A study by the Center for Research on the Epidemiology ofDisasters finds that, between 1980 and 2007, nearly 8,400 naturaldisasters killed more than two million people. These catastrophicevents caused more than $1.5 trillion in economiclosses.
U.N. weather expert Geoffrey Love says that is the badnews. “Over the last 50 years, economic losses have increased by afactor of 50. That sounds pretty terrible, but the loss of life hasdecreased by a factor of 10 simply because we are getting better atwarning people. We are making a difference. Extreme events,however, will continue to occur. But, the message is that they neednot be disasters.”
Love, who is director of Weather and Disaster RiskReduction at the World Meteorological Organization, says most ofthe deaths and economic losses were caused by weather, climate, orwater-related extremes. These include droughts, floods, windstorms,strong tropical winds and wildfires.
He says extreme events will continue. But, he says extreme events become disasters onlywhen people fail to prepare for them. “Many of the remedies arewell-known. From a planning perspective, it's pretty simple. Buildbetter buildings. Don't build where the hazards will destroy them.From an early-warning perspective, make sure the warnings go rightdown to the community level. Build community actionplans.”
The World Meteorological Organization points to Cuba andBangladesh as examples of countries that have successfully reducedthe loss of life caused by natural disasters by taking preventiveaction.
It says tropical storms formerly claimed dozens, if nothundreds of lives, each year, in Cuba. But, the development of anearly-warning system has reversed that trend. In 2008, Cuba was hitby five successive hurricanes, but only seven people werekilled.
Bangladesh also has achieved substantial results. Majorstorm surges in 1970 and 1991 caused the deaths of about 440,000people. Through careful preparation, the death toll from a supertropical storm in November 2007 was less than 3,500.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the recording you havejust heard.
19. What dose President Obama hope the banks willdo?
A) Pay back their loans to the Americangovernment.
B) Provide loans to those in severe financialdifficulty.
C) Contribute more to the goal of a widerrecovery.
D) Speed up their recovery from the housingbubble.
【详解】 C)。细节推断题。讲座中提到，奥巴马总统说在经济困难时，美国政府和纳税人帮助了银行，现在银行应该对这种帮助有所回报，奥巴马总统是希望银行能够对经济在更大范围内的复苏作出贡献，承担责任。
20. What is Martin Neil Baily's prediction about thefinancial situation in the future?
A) Some banks may have to merge with others.
B) Many smaller regional banks are going tofail.
C) It will be hard for banks to provide moreloans.
D) Many banks will have to lay off someemployees.
【详解】 B)。细节辨认题。讲座中提到，经济学家MartinNeilBaily预测，2010年，规模较小的地区性银行将会面临高破产率。
21. What does U.S. Bancorp chief Richard Davis say aboutits future operation?
A) It will work closely with the government.
B) It will endeavor to write off bad loans.
C) It will try to lower the interest rate.
D) It will try to provide more loans.
【详解】D)。细节推断题。美国合众银行总裁RichardDavis对此境遇的态度比专家乐观，他认为贷款就像发动引擎的煤一样，他们会尽可能多地发放贷款。
22. What does Martin Neil Baily think of a second stimulusto the economy?
A) It won't help the American economy to turnaround.
B) It won't do any good to the major commercialbanks.
C) It will win the approval of the Obamaadministration.
D) It will be necessary if the economy starts to shrinkagain.
【详解】D)。细节推断题。讲座临近末尾时，提到了Baily的态度，他认为，如果经济再次低迷，二度刺激是十分必要的。
As U.S. banks recovered with the help of the Americangovernment and the American taxpayer, President Obama held meetingswith top bank executives, telling them it's time to return thefavor. “The way I see it—our banks now have a greater obligation tothe goal of a wider recovery,” he said. But the President may begiving the financial sector too much credit. “It was in a freefall, and it was a very scary period.” Economist Martin Neil Bailysaid. After the failure of Lehman Brothers, many of the world'slargest banks feared the worst as the collapse of the housingbubble exposed investments in risky loans.
Although he says the worst is over, Baily says the bankingcrisis is not. More than 130 U.S. banks failed in 2009. He predictshigh failure rates for smaller, regional banks in 2010 asCommercial Real Estate loans come due. “So there may actually be aworsening of credit availability to small- and medium-sizedbusinesses in the next year or so.”
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