新西兰英语 383 Floods in Queensland, Australia

　　While this website is concerned about New Zealand news, we are very close to Australia in distance, in economic matters and in culture. The population of New Zealand is just over 4 million but another 500,000 New Zealanders live in Australia. Many of them live in Queensland because it has a warm climate and offers well paid jobs.
The floods in Queensland cover a huge amount of land – perhaps as much as 1 million sq km¹, about 4 times the area of New Zealand. More than 22 cities and towns are flooded. Many roads, railways, airports and shipping² ports are closed. Houses and shops are flooded. Farms are covered with water and animals have drowned. Food crops are under water. Queensland grows pineapples, mangoes, cotton, wheat, sugar and vegetables.
Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coal and most of that comes from Queensland but coal fields are flooded and there is no transport to move coal.
The floods began with rain early in December after a long period of drought³. A tropical⁴ cyclone⁵ hit Queensland at Christmas time, bringing very heavy rain. Rivers have flooded and in some places the water on the land is 9m deep and the rain has not stopped yet.
It could be at least a week of good weather before the flood waters disappear.
The cost to the economy⁶ of Queensland will be huge.
Questions
1. Do you think climate change has caused these floods? The last major floods in Queensland were in 1954.
2. What are the dangers for local people during the floods?
3. What will they have to do after the floods?

1 km   

n.(=kilometre) 公里，千米

参考例句：

• Our speed averaged out at 50 km an hour.我们的平均速度是每小时50公里。
• The car does ten km. to the litre.这辆汽车每升汽油跑10公里。

2 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

3 drought   

n.旱灾，干旱，久旱

参考例句：

• The plants are growing in again,despite the drought.尽管干旱，植物又长出来了。
• The ground is as hard as stone after the drought.长期干旱后土地硬得就像石头一样。

4 tropical   

adj.热带的，热带的，炎热的

参考例句：

• You must grow these tropical flowers in a glasshouse.你必须把这些热带花卉种在温室里。
• This disease is widespread in tropical areas.这种疾病在热带地区蔓延很广。

5 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。

6 economy   

n.经济；节俭；秩序；机体

参考例句：

• We must do our best to develop the national economy.我们必须努力发展国民经济。
• The country's economy is not very healthy.国家的经济不很景气。