Unit 7.

Natural disaster

A. Write the name of each natural disaster.

Forest fire - flood - hurricane/typhoon – tornado/twister - landslide -

lightning – drought - volcanic eruption – earthquake- thunder

1. ____________________The land becomes too dry and it

impossible to grow any plants or vegetables on the land.
Happen when there has been no rain in a place for a long time.
2. ____________________ Occur when the plates of the earth
start to move and the grounds begins to move and shake. Its
size is measured on the Richter scale.
3. _____________________Occur when a large amount of water
covers the land or the water level in a river becomes too high.
4. ____________________Occur during a hot, dry summer. Be
started by people or by lightning in storms. It spread easily
because of wind and dry conditions.
 5. ___________________Originally means “big winds”.They
are caused by low air pressure and thunderstorm and result in
strong winds and heavy rain.
6. ___________________The rocks and earth become loose and
fall down the slope. Happens on a slope like a mountain or a
hill.
7. ___________________Occurs when electricity comes down
from the sky and hits the ground.
8. ___________________Is the loud sound that we hear son after
a flash of lightning.
9. ____________________Is a very large column of wind that
spins around very quickly. Its power can cause the winds to
destroy houses and pick up and throw heavy ítems.
10.______________________Are caused by the plates of the
earth moving and the pressure makes magma push up through
the cracks in the earth.

B. Practice this conversation with a partner.

Robert: That was a really bad hurricane you had last month!

Carla: I know. It was our first hurricane since we moved here to North
Carolina. We thought it was terrible, but the old time residents told us it was just
an average one.

Robert: How much warning did you have?

Carla: Warning? That’s all we got. Twenty four hours a day, all day. For
about a week. The radio, the TV, the newspapers. The news was nonstop.

Robert: So, what did you do to get ready?

Carla: Well, we had to get everything out of the yard. We put the yard
furniture, the barbecue grill, the garbage cans, everything, into the garage. If we
didn’t, they could fly through a window during the hurricane. And we bought lots
of food – canned food – in case we didn’t have power for cooking. We had to buy
batteries for flashlights and radios. And they told us to buy water, lots and lots of
water. And we filled the bathtub with water, too. We also bought a power saw.
 Robert: A power saw?

Carla: Hmm, hmm. Hurricanes knock down trees. And in a bad hurricane,
two or three trees might fall in your yard. Everyone around here has power saws to
cut them up.

Robert: How bad was the hurricane?

Carla: I thought it was terrible. The rain was so heavy we couldn’t see out
the windows. The wind was about 80 miles an hour, and it reached 100 miles an
hour at times. It knocked down the power lines, and we didn’t have electricity for
two days. We were lucky- only one tree came down in the backyard. But our
neighbor had a tree come down right through his roof into one of the bedrooms
upstairs. He had water all over, in all the rooms.

Robert: So, did you evacuate?

Carla: No, we stayed in the house. For this storm, most people stayed in
their homes.

Robert: Were you scared?

Carla: I was so scared! Most of the time, I stayed in the bathroom. I

thought, any minute, something was going to come flying through a window or
that a tree was going to fall on our house. My husband was more relaxed. He lit
candles and listened to the news. We had a battery-operated radio.

Robert: So, are you glad you moved to North Carolina?

Carla: Well, we really like it here, but these hurricanes… I don’t know.
Maybe we’ll get used to them.

Answer these questions about the conversation.

1. Where does the couple live?

2. How much warning did they have before the hurricane?

3. What did they put in the garage? Why?

4. What did they buy at the store?

5. Why did they need a power saw?

6. Why do you think they filled the bathtub with water?

7. How strong was the wind?

8. How long was the power out?

9. What damage did their neighbor have?

10.Where did the woman stay during the hurricane.

Grammar.
 C. Complete the questions and answers with “to be’’ in past.

1. How deep___________the water? It _________six feet deep.

2. How strong ___________the wind? It _________a hundred miles per

hour.

3. __________you in Texas during the drought? Yes, I ___________

4. How long __________the drought? It __________ five months long.

5. __________there any rain? No, there ______________

6. Where ________the tornadoes? They _________in Nebraska.

7. ___________you at home? No, I _________I _______in my

car.

