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Hurricane Sandy
简体
Hurricane Sandy
飓风桑迪

Learn English with this weather English lesson

Date: Dec 12 2012

Themes: News, Weather

Grammar: Passive Voice

Intro

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In October 2012, a terrible storm formed in the Caribbean. The storm became a hurricane, and it devastated parts of the Caribbean and the eastern United States. In the US, Hurricane Sandy brought particular damage to New York and New Jersey. Sandy destroyed homes, beaches, and lives, and left many without electricity for weeks.

Many see a terrible storm like this as a product of climate change. And some hope that one positive effect of the catastrophe will be to get people to start taking climate change more seriously. Hear Marni and Greta’s thoughts in this English lesson about weather.

2012 年 10 月,一场可怕的风暴在加勒比海地区形成。风暴随后演变成了飓风,它给加勒比海和美国东部的多处地区造成了巨大的破坏。美国的纽约和新泽西州是此次飓风袭击的重灾区。桑迪毁坏了房屋、冲击着海滩并夺走了许多生命,并使民众饱受了数周的断电之苦。

很多人认为这次令人恐怖的风暴是气候变化所引起的。也有一部分人希望此次灾难能够带来积极影响,让人们更加重视气候变化问题。在这节英语课中,听听玛尼和格里塔是如何看待气候问题的。

Dialog

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Marni

Marni

Greta

Greta

Marni:  Greta, do you have family on the east coast that was affected by Hurricane Sandy?

Greta:  I don’t have family, but I have a lot of friends. I lived in New York for eight years, and a great deal of my friends are still in New York.

Marni:  And is everybody OK, as far as you know?

Greta:  Everybody’s OK…

Marni:  Good.

Greta:  Some people are without power, but everybody made it through the storm OK.

Marni:  I’m glad to hear that. It clearly caused mass destruction, and, you know, ravaged the coastline, and when I see photographs and see it on the news, it’s really devastating. Just to think of New York City, just the subway system alone, it’s just kind of unfathomable to think about the damage that it caused.

Greta:  It really is. I think that one good thing maybe, is that the response to the destruction was faster and better than it was the last time the United States suffered a big catastrophe like this, with Hurricane Katrina.

Marni:  Yes, absolutely. And I think in some ways it was really interesting because it gave Obama, I think…people came out and said he’s the only one of the candidates talking about climate change. And clearly, I think, there’s something going on there. It seems like it’s undeniable at this point. Storms are getting vaster and more powerful, and there’s gotta be something to that. So maybe that’s the good that will come out of it, is people will really be forced to look at this issue and address it.

Greta:  I think so.

 

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Discussion

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Marni asks Greta if she has any family on the east coast of the United States, who might have encountered Hurricane Sandy. Greta replies that she doesn’t have family there, but she has many friends in New York. Luckily, they’re all OK.

Marni’s glad to hear the good news. She describes how intense it was to see the photos of all the damage, and to think about a city like New York suffering so much.

Greta also thinks that at least the government responded more quickly this time than it did during Hurricane Katrina. And Marni thinks that, perhaps, the storm will get people to take climate change seriously. Greta agrees.

What did you think when you heard about Hurricane Sandy? Have you ever experienced a big storm like that? Do you think that the storm was caused by climate change?

 

Comments

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tonyzhou00

China

it is lucky, we have no such hurricane here

03:47 PM Feb 03 2013 |

Yuci

YuciSuper Member!

Japan

When I heard about hurricane Sandy, I rebembered tsunami in Eastern Japan. I have met a person who lives in Ishinomaki, a coastal town had been devastated by tsunami. According to what he said, coming the wave, people feld as if many concrete blocks attack them and their town—actually, the concrete blocks are water. I never have experienced a big storm or such a tsunami, but I think the threat of disasters from water is beyond our imagination.


The number of storms attack Japan has been incresing these years. Climate change is a factor, I think.


