Breaking News (II)

Breaking News (II)

7. Strong Quakes Rattle Japan (09/27/2003)

A series of strong quakes shook the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido(北海道)on Friday, collapsing the roof of an airport control tower, (1) fire to an oil refinery tank and driving 40,000 people from their homes.

More than 400 people were injured. Officials issued tidal wave warnings as Japan’s Meteorological Agency (2) the initial quake at 8 on the Richter scale and warned aftershocks might last 10 days.

Japan is one of the world’s most seismically (3) areas, with an earthquake occurring every five minutes.

The only death reported was (4) of a 61-year-old man struck by a car as he picked up broken beer bottles on the street. Public broadcaster NHK said 479 people were injured in the area, (5) is sparsely populated.

Police said two men fishing by a riverbank at the time of the quake were(6) , and added that they might have been swept away by tidal waves.

The airport in the eastern town of Kushiro had to be closed for three hours after the ceiling of the control tower(7) . Part of the ceiling of the passenger terminal also fell in, (8) the metal beams.

More than 40,000 people had left their homes in (9) to the tidal wave threat, but the warnings were lifted on Friday evening.

Roads were closed and rail services halted in many areas after one person was injured when a passenger train (10) .

A fire broke out in a storage tank at an oil refinery, sending flames and black smoke spewing into the sky.

(A) collapsed (B) active (C) missing (D) derailed (E) that
(F) measured (G) exposing (H) setting (I) response (J) which

8. U.N. sounds alarm on Ecstasy, amphetamines (09/24/2003)

The supply and use of synthetic drugs such as Ecstasy and amphetamines is (1) worldwide in part because the public doesn't realize how dangerous they can be, a U.N. report said Tuesday.

The report estimated that global use of Ecstasy rose by 70 percent between 1995-1997 and 2000-2001, (2) use of amphetamines rose by 40 percent over the same period. More than 40 million people worldwide, or 1 percent of all people aged 15 and over, used ATS in 2000-2001, the report said.

The report said that seizures of amphetamine-type stimulants, (3) as ATS, rose from around four tons in 1990-1991 to almost 40 tons in 2000-2001, and estimated the global value of the ATS industry at around US$65 billion each year.

The report said that ATS are produced mainly in Europe and the United States. (4) of the drugs is concentrated in Europe, North America, and Asia.

ATS use can cause dependence, loss of memory and premature decline in other mental (5) , the report said, adding that the drugs are wrongly "perceived as less harmful than other (6) substances, like heroin and cocaine."

Officials presenting the report called for governments to raise (7) about the dangers of ATS abuse and to crack down on suppliers.

"Government responses have to be stronger and better (8) ," said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, called for a coordinated global (9) to reverse the trends in ATS use.

The report found that use of ATS is concentrated among 18-20 year olds. Synthetic drugs take away young lives at the moment of their greatest promise.

Ecstasy use among 15-16 year olds in the United States is around three times greater than in Europe, but (10) slightly in 2001-2002.

(A) functions (B) declined (C) consumption (D) soaring (E) illicit
(F) campaign (G) awareness (H) coordinated (I) known (J) while