8. How many tornadoes _______there? There ____________four.

9. When __________the earthquake? It ___________last year.

10. How strong_________the earthquake? Thankfully, it _________strong.

Grammar. Simple past: Yes / No questions.

 You evacuate? Yes, I did. No, I didn’t

Did He go to work? Yes, he did. No, he didn’t

rain all week? Yes, it did. No, it didn’t

It
lose the power? Yes, they did. No, they didn’t.
They

Read and practice these questions.

1. Did you see the tornado?
2. Did you watch the storm on TV?
3. Did you evacuate?
4. Did you have any damage?
5. Did you feel the earthquake?
6. Did you lose the power?
 D. Look at the picture and write questions in past about the
situation.

1.__________________________________________________
2._________________________________________________

1. _____________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________

1.____________________________________________________________
2._____________________________________________________________

1. __________________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________________

E. Complete the questions and answers with Did or Was / didn’t or

wasn’t.

1. __Did____ they listen to the weather forecast? Yes, they

__________

2. _________there enough warning? Yes, there

_________

3. _________they buy water? Yes, they __________

4. _________ the wind strong? Yes, it __________

5. _________they evacuate their home? No, they _________

6. _________the woman scared? Yes, she _________

7. _________she stay in the bathroom? Yes, she __________

8. _________her husband relaxed? Yes, he ___________

9. _________the rain heavy? Yes, it ___________

10. _________ a tree fall on their house? No, it ____________

 F. Reading Comprehension.

Tornadoes
A tornado, also called a twister, is a violent, spinning cloud that reaches from the
ground up to storm clouds in the sky. Most tornadoes are weak, lasting only a few
minutes, and have winds of less than 110mph. But the strongest tornadoes can last more
than an hour and have wind speeds of 200 mph or more. They can destroy houses in
seconds, turn over cars, and pull people, trees and furniture into the air.

The United States has more tornadoes than any other country in the world. In a typical
year, there are 800 to 1000 tornadoes in the United States. Most occur in the middle of
the country. Tornadoes form when warm and cool air meet. In the midwest, the warm
air from the gulf of Mexico often meets the cold air from Canada.

Tornadoes can occur at any time of year, but the usual tornado season is from March
through May. Tornadoes form most often in the afternoom and early evening. There is
often little warning of a tornado. People who live in the midwest know the signs of
tornado activity. The sky becomes a dark, often greenish color. Dark clouds appear in
the sky and there is often large hail. Suddenly, there is a loud sound, like a train or a jet
plane.
Sometimes, tornadoes occur in groups. Two, three, five, ten or more tornadoes can form
over a large area.

One of the strongest tornadoes in history hit Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011. Twenty
minutes before the tornado, sirens rang, warning of the tornado. Some people heard the
warnings, but others did not. The tornado was one mile wide and destroyed everything
it touched, including homes, businesses, churches, the hospital and the high school.

The tornado killed 158 people and injured 1,150 others. One family ran down into their
basement. Twenty minutes later. When they came up from the basement, nothing was
left of their house. At the local Home Depot, the tornado lifted off the roof. According
to local reports, between twenty eight and thirty people in the back of the store
survived, but the eight people in the front of the store were killed.

The safest place to be during a tornado is in a safety shelter, a small underground room
that some people build to protect their families. Other safe places are basements or a
first floor bathroom. Which is often the most solid room in the house.

Write True or False.

1. All tornadoes can destroy homes. ____________

2. Some tornadoes cause millions of dollars of damage. ____________
3. Tornadoes always occur in the afternoon or early evening. ___________
 4. Tornadoes never occur at night. ___________
5. More tornadoes occur in the United States than in any other country.
__________
6. All families in the midwest have safety shelters. ____________
7. People always know when a tornado is going to occur.____________
8. Tornadoes can come in groups of two, three, or more.

G. The first word in each line is from the Reading. Circle the word
with a similar meaning.
1. Violent: strong dark
2. Ground: earth storm
3. Occur: happen area
4. Form: active develop
5. Warning: typical sign
6. Lifted: picked up destroyed
7. Survived: died lived