节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-10-08
难易度:Low
关键字:disaster, emergency, situation, neighborhood, evacuate
Welcome back, everybody.
The future is full of surprises.
You never know what will happen.
That's why it's worth it for you and your loved ones to spend some time
discussing what to do in the event of a natural disaster.
By taking a few steps now, you'll be more able to stay calm and deal with the
emergency later.
OK, back to the reading on line 5.
(Music).
Preparing for Disasters.
The first should be near your house.
You can go there in an emergency like a fire.
The second meeting place should be outside your neighborhood.
This will give your family a place to gather if you must evacuate.
Next, choose a contact person outside your area.
After a disaster, it is often easier to communicate over a long-distance call
than a local one.
A contact person can pass messages between family members if they can't meet or
get in touch.
Friends, should there be an emergency, you need to have a plan ahead of time to
know how to deal with it.
We just gave you a tip.
You should meet with your family.
And then have two different meeting places where you can go in case it's not
safe to go home.
Well, you might ask why two because if there's two, what if I go to one and my
family goes to another?
Well, the reasons is the first one should be near your house, close to where you
actually live.
And you can go there in an emergency like a fire.
If there's an emergency in your home, you're all... you can all meet near it.
But if everything around it is not affected, then it's safe to be in that area.
Yeah. Friends, take a look at the pictures on page 20, and there you will see
you a couple pictures of fires.
Now it might look sometimes that those fires are just a building or somewhere
that's contained by firefighters or firemen.
But oftentimes these fires can spread very quickly, and it's very dangerous.
So you need to not go back to your home, you should find another place to meet.
Well, I think in this situation too, Ryan, it also refers to if your home
catches on fire.
Quite often if your home is on fire, the firemen can stop the fire from
spreading to your neighborhood.
So you can stay near your home, just not at your home.
And that's why this is going to be a great choice.
I... my dad is a fireman.
And I know that he sees a lot of families meeting at different places just down
the street from their house.
Yeah. It's very wise to have this first meeting location.
OK. What about the second?
OK. Well, we have two, so the second one is a meeting place that should be
outside of your neighborhood.
OK. Your "neighborhood" is the area that you live.
So you want to make sure that you're outside of that.
Can you give us a good definition of what neighborhood is?
OK. Well, a neighborhood is the area that surrounds someone's home,
including all of the other houses and all the people that live in those houses
around your home.
OK. You said the word "neighbor" in there.
"Neighbor" is a person that lives close by.
So the "neighborhood" this where they all live.
That can also include some stores or restaurants.
If... if they're close by, they might be in your neighborhood.
Exactly. So this is the area where you live, including all of those houses,
restaurants and your friends.
And since that's close to your house, if this is a large disaster that affects
everyone nearby,
you want the second meeting place that's outside of that area so you have
somewhere safe to go.
Exactly. So in this way, even if the problem is affecting your whole
neighborhood, your family knows where to go.
Now this will give your family a place to gather - that is "to gather" means to
meet - if you must evacuate.
OK. Now we've used this word once before.
If you "evacuate," that means you must move from a dangerous place to a safe
place.
Usually if you evacuate your home, you are not allowed or should not go to your
house.
Now authorities, government, military and emergency authorities will evacuate
areas.
Ryan, have you ever been evacuated?
Actually, yes.
There was a fire in the mountains around my house.
And so the police came and told me I had to go.
And so we had to take all of our things that we wanted to keep and get away from
the fire.
Now friends, it's important to remember even if you love your home and you love
your things in your home,
when the authorities tell you to evacuate, you have to go because that means
they will not be able to rescue you if something goes wrong.
So get out. It's better to be safe than to be sorry you didn't leave.
Yeah. Don't think that the authorities are being mean by making you leave your
house.
They're trying to protect you.
That's right.
So you have these two areas so in case you have to evacuate, you have a place
outside of the neighborhood.
So we have meeting places.
What should we do next?
OK. Next, you choose a contact person outside your area.
A contact person is someone that you can communicate with, and they will
communicate with you in case of an emergency.
Now outside your area probably means even bigger than your neighborhood, outside
of your city.
So if you live in a city in the northern part of your country or state, move...
have someone from another part be your contact person.
This is important.
I know it sounds strange.
But after a disaster, it's often easier to communicate over a long-distance
phone call than just a local call because everything local is affected.
Now Kaylah, I have seen this because I'm from Los Angeles.
When we have earthquakes in Los Angeles, it's very difficult to make a phone
call to anyone else who lives in Los Angeles because everyone is on their
phones.
There's an earthquake!
Did you feel the earthquake?
Are you OK? Are you OK?
And so it's actually easier to call someone in a different state or a different
city because there aren't as many phone calls being made there.
OK. So it's important to have this contact person so a long-distance call can be
made.
And the reason this is important is this contact person can help share
information for your family.
Or another way of saying that is to relay that information.
Yeah. They can pass messages between the family members if they can't meet or
can't get in touch.
Now Ryan, you said sometimes it's difficult to get in touch with people in the
city.
So if all family members know that there's a person from a long distance, they
can call.
You can call them, start leaving messages, and your family can then communicate
through a third person.
Exactly. And so these are actually some really good tips.
I haven't used a couple of these. I...
We really didn't use our contact person that was long distance.
And so I think I'll start doing this.
It is much safer.
So friends, we've talked about some tips to get you started.
Start with your family meeting.
Pick your locations and establish another person.
And make sure they know too that they're your outside contact.
But this is not all we have for you.
Nope. We've got a couple of more tips tomorrow, so please join us then.
But for now, let's watch the skit.
Disasters, they are happening all over the world.
And you could be next.
Me? No. No, thank you.
Disasters can happen to anyone.
Are you ready for the worst?
Am I ready?
What do you mean?
Well, when disaster strikes, you might find yourself without water, gas or
electriciy.
But... but those are things that are important.
I need those things.
You might even have to leave your home with little warning.
Leave my home? No!
Oh, yes.
Don't let emergencies surprise you.
Plan ahead for bad situations.
Plan ahead...
Yes, I should do that.
But how?
Hold a meeting with your family.
Discuss types of disasters.
Earthquake, fire, flood...
Oh, my.
Exactly. Decide where to meet if your family gets separated.
Good idea.
Choose two places - one near your house, and one outside your neighborhood.
Excellent idea.
Excellent idea.
Next, choose a contact person outside your area.
A contact person?
Yes. A contact person can pass messages between family members if you can't get
in touch.
Very good idea.
OK.
Excuse me.
Hello, Marge.
Yes. Get the family together.
We're preparing for a disaster.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
And that's all the time we have for today.
Keep up the good work, and I'll see you soon.
Thank you, Michelle.
In a major disaster, it might be days or even a week before important services
like water, gas, phone and electricity are restored.
That's why it's important to be prepared by creating an emergency kit before a
disaster strikes.
What should you put in the kit?
Well, take a look at the sidebar on the right side of page 21 for a sample
checklist.
Then tomorrow we'll get some more details about preparing to survive.
Until then, I and everyone else here at Studio Classroom hope you have a great
and disaster-free day.
Take care.