| | | Words
in the News |
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INTRO | |
This
week, we are looking at a report about operations to evacuate the
area around the Mayon volcano in the Philippines, which erupted today.
Clare
Arthurs, BBC East Asia Reporter, reported. |
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IN
FULL | |
 | Listen
to the report in full |
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 |
24th
February 2000
Mayon volcano
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| NEWS
1 | | | Listen
to the first part of the report |
| | |
About
five thousand people live on the slopes of the Mayon volcano, farming
its fertile soil despite an official ban on settlements within
six kilometres of the summit. Above their homes, a burning
flow of liquid rock or magma has been pushing up from deep
in the volcano, sending pieces of lava - some bigger than a
refrigerator, tumbling down a gully on the south-east
side of the mountain at eighty kilometres an hour. Teams of police
and soldiers have been sent to move people from their homes and farms
but many are refusing to leave. Mayon’s angry rumble might subside. |
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WORDS | |
fertile soil:
ground or earth where plants grow easily, producing good crops
summit : top
magma :
technical word for hot, melted rock below the surface of the earth
lava : hot liquid rock from
a volcano that becomes solid as it cools
tumbling : tumble -
to fall - or here to flow quickly
gully: narrow valley or channel
in hill or mountain
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| NEWS
2 | | | Listen
to the second part of the report |
| | |
But
the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology
has set a level three alert, ranking the situation as critical,
with an eruption possible within weeks. Officials are taking no chances.
Mayon has a history of violent explosions. Seven years ago, it killed
about seventy villagers. Its most violent eruption was almost a century
ago when twelve-hundred people died in a shower of flaming ash. |
| WORDS | |
Volcanology
:
the scientific study of volcanoes
Seismology:
the scientific study of earthquakes
ranking
:used after a word such as high or critical to describe its position
or grade
flaming
: burning or, here, very hot , bright with heat
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Read
about the background in BBC News Online |
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