Module3SectionⅠⅠntroduction＆Readingpre--reading课件外研版必修三.ppt

Module 3;1．There are many reasons for natural disasters. How much do you know about them? 2．There has been an increase in natural disasters in recent years. Is man to blame?; Following the ongoing breaking news on natural disasters occurring around the world, I found myself wondering if there has been an increase in natural disasters in recent years and if man is to blame. What I found is that there indeed seems to be a great increase in the past decade. Comments (评论) from various government departments and scientists all paint the same gloomy (黯淡的) picture.; According to a report, during the 2000－2009 period there had been 385 disasters, an increase of 233% since 1980 to 1989, and a 67% increase since 1990 to 1999. Though earthquakes made up 60% of natural disasters from 2000 to 2009, climate-related events, such as droughts, storms and floods, had made up the majority of disasters overall, increasing ten times since data was first collected in 1950.; Sounds scary? Definitely! The large increase in disasters raises several questions. Is the increase due to a significant improvement in access to information? What part does population growth and infrastructure (基础设施) development play? And finally, is climate change behind the increasing frequency of natural disasters? And is man to blame?; Well, with the growing population and infrastructures, the world‘s exposure (遭受) to natural disasters is largely increased. For example, the strongest population growth is located in coastal areas (with greater exposure to floods and tidal waves). And to make matters worse, any land remaining available for urban growth is generally risk-prone (可能有危险的), for instance, flood plains or steep slopes (陡峭的斜坡) subject to landslides. So the increase in population does notperhaps change the number of disasters taking place but it certainly changes the effect they have on lives, infrastructure and economic loss.; The increased media coverage on di