 

08:29 PM Dec 17 2012 |

mojtaba

mojtaba

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

you know  all of us saying should care about erth but Do not perform any action

11:43 AM Dec 16 2012 |

yuminaga

yuminagaSuper Member!

China

I live in BJ so I dont know and cant imagin what the hurricane is  though ,I am a luckey dog ,I think

11:29 PM Dec 12 2012 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

 ALENA  , your post is not far from real life situations. One of my cousins in the past worked at  Target  ,a well known shopping store in California, here is the story: at that time  an earthquake hit the area  damaging  homes and killing scores of people in Northridge ,  after the quake, while shopping , the shoppers were so nice ,greeting each other  ,smiling and changing courtesies,  but ….  shoppers  forgot the lesson and  in Christmas  were fighting over a barbie doll  that was on sale.    real story.

10:26 PM Dec 12 2012 |

Alena.Chernikova

Russian Federation

   Hurricane Sandy: people recognized values in life


   Watching the news and reading newspapers about horrible Hurricane Sandy (even words “horrible” and “hurricane” are almost identical in spelling) put an idea of new topic into my head. 


   Well, despite this fact that people were warned about the disaster, not all of them were ready to the Sandy`s comming morally. Unfortunately, a hurricane brought a lot of deaths. Many people were injured. Why am I writing all this?


   Those people began to realise the real value of life. Fashionable clothes, expensive houses, cars and other things became less important for them cause their relatives, friends and acquaintances were in trouble. How much they could give to bring them back to life! How much they could give just to have the opportunity to see and talk to them!


   Life is too short and you don`t know actually what it can happen tommorow. So, please, don`t be shy and say people who are close to you about your feelings and attitude to them. 


   My artical seems to be rather pessimistic but I find it useful and thought-provoking. By the way, it`s a good motto for life: “Never put off till tommorow what you can do today”!

10:13 PM Dec 12 2012 |

ghamartaj

ghamartaj

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

i think the storm was caused by climate changs.humans made the earth a place for dangers like storms and hurricane sandy.one reason is increasing the temperature of the earth that caused by human’s activity like increasing CO gas,we must be carful for our activity..we r responsible for these changs and for future.thnx for this topic. 

09:31 PM Dec 12 2012 |

ballin25

ballin25

United Kingdom

I live UK    but so cold here   ? i dont like cold i like hom

07:14 PM Dec 12 2012 |

S01142923Super Member!

Malaysia

I think climate change can only be partly blamed for all the recent natural disasters. Sometimes I will have thoughts about the planet Earth sinking into the Black Hole completely. What will the world look like if the sun is completely burned out!

04:40 PM Dec 12 2012 |

1 person likes this

snoopyboy

snoopyboy

Antarctica

Julito I agree, haphazard construction is another reason why the tally of human casualties is so high when hurricanes strike.

04:31 PM Dec 12 2012 |

snoopyboy

snoopyboy

Antarctica

I have experienced some torrential downpours and hurricanes, but I’ve never suffered damages like what I’ve seen on TV.


     Of course climate change could have been the catalyst for Hurricane Sandy. We might say Mother Nature has a mind on her own and manifests her actions whenever she feels please, but judging by the rate in which these events have occurred we should look for another accomplice: mankind.  Us, and our reckless ways of treating the earth is what’s attracting disasters like that.  The astonishing part is that it’s no longer rocket science to us that an environmental issue like global warming (and all that cause it) could solicit for mayhem from Mother Nature. It’s sad, but I’ve seen more efforts and investments geared towards responding to natural disasters casualties than efforts to minimize the risks of their recurrence and the chaos they can produce.


     Over the past few years I’ve heard about so many catastrophes that I lost count, that’s very alarming. I agree with some of the statements I read: industrialization and unregulated harvesting of natural resources are the smoking guns in those depressing times. We drill, we excavate, we scotch, and we pollute our planet in the name of science and technology to the detriment of our own existence. We should continue on sensitizing the generations that will succeed ours on the dangers that environmental recklessness can pose, perhaps they can devise technologies that are friendlier and more sympathetic to our ecosystem. It kills me when I watched that documentary showing that some penguins being unwittingly floated away from their arctic habitats on ice floes due to climate change. Most of them would perish trying to find their way back home.


