Eurasia plate, where earthquakes happen frequently due to the earth's plates knocking against each other.
B：嗯，中国处于亚欧板块，这是板块容易互相撞击的地区，因此地震活动频繁。
A: Oh, China does have been plagued by numerous destructive earthquakes during its long history.
A：噢，在悠久的历史中，中国的确遭受了许多破坏性的大地霹。
B: Yeah, we've experienced the 8.0 magnitude earthquake in Wenchuan.
B：是啊，我们就经历了汶川8.0级大地震。
A: We're all familiar with natural disasters. but we still feel weak when we face Wenchuan earthquake.
A：我们对自然灾害并不陌生，但是当我们面对汶川地震时，仍然感觉很脆弱。
B: Right. But people at that time only know two words, "save" and "assistance",they will never don't lift a finger. Life is the most important compared with anything else.
B：对。但是那个时候人们只知道两个词，“救”与“缘”，他们绝对不会袖手旁观。和其余的比起来，生命才是最重要的。
A: That's the point. Love among human beings is not limited by geography.
A：有道理。大爱无疆啊。
其他常用英语口语表达
The streets are covered with more than two feet of water after the heavy rain.
大雨过后，街道上有两英尺多深的积水。
The global climate is becoming warmer and warmer.
全球气候越来越暖和了。
So natural disasters are the punishment for humanity's destruction of nature.
所以说，自然灾害就是对人类破坏行为的惩罚。
常用英语词汇表达
natural disaster 自然灾害
earthquake 地震
volcanic eruption 火山爆发
water and soil loss 水土流失
sweep across 席卷
debris flow 泥石流
acid rain 酸雨
devastating 破坏性的