      If we do not resort to strict measures against global warming, life on earth as we know it would change drastically for the worst, for all of us. There’s no refuge on earth when Mother Nature is angry, don’t tease her.

 julito

julito

Argentina

Bella,  The world population  is  increasingly growing  and more and more   people who are  in love with nature  choose to live in the path of hurricanes  or build their houses  near the sea or in hilly places, prone to landslides and potential fires in summer . Shall we put the blame on nature, of course not… We are not in control , nature is in control, the solution is  to use common sense to minimize the damage  and enforced  strict  codes of construction  against earhquakes and hurricanes .Other than that ,leave the rest in the  hands of God.    


 

04:08 PM Dec 12 2012 |

bellaboo2422

Pakistan


julito, you might be right but how can we control natural disastors?

03:49 PM Dec 12 2012 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

 bella,    what I can make it out of your feed  is  that we  should understand that we can not take life and our   wellbeing  for granted , the planet is  plagued with natural and man-made disasters .


Don´t feel queasy , the planet will survive  .... I hope so !!!!   :)))))

02:51 PM Dec 12 2012 |

bellaboo2422

Pakistan


hurrican sandy was a real catastrophe. and the reason for the calamities like hurricans, floods, earthquakes is a continious change of climate as global warming. we would certainlly have faced the pits like storms in our life. i’m talking about another ilk of storms which usually zap our lives by hurting us so deeply at different cross roads of life. to lose someone very dear to you is a paradigm seemingly. i think we all are having sojourn in this world perhaps nothing is immortal here. there is an end of everything afterall so our world might be going toward its end. its very distressing i’m feeling queasy.

02:26 PM Dec 12 2012 |

Nabilo

Nabilo

Germany

First of all, I thank Englishbaby for this important and critical topic. When I heard about Hurricane Sandy and I saw it on the news, but also after the earthquake and Tsunami that hit japan on 11 march 2011, I thought, the planet is in danger and USA and china must urgently be aware of the future of our planet and sign the contract for the measures that combat the global warming before it is too late.

 julito

julito

Argentina

Deforestation, carbon dioxide emissions, green gases trapped in the atmosphere… it means, global warming ,and we have a problem here,Hurricanes, glaciers melting down at a fast pace. Mother nature´s way of sayings she has had enough of  humans abusing the planet.If industrilized Nations are not serious about their commitment to reduce emission the future of the planet earth is bleak. In the past ,hurricanes only hit poor caribbean  countries and  some coastal areas in the United states, now we see that big cities like New York and New Orleans  had been  severely  flooded by the combined forces of wind and ocean. 

Pieterwindmill

Netherlands

Heavy! I remembered me watching at the site  www.earthcam.com to the cams New York, to see how Sandy looks like! It was a big ravage.  Hopefully, such a terrible nature attack will never come anymore.  But I don’t think so! The nature is stronger than the Human Being!

Moriza

Moriza

Ukraine

Not only hurricane sandy,but drought,flood,tsunami,tornado, to name but a few bring a lot of damage for all living beings.With a help of technological progress the situation on our planet is changed.A lot of problems appeared,and they all  cause the climate change included.


“Mother planet is showing us the red warning light-be careful-she is saying.To take care of the planet is to take care of our own house”-said the Dalai Lama.


Can you imagine our planet without forests,rivers,animals and plant kingdom?-No?Me too.We must take care of nature,because we are part of it.

Englishty

Englishty

Egypt

Definitely it was a horrible hurricane and of course over time we make sure the weather is changing so fast that we can’t keep up with it but we have to realize that the whole world is in real danger and we have to do something about it.

09:27 AM Dec 12 2012 